Are my coils bad? (picture inside)
 

http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g1...r/PC090241.jpg

Im having misfires like many members with 2004's.

Any help is appriciated.:scratchhe

no way to tell just by looking at them. Contrary to popular belief, the white spots on the bottom are not actually indicators that the coil has gone bad.

how many miles on those coils? how many miles on the plugs?

here is the bulletin on trouble shooting the coils: http://www.finishlineperformance.com...16-07-1793.pdf

Hmm... but does my misfire problem sound like coils?? Mazda replaced my engine about 17k miles ago.. what would they have replaced?

misfire is usually caused by a bad coils (or multiple bad coils)
Unfortunately our OEM coils are a real crap shoot, some people get long life out of them, others have reported coils going bad in just a few thousand miles. It's tough.

I play it safe and change mine once a year since it's only about $100. ALTHOUGH, with the BHR ignition kit out now, those new Yukon coils should definitely last longer then oem. (heat kills our coils pretty quickly) Where are you located?
do you have replacement coils?

you can get them at a good price at www.finishlineperformance.com or www.onlinemazdaparts.com

Im in omaha so I guess id have to order them. Im a little tight on my budget right now with christmas on us and all... so ill probably go OEM. So first thing to replace is coils? Mazda said that was what they thought it was but they wanted 480 bucks to replace them...

Would I be able to go any place local to get these??

local as in your local dealer... O/W online

dealer is big $$$$ though... online is your best bet

You could try to go to any local autoparts stores but most likely need to order online the two links above are a good start

Ok.. I guess ill have to put my car back together haha. I need it for a few days while I wait. =)

online is your best bet. use one of the two links I gave you, they should have the best prices.

You COULD go to the dealership but expect to pay much more for those coils. $480 is crazy!

how many miles on your spark plugs?

I bought the car at 53k and now have 57k so I have no idea. This has been almost nothing but a problem car so far...

sorry to hear you're having problems, most of the issues with this car can be fixed fairly quickly.

I would suggest going on the assumption that those plugs are old. Easiest way to get to them is lift up the front left side, take off the wheel, grab a ratchet with an extension and the plugs are straight ahead.
Brown is okay, black is bad.

Plugs might be a culprit and your coils might be going.
I know you said money is a bit tight with the holiday season but as preventative maintenance I would recommend replacing coils, wires, and plugs. You're looking at about $250 in parts and a few hours in your garage.

I pulled the plug... wow black.. im going to go buy some and update when i get back and put them in.

Did anyone know that sourcing plugs is the hardest thing in the world... I read something about rx7 plugs?

Don't get the RX-7 plugs, they will last about half as long as the RX-8 ones. I got all four off ebay for under fifty bucks a few months ago. I just looked on the net and found many places that sold them all for less then sixty bucks.

try www.waynemazdafactoryparts.com as well

Actually those spots are from arc through... doesn't mean they are bad, just means that all the spark is not always going out to the spark plug. In his picture, both 1 and 3 (from the left) are having mis-firing/lower spark issues.

Well I hear rx7 plugs last about 30k miles?? Am I correct on that? And for almost a quarter of the price.. I dont know. If I can find rx8 plugs around here I will most likely get them.

Misfires are caused by the programing of the ECU.
Our cars run so pig rich at idle and 10.5 AF under hard acceleration.

With that type of mixture you can't keep the plugs from misfiring.

Get an Access Port.

I'd replace the wires too while your at it.

Rx7 plugs will NEVER last 30 miles on Renesis.

Just get OE RX-8 plugs. ITs cheap online. Find them on ebay.

Get them from Daddy Rat Fink oops! I mean Charles R Hill at BHR.

Well I dont know if it has to do with the ECU because it just recently started happening. After seeing the plugs I am almost sure it is the plug that is causing it. So Im going to replace those tonight (found them at NAPA for $80 bucks) and see what happens from there. If I need to replace more then I will.

Problem was resolved with spark plugs.

Thanks for all the help!

Can we see the spark plugs and how many miles did you get on them?