My RX8 has been great since I bought it in 2005 but I've recently been having some strange issues.

Symptoms: The car starts and drives fine until it heats up. Then, it will randomly have a slight power loss when accelerating between 3k-4k RPMs. It's almost like someone cut the power for a split second and then it comes back. Also, it will randomly die at idle when sitting in traffic. I have a 40 minute commute to work and each symptom happens about once or twice per commute but otherwise the car drives fine. Recently, this also started causing a flashing CEL which I believe indicates a Misfire.

Fixes: I've gone through the misfire thread and done:
- Have BHR coils that are about 30K miles old so assume those are fine
- Replaced Iridium spark plugs
- Cleaned MAF
- Cleaned ESS and reset NVRAM
- Have BHR cat-less midpipe so don't think it's cat related as I don't have one. Also removed the Secondary Air pump since I don't have a CAT.
- Had a compression test 10K miles ago and dealership said the numbers would really good

Car: 2005 Mazda RX-8, 70k miles, manual transmission, BHR coils, BHR cat-less midpipe, Racing Beat Intake with Duct.

Any ideas where to look next or what to test? I ordered a timing light to test the coils but I think it's something else since it only happens when the car is hot.

 

Sounds like coils to me. Sounds very similar to the peoblem I had a couple years ago. It would struggle to get going and then just die at a stop light or sign.

i know you have BHR coils thats odd that they would go so early but thats what it sounds like to me. A flashing cel means misfire get the code reād that should tell you where to look.

 

What codes come up for the CEL? It could be your SSV is stuck open.

 

What do your long term fuel trims look like?

Flashing CEL is a misfire but it won't always store a code.