turbine

Keep in mind its 100 here. I ran it a couple of days, then just had to give in. It is a night and day difference.

Before correct ECU reset, my car ran ok. Had pinging and powerloss, in high heat and long drives. Now under same conditions, I have no fear of the power loss. It runs like a different car.

I love taking off at a light under light throttle. Cars along side me are in it trying to stay with me. I am shifting at 3.5k. Before I would have to shift at 5.5k to make sure that I had enough power to accelerate. Usually in the middle of 2nd or 3rd, I shire down on the pedal and leave everyone. After all I represent all owners of the only true sports car for the street.

Hey Zoom, need to call this bull or not. I believe we have found Occam's Razor. I am sure some aftermarket people would not like the news. I think it only reinforces aftermaket ECU mods. It shows how dependent the car is with ECU. I am just true blue to the rx8. I hate it when people say negative things about the rx8's rap. Fine with me though, I will just keep beating everyone. Now they think they have issues.

turbine

Oh yea the theory behind the AC. Same principle of reset when underdriving with pulley's. When you turn on your AC you are in a sense overdriving. Any change, from my findings, contribute to the baseline map.

Unhooked

Just curious what would cause the Cat to clog in the first place?

turbine

I have only idea's. One thing is the CAT is the lowest spot in ride height. It took some hits. With that factor and 1600 degree temps over time I suspect. First stage of CAT is fine. It's the second stage that failed. The O2 sensor is between them. If the second stage goes, no CEL. After I took the CAT off, you can hear the internals sifting inside. If your drinks are turning hot in less than an hour and your trunk is hot, you may be a lucky canidate. I not so sure anyone can make a CAT last on this car. If Mazda is unable to design a CAT that will not work, the chances are slim for anyone else. I might be wrong on that, but I would bet on it.

turbine

I looked at my midpipe the other day. It has turned black at the bend. It's a chrome pipe. Six months of drive time. No CEL or odors. That has to be at least 2000F. Anybody know what the max EGT is? I might heat wrap that up. I still have factory exhaust. Sounds unreal. I wonder what the 8 would run like on nitro methane?

UltraRX

I'm glad I found this thread; I may have a similar problem to some of you. I just got home from a long trip (about 500 miles each way) and experienced sudden MASSIVE power losses during both directions of our trip. Both times, the problems occured after driving for a long period (over 100 miles.) I literally held the accellerator to the floor to maintain my speed on the slightest of inclines. When I would stop for gas, restroom, or food, then drive, it would be fine for some period, and then happen again. The first thing that went through my mind was that the cat had failled. No CEL, but maybe it was bad downstream of the O2 sensor? I had only experienced this one other time, and it was after I had to fill up at a seedy looking gas station outside of a beach town. Once that tank of gas was gone, so was the problem. I remembered that I had done the same thing in rural Virginia on this trip. So those are my theories:
1. Bad cat
2. Bad gas (octane too low, knock sensor retarding timing, no power)

By the way, I have been running 87 octane for about a year with no problems (ran 93 all the time before that, had the car since new in April 2004)

I've got about 45K miles on her, so I am definitely going to have the dealer have a look before that magical 50K rolls over. I'd just like to hear some input from you guys on the situation.

agoodcave

UltraRX,
Was there any pinging or "marbles in a coffee can" sound when you had the loss of power?

You might get a compression check. Is your's manual or automatic?

Mike

swoope

iTrader: (5)

apex seals drying out... the s flash fixes it, but it is to late...

recall coming out... you have a new motor on the way..

beers

UltraRX

There was definitely no indication of a problem, other than the power loss. It's a manual, and has seen more than a few trips to the redline. For what it's worth, and to support my "bad gas" theory, I've run 93 octane through the last 1.5 tanks without the problem reappearing. Thanks for the input.

UltraRX

When did the s flash come out? Mine was refalashed this summer, when I had the starter/battery/plug replacement performed. I am definitely going to the dealer though.

swoope

iTrader: (5)

second week of june...

beers

dastallion951

well the main reason that a cat converter goes bad, is from leanin out the air fuel mixture too much......... that since it bein the stock ecu controllin ur car, obviously the cat must be damaged either electronically or physically to damage ur car, or the 02 sensor, has gone bad n givin false readings to ur ECU, which could explain damage to ur cat.......cant think of anything else......

GiN

...or it could be a side effect of the symptoms described in a recent recall notice 4206F -
"Due to PCM software calibration issues, the following conditions may result: the oil-injection metering system may be inaccurate causing poor engine sealing of the combustion chambers resulting in drvability or emissions problems, OR too much fuel may be injected at the time of engine start causing carbon to be deposited on spark plugs or plugs may be flooded, causing a difficult start condition. In addition, the catalytic converter may be degraded on some vehicles. "

hmmm...