New owner. Power steering, headlights, and shifting issues ('04 AT)
 

Posted this in the Tech Garage, before I realized there was this section. Hopefully I'll get some responses here..


K so I just got my 8 a month back. Second owner of a fully loaded sunlight silver '04 AT (navi, bose, leather, etc.) , got it with 44k miles on it. I noticed my headlights dont extend very far, and the two beams dont form a straight horizontal line. the left beam is a bit lower than the right. its probably only a car length or two ahead of me.

sometimes, not every time, when i turn on the car, the power steering doesnt turn on. sometimes turning the car off and on a few times will get it to start, but most of the time i just end up driving around without power steering. i checked the fluid levels and its fine. my dad thought it might be a hydraulic issue or something? i havent been able to tell if the problems have started acting up whenever there are atmospheric changes, thats the only thing i could think of, besides a failing computer part or something.

finally, today for the first time i was speeding up while still in first, and the car didnt shift into second, it just redlined, beeped, and quit accelerating. i did let go of the gas when i heard it beep. also, it tends to be really jerky when it does shift and im trying to accelerate really fast / flooring it.



oh, and does anyone have any tips on regular car care? like i know to get it up to 6k rpm every other day to blow out the carbon build up, but what else do i need to know? i read something about a premix with motorcycle oil, whats that about?

The headlights are intentionally aligned that way so that RX8's equipped with HIDs don't blind oncoming traffic.

As for your shifting issues, you probably had it in manu-matic mode and didn't know it. In this mode your car will only shift when you tell it to. You didn't hurt anything, though... extended periods of redline don't really hurt a rotary.

RX8's have electric power steering. Check the connections, and if you can't fix it, take it to the dealer.

Premixing is optional. Some guys to do it to guarantee the seals are properly lubricated, but it can also hurt your fuel pump. Unless you drive it hard or track it often, don't bother. Just make sure you're keeping an eye on your engine oil level and topping it off when it gets low.

thanks!! :)

but no i wasnt in manu-matic