I come from diesel engines. Cummins and duramax. This is also my first rotary. This is actually my first car in general Lol. I'm a simple DIY-er. I can handle coils plugs and wires, oil changes, exhaust. But this issue has me baffled and nervous. Especially with a remaned engine with only 23k on the odometer

 

Well before i hurt my back i specialized in turbocharging. 1st it was Honda, then Mitsubishi, and now Subaru. I just wanted a rotary and rwd so i bought this rx8.
I feel ya on the nervous part for sure. But i feel confident that we can figure this out

 

I hope so. I'm debating limping my car to tampa to take it to maztech. Its a 54 mile trip. I want this fixed and maztech seems competent.

 

Competences is the reason i became a mechanic....not saying i am anymore than anyone else but the mechanics in my area are crap. they destroy more than they fix.
It's getting worse as the years go on.

I'm sure you saw this TSB but i thought i'd mention it, in case you didnt see it....

https://www.rx8club.com/attachments/...lack-power-pdf

 

I drove down to the 24hrs of Daytona a couple of yrs ago. I didn't have any problems with my car until I was near Jacksonville. It started to stumble on acceleration. Further south on 95, I could barely climb the bridges in the interstate. At first I thought it may be the cat, but on inspection it wasn't glowing red. It wasn't until I filled the gas tank with fresh gas that I was able to pinpoint the problem as being the fuel pump. It was over heating under load and the fresh gas cooled it off. North of Florida, it was cool enough that I didn't have a problem. After that, I kept the tank fuel of fuel until it got back north. When the temps started to go up at home, I replaced the oem pump (the second one in the car) with one from BHR. I have had no problems like that since.

 

Thanks for the info AL, I'll keep note of this. On the other hand I just picked up my mid pipe today. So that will definitely rule the cat out of the equation. I'll probably put it on this evening or sometime tomorrow.

 

I havent seen this TSB. Thanks for the info. From what Ive researched, Maztech seems like the place to take my car. Ive read nothing but good things.

Im also not going to be able to install my Midpipe tonight. I didnt realize I needed the gasket for the front of the pipe. Mazda dealership is not open until monday in the parts dept unfortunately for me.

 

i got the same issue ... but now the car does not start ... it's only crank .... my air pump make a hell sound ... i notice too that when i crank .. it doesn't seem to have any compression..

 

Damn that's really dissapointing news. Making me hella nervous now.

 

any update? you should check out my findings and see if anything correlate.

 

No update yet. I am buying my trans this Friday and taking it to get put in. I am also going to have the fuel sock cleaned and the cat removed and replaced with a mid pipe while they're at it

 

I doubt the transmission could cause a sudden power loss if its your daily and you don't rip on it constantly but it's possibly a faulty neutral switch too. Hope this gets figured out... I don't know if you've experienced what I did but for my girlfriends RX-8, No CEL with slight hiccup at about 4k then the car starts to choke from 5k-7kish and then suddenly explodes with power all the way to 9k like nothing was wrong. I've slowly ruled out Vac leak and the VDI as it screams pass 7k with no issue. I replaced the SSV solenoid for the P0661 CODE 2 weeks ago. Then cleared the P0171 lean and it has not come back after a weak.

Possibilities:
-CAT (The front screen inside cat looks well intact, no smell, no glowing red etc but I did not completely remove it from the car).
-Fuel Pump
-Bad Clutch (It needs to be replaced anyways)
-Stuck SSV/actuator

Worst of all, maybe compression issue (IDK). Waiting to here what your results are.

 

My assumption is its either the cat, the fuel pump, or a combo of both as far as power loss is concerned. However the front pump in the trans is shot thus making the horrible whining noise. When I take the 8 in to get the trans swapped I'm going to have the pump cleaned and the cat removed and replaced with an OBX mid pipe. I will update asap. However it may be a week or two till I get this done. Its not cheap :-( . Good news is, the trans is bought and is awaiting installation.

 

I agree with DMaverickRX8 on the transmission piece. However, this definitely sound like a fuel pump issue. This would be more noticeable after driving it for a few hours on the highway i bet or during the warm weather since it's the first sign of overheat.

My 8 was having the same issue and also died on me twice after a couple of trips. I also experience similar issue like yours and installing a race pipe didn't fixed the issue for me.

Getting a new fuel pump took care of my issue. It's quite tricky to rule out what the problem is since it's not always present. Don't go for an engine replacement without a proper compression test... if car runs fine some days then there isn't a reason for the engine to be bad.

Hope this helps.

 

@over9k

It could also be the cat because now it will bog down when I've only been driving 5 mins

As precautionary measurement I'm doing both. I truly believe it will scream once I get these issues handled.

 

Sure thing! when my went bad it would always glow due to the heat... this is something you might be able to check ahead of time by driving it hard for a bit then take a quick look at it when it's dark preferably...

 

I've tried and I couldn't tell. Its really hard to see because of the car sitting so low

 

The best way to check is, visually inspecting the inside of the cat and periodically checking exhaust temps. Sometimes you won't get the glowing or smell...

 

DMaverick, I have an 05 RX8 AT almost as similar as yours and similar probs.

After troubleshooting as much as I could, my problems for the loss of power was a vacuum leak. Transmission needs to be replaced on mine but it didn't cause my loss of power.

 

Thanks for the insight and Info guys. I appreciate it. Still collecting money for this project. Hope I can collect it sooner rather than later.

 

So do you have any updates as of yet?

 

Got the tranny in the garage. The torque converter and red line fluid are on the way and will be here Wednesday. The cat pipe is going on today after work as long as my buddy swings by with jack stands. The transmission will go in sometime this weekend if all goes to plan.

 

Hi, I have seen a lot of posts on low fuel causing overheating fuel pumps. Does anyone have an opinion on what would be the threshold of low fuel?

I would rather not visit the pump every other day, but I will if it's best. Any opinion is appreciated.
Geaux Royals!

 

You can't have the same issue if yours is a 6 speed. No pump to make the whining. His is an automatic

 

Bump. Car is in the shop. Should be done by Saturday. Fingers crossed guys!!