Major loss of power, gargling exhaust, smoke, immense vibrating and hard start?
 

Hey,

I'm experiencing a major loss of power more so in the first half of the rev band until 5k with no acceleration in any gears with the taller gears having major trouble to accelerate at all when cruising. Instead when this is happening with the accelerator pressed, a real groaning gargling sound is emmited from the exhaust with a crisp sound only in the top half of the rev range where any power is achieved. The whole car vibrates when this is happening and large amounts of smoke erupts out of my exhausts when redlining majority of the time. The plugs were just changed now, aswell as coils and leads less than 10k ago. I thought it would be one of these things as the car now finds it hard to start. I just got a compression test also and it came out fine...DOES ANYBODY HAVE ANY IDEAS LEFT?!?! BECAUSE ITS UNDRIVABLE!

I was also suggested by the mechanic it could be trouble with the primary injector? This is getting to be an expensive problem :(

What were the results of the compression test, or were you just told "its fine"?

Have you visually inspected your cat?

FYI, it's highly recommended you change plugs and coils at the same time. Would you buy one shoe, and then the other a few hundred miles later?

What colour is the smoke?
Is the check engine light on?
Are chance any of the intake piping is undone?
The old spark plugs you took out, how did they look? Any oil or white deposits?

Okay sorry I should have noted this earlier. I have no cat, just an AP midpipe with a BHR resonator on replacing one of the resonators. And the plugs were replaced with the coils 10k ago but they already failed!! so needed replacing again. The cost me $400 NGK ones. There was oil on them the guy showed me.

And the results for the compression test were:
89-89-90 for the first and I can't remember the second...

$400?! man you got taken. $80 for all 4 online.
How much oil was on them? They're supposed to be light brown and dry, so that's not generally a good sign... side seal failure?

lol yeah I know when he told me the price I was gobsmacked...looked on last invoice for a different mechanic same plugs cost $60 each, which leaves the total to $240 for plugs, this guy charged $90 for labour and the remaining $70 for the compression test...I think I got done hard. But the plugs didn't fix the problem AT ALL! the cars still hard starting at least 4-5 seconds to tick over and no power at all in any gear...its using SO MUCH FUEL as I need to rev the shit out of it all the time to move anywhere...he showed me the plugs and they were covered in browny oil. A panel beater did flood the engine a couple months back but it was all fine once I got it going until now...

basically it sounds like its got a boxer engine under the hood when you press the accelerator and it moves nowhere.

Rebuild it.

why would it need a rebuild the compression is fine?

would the start motor have any effect on any of this?

Because apparently the results they gave you mean nothing. 89 what? at what rpm?
You have smoke and smoke is never good.

Find another shop to have the engine looked at.

Because you can have ok compression and have a f&*cked engine.

As bse said, rebuild it.

You come on here asking advice, we give it you, then you question us because you think you know better.

it was 89-89-90 at I can;t exactly picture the sheet he was showing me but I think it was about 230rpm or something similar and the second rotor was only 2rpm off the first. The smoke has subceeded now even upon redlining so I think I blasted all the built up carbon out. Just left with the major problem of no power with vibrations and a hard start...

I never said I know better, I simply asked why rebuild it if the compression is fine...thats how people are supposed to learn is it not.

89-89-90 WHAT? Compression test measures pressure. Are we talking about kpa, psi, kilofarts or what?

Oil on the plugs is never a good sign.

Did you install the coils and wires properly? do they all work fine?
Do another compression test at a place where they are competent enough to print the results and come back here.

Compression below 100psi isn't really fine imo

And as I said before, you can have ok compression but have a screwed engine

89 psi @ 230rpm isn't exactly "fine" anyway. Around the minimum spec according to mazda.

89-89-90 psi at a cranking speed of approx 230rpm. Yes the coils and leads where working 100% for the past 2-3 months after installing them by a professional mechanic. Okay I will be definetely be heading to another place on Monday, thankyou for your help.

as I said, 89psi @ 230rpm is on the verge of being below minimum spec. That engine will need to be rebuilt soon anyway... just buy another one from Mazmart and have it installed when the time is right.

Yeah this mechanic who is supposed to be one of the best rotor specialists in Victoria, Australia under the business name Mazbitz musn't know anything about rx8's. Because your right about under 100psi being bad since they come out of factory at 120-130. I will go do another compression test.

A quick google of what to results expect: Attachment 230421

The workshop manual you can find on foxed.ca also has this graph and shows the correct procedure.

Don't be sarcastic

Do whatever you want I don't care anymore.

Good luck