Ignition Coils, then Cat...
 

Anyone know what the problem is with the ignition coils? Just inside a year ago, my ignition coils went, and that's what apparently caused my cat to go, smoke up my car, melt the carpets to the floor, etc.... Although the dealer repaired the car, I'm fortunate enough to still be able to smell the burnt carpet after lengthy drives, sigh.

Anyways, that was just inside 12 months ago. Last week, it was like deja vu - loss of power, flashing CEL, so back to the shop I go. First they tell me they're not sure it's covered under warranty (mentioning my lawyer told me otherwise seemed to help there), and then they told me it was the ignition coil (two of them) that was the problem. Now, a week later, they finally fess up and tell me the cat is also being replaced.

My car is currently sitting at 88K km, so have 12K km or a year left in the warranty. What I want to know is (and the flipplin' shop can't seem to tell me, or won't...), what the heck is it that's causing the coils to go?

Any advice or thoughts?

Also, I just can't believe the piss poor level of service I've received after buying this car - although the RX-8 is one of the funnest cars I've ever driven, but with the fighting I have to do to get this thing fixed anytime something goes wrong has me wanting a new car - which will most definitely not be a Mazda! The only thing making me feel a bit better is reading other's issues with service - it appears this is a trend, not an anomaly, way to go Mazda!

coils burning out is fairly common. They're only $27 each to replace. I'm on my third set, but I replace everything when I start to feel them acting up. One of these days I'll take the old coils and test them so I can throw away just the burned out ones.

The weird thing is melted carpets. That's not normal. I've never heard about it. And I have a turbo mounted very close to the passenger foot area and nothing even REMOTELY close to that kind of heat. There's something going on, and it's not related to coils.

Okay... maybe I don't know my car as well as I think. How do you know when the ignition coils are starting to go? What would be the life expectancy, any idea?

Thanks for the info!

Where are you finding coils for $27 dollars a piece.....you can't post a deal like that without a link!!

i bought them when they revised the coils for around $24 each. I wasn't able to buy it for that price anymore. My local dealer carries them for $32ish, but gives a "florida rx8 club" discount, so I got them for $27.

part of the problem is the area the coils are at is hot and there is not much ventilation. you'll know when your coils are going because you'll start to get misfires. Also (depending if your leading or trailing coils go) you can have issues moving your car from a dead stop - it will make your car bog down when you start moving, so you have to slip the clutch to get it moving or it stalls.

The issues were never immediate for me. It just gets slowly worse till you can't not notice it.

So I just called my dealer and I think this is whats wrong with my car. I'll see what they say.

I have 2003 RX-8 with less than 20,000 km on the clock. I have re-placed the iginition coils twice in the last one year and again my "check engine light" has come on. I got my car diagonsed and again its showing iginition coil blown out.

Can anyone help me how to solve this problem once and for all..... ???

Thanks/Rgds

I replaced my coils and spark plugs like around 2 weeks ago because my car's idle was very rough at start, but replacing them didn't seem to solve the problem. my car seemed like it wants to die on me. and the weird thing is that it happens when the car is warm..

If you look at how small each coil is then you can guess they dont dissapate heat very well. Thats the killer of anything electronic...... HEAT

I'll post pics but plan to use the factory intake snorkel when the odula intake is installed. The factory intake snorkel will be re-routed to duct air from the grill area to run across the coils & keep their temps under control.

My 03-model has 50k km on the clock & not done the coils yet. Although the CEL has lit up a few times in the hotter weather. Is yours doing the same.....???

REgards

Iginition Coil
 

That would be a great help if it solves the problem of coil blowout.....I would really appreciate your posting the pics so that everyone can benifit from it.

I live in Karachi - Pakistan where the avg temp is about 37 degrees and in Peak Summer goes in the mid 40's. I used my RX8 as a second car and only drive it in the evenings and weekends so cant be sure if the coils are blowing out becuase of the high temperature or anyother problem.

I will try to route some air from the duct to run across the coils and see if that makes a difference or not.

Regards