Help! Think she's dying...
 

Yesterday, driving home. I did my normal 1st and 2nd gear pulls to 7500 RPM before leveling out an cruising. Difference was at ~6800 RPM in second, there was a sudden loss in power and a strange smell. No codes or alarms, all gauges clear.


I finished the drive home without issue, but stayed under 5500 RPM. Looked around the engine bay and the smell was gone and nothing out of sorts. Checked oil, looked normal.


Today when I went out to the car and started it, it sprang right to life, but created a large smoke cloud which was solid white and contained hardly any scent. The idle leveled out and the car drove fine.


I stopped and ran in a store, came back out and the care refused to start. Took several attempts before it finally started - again with a large smoke cloud. Car drove fine so I decided to make another pull. At ~6500 RPM the sudden lose of power returned and this time a smoke cloud in the rear view mirror.


Still no codes or gauges providing warning. Drove home the rest of the way under 5K without issue.


I am afraid a seal is letting go. Can anyone provide insight on this behavior?


Is is a 2004 GT with 88K miles.

I'd guess that you are sucking some oil into the intake, causes a sudden power loss because it doesn't ignite easily, dumps into the exhaust, where it cooked off instantly under the heat.

Is there something I can do to confirm? Oil level looks normal...

Remove the accordion, filter box, and/or upper intake manifold, look for evidence of recent oil passing through. It wouldn't have all been sucked in. It would be coating stuff.

Literally JUST had this issue. The best fix? Remove everything including the throttle body. CLEAN CLEAN CLEAN, Install Oil Catch Can. Run free :) Any other info on your car would be great though. Like the 88000 miles, is that the car or the motor. My car has 98900. Motor only has 48000. Any upgrades ?

If the case is as RIWWP described, you might need to change the air-filter and clean the MAF. As willard 1 indicated, an oil-catch could prevent this from happening. No need to go fancy with the oil catch can. Something cheap from ebay will do the trick.

i paid 45 for mine on ebay shipped. It's nice, it's blue, it's aluminum it holds oil. Im a happy guy

Thanks everyone. I will get to cleaning.


I do not know if the engine is original. Need to check the dealer records as it is a local unit. There are no mods, all stock/original.


Is this caused by the overflow at the filler cap?

That is where it's sucked in from, yes.

Oaky, thanks again.


Cleaned out the intake some and the issue seems to be gone. I successfully pulled to ~7500 RPMs multiple times and no more clouds.


On a side note - I also moved my car as part of the troubleshooting. My driveway, where the RX-8 normally is parked, is about a 30 degree incline. I have moved the RX to the street where it is flat. Is it possible that the incline was causing the oil to go where it shouldn't?

That likely has nothing to do with it. After all, the stumbling and smoke has been when driving on relatively flat road, right?

Did you find a lot of oil residue inside the manifold?

No, not much at all.