coolant leaking, check engine light and traction control came on
 

Hello Everyone,
I just bought my first RX8 a couple of days having zero knowledge about rx8's. 10/15 minutes of driving the check engine light came on, then the traction control light. Shortly after engine idle was jumping up and down, almost shutting it car off. Ii quickly pulled on the side of the road and saw that the of the engine was leaking coolant like crazy.(heavy bumper/bumper traffic with these things happened) I waited about 30 minutes, added more coolant and drove home. To my surprise no problem getting home, no sign of coolant leakage.(driving home was clear, no more bumper/bumper traffic) So i took it to mazda and they told me that the coolant tank was cracked and needed to be replaced. So why didn't the coolant leaked while i was driving the car after my initial side road stop? Is mazda accurate in their findings? Could there be more issues other than just the coolant tank being cracked. Please help. Thanks

Hmmmmm...... im having a similar problem.... just bought my 8 today. I smelled coolant just a bit and every once and a while i have the idle jumping but it goes away when I push the clutch in.... does pushing the clutch in stop the idle jumping?

not sure about pushing the clutch cause my car is auto

haha well i guess you cant test that huh....... what if the car is in neutral not park?

well, as soon as pulled to side and parked the idle still was out of control. Then after 20/30 minutes or so I added more coolant (from losing so much coolant) and the ride home was smooth(mind you that by this time traffic was moving, no more bumper to bumper)..
also i forgot to mention that no indication of overheating when coolant was leaking bad. temp gage reading was normal
Mazda change sensor and change cracked coolant tank. I'm also thinking maybe its the thermostat. What yall think????

The gauge is a dummy gauge, by it the time it moves, you'll probably need a new motor.
Get a aftermarket temp gauge if you can.

I've no idea why would coolant trigger CEl and traction control...did u mean the coolant light or CEL?
During idle you get more heat/pressure, thus cause the coolant to leak when there's crack.
With rpm going up and down during idle....I'm suspecting there are more issues going on...hopefully not tho...
If the termostat is stuck, it would trigger the coolant light while driving.

come to think of it i never notice coolant light come on. i only noticed traction control and check engine light. Then again, it was my very first time driving the rx8 and i was driving the car for 15 min or so. With all the things that was happening at that moment never realize what else i should be looking at.
change sensor and coolant tank. i'll probably going to change thermostat just as a precaution, even thou mazda never said anything about.