I should mention that I have been lurking around this forum forever and rarely ever post unless I am freaking out about something. Unfortunately I have again found myself in a situation which has me freaking out and losing sleep!!

First some foreground information. My 8 is a 2004 GT, has a 4 speed automatic tranny and has approximately 73,000 miles. Last night after driving off a parking lot I noticed my check engine light came on- the one that looks like a water tap. Anyways, not thinking too much of it I decided to finish the trip home before starting to panic. Unfortunately it wasn’t before long that I realized that this engine light is for real.

The car now refuses to rev past 2,000 rpm while the tranny is in automatic mode (D). After 4th gear, the rev needle is stuck at 2k and the slow climb from 0 mph to 25 mph begins. We all know that the RX8 has no power, but get a load of this: 0-50 mph is taking close to 4 minutes!!!! All this is going on while I got the gas pressed down to the max!!!!

The only way I can get the car to 50 mph is by using the auto-manual shifter. When using this mode the car does rev past 2k, despite ever so slowly. This is the only way I can get past 20 mph. Even using this method, I am topping out at 50 mph.

At first I assumed it’s the engine crapping out. To put this to the test I put the car in N, and gunned the gas. Surprisingly, it revved freely to 8K then I stopped. This leads me to suspect that the transmission might be the culprit.

This is rather bad news considering I no longer am covered under warranty. Anyone have an idea of what might be going on and where I should turn? Selling the car is not an option right now as I owe the bank wayyyy more than the current value of the vehicle. This seems bad !!!

 

If you baby is still under warrenty you need to call the dealer and have them pick up the car on a flat bed. Sounds like you need a new engine.

 

Despite Mazda extending their coverage, I do not believe at 73K that warranty still applies. That is a shame... ... hoepfully I am wrong!

 

clogged cat?

 

I certainly hope that it will be covered. Sounds like a new engine is on the way

 

Sounds like it's in Limp Home Mode. You have a cel. Have autozone read your code and find out what's wrong. Once you fix it your car should be back to normal. If it's serious bring it in. Why are you trying to drive your car like that when something is obviously wrong with it?

This doesn't sound like your engine is bad yet.

 

I can only hope!!! Hopefully its something simple cuz this warranty stuff has me worried right now.

Man that does sound nice but at whose expense? A engine swap job is very lavor intensive not to mention a new Renesis is probably at least 5K. I would hate to pick up that bill after only 73k miles… but I am not dealing with a Honda here.

I have a friend in Mazda services who promised to take at look at this. 2 months ago I took the car in to him because the engine was making a certain cracky sound at certain rpms. He hooked it up to a mazda laptop which rendered absolutely no error codes nor did it indicate any trouble signs. What are the chances this time around the laptop will have better chances at finding out what’s wrong considering during that 2 month span I have only driven about 300 miles?

Figity fluck fluck yo…I think I am screwed.

 

Power loss is often contributed to failing coils.

Check this post out before you spend plenty of cash on any potential wrong diagnosis.

>>> https://www.rx8club.com/series-i-do-yourself-forum-73/diy-burnt-out-coil-replacement-131476/ <<<

REgards

 

The difference is that you now have a CEL. The car is actually saying specifically that something is wrong so they'll be able to read the code to see exactly what it is. w/e it is might not have been an issue then. either way, good luck! hope it's nothing major since you would be past warranty as far as I know

 

If you have an engine light on then you should have a code or a tech should be able to find out why. Bring it in. There's obviously something wrong that is causing the car to protect itself.

Bring it to a dealer for a diagnosis before you break something.

 

hopefully bad coil but idk, it sounds bad man

 

"Last night after driving off a parking lot I noticed my check engine light came on- the one that looks like a water tap."

The only one that looks like a water tap to me is the engine oil light! If you drove it like this for very long, it could be very, very bad. Anyway, not all Autozone's have a reader capable of reading stored codes, but if the CEL is on, then they can tell you what it is. First off..............look in your manual and see what friggin light really is on and if it is the oil light, you'd better check it before doing anything at all!

And, yes....I believe as well that your car is in limp mode.

 

not sure why I (or anyone else) didnt notice that... definitely helps to know which light is the one actually on. Check the manual like Maz said... that will definitely help.

 

Check Coils.

04 AT ... Coils.

 

+1 for knowing which light it was..... Just look at the color, if it was orange= check engine, red= oil. Correct me if im wrong but the oil light actually has a little "drop" coming out of it, I mean that light is almost idiot proof!

 

Yeah.....but name another one that looks like a water tap??? I have the manual online and after I read exactly what was posted, I had to take a look and that's all I could come up with.
I hope it wasn't the oil light and it was continually driven. I'm not sure about this, but I would think if it was the oil light then the sequence might be something like...........oil light on(meaning low on oil), continued running and things start getting really warm, eventually car has had enough as oil continues to drop and limp mode insues. That's only a guess cause we don't really know what light it was????????????

Actually....I just read it again and it never says the CEL came on, just the engine light that looks like a water tap..............WTF does that mean?

 

minus the whole light coming on bit..sounds like what happend to my car (but mines a MT) and it died on the side of the interstate...it just stopped picking up speed until it stopped...

It was bad plugs and a carbon filled cat..which they said was from not revving enugh (which later my dealer told me was a load of crap bc i drive the **** out of my car)

just take it in and have them check..best thing you can do..

Oh, it also did that when my engine blew up in the middle of the road..hmm, weird.

 

check your oil and your tranny fluid. no fluid= no go

 

^^ and check your manual to figure out which damn light is on!!!!

 

Wait....... ......these cars come with a manual?
And if used, they are available for free online?

sorry....I really did try to resist, just couldn't do it.

 

Thanks for pointing this out I will make sure to ask about this when I take the car in to services hopefully today. I hope this is the problem as well because I have been complaining about a lack of power for a while now. Infact my boy who works on the car @ Mazda routinely comments about my car having “no *****”. Of course this could have been indicative of my engine failing which would SUCK *****!

The same dude @ Mazda changed my oil this past Saturday...maybe he didn't finish the job cuz my girlfriend came around and we all just went to eat afterwards. This could be bad karma cuz not only did I not pay the dude for the oil change... he also paid for dinner! I have only driven maybe 50-80 miles since the oil change...and no moer than 20 miles since the 2K rev limiter has kicked in. So hopefully no damage has incurred!

sorry maz thats my bad. Yeah its ridiculous my car didn’t come with a damn manual either. In any event this is what the manual states about my “orange” light:



So far the light has come on and stayed on and has not been flashing or anything like that. Perhaps hope remains.

 

Okay, that's the check engine light...and I actually feel better that it's not the oil light and that you ran it out of oil!
Now, it could be coils, cat, plugs. I'll have to go see what year and mileage you have as I don't remember.

Went back and looked...........04 with 73k.........my guess.......cat and/or coils. Go have that code read before going to the dealer, at least you will know where they should tell you they are gonna start.

 

did you check the oil or the tranny fluid?

 

I hope he did....kidna suspicious it happened so soon after an oil change ya know?

 

Check Oil AND Coils.