no power...from an rx8 ?!? please help
 

i've already posted alot for this problem but it continues unfixed and this forum is my only source for information on it. here are the symptoms:
-loss of power
-stalled a few times after highway driving (after i took cruise off and was coasting)
-part of the cat glowed red
-strange exhaust noise (can't really describe it, its just different)
-burning smell after four hour drive today.
-i can see the heat coming off the cat when i get down and look which could just be normal but i'm paranoid that the cat is plugged or fried.

i took it to a dealer after i got a cel one particularly bad night. the code the dealer came up with was an intake code. they told me that the intake was not assembled correctly and that there was a leak between the maf and the engine so it was running extremely lean which caused the cat to glow. i believed it and paid them and picked the car up. so now i've lost money and they won't do anything for me except free diag next time i go in there...which isn't much consolation since i'm really thinking that it is the cat and they won't even check it.

find a different dealer...the cat is clogged

I would not be driving it in that condition

i just read some other stuff and it could also be a stuck ssv because it isn't an all the time problem. it comes and goes as it pleases. and as for the driving, its my only car and i live 100 miles from the closest dealer. i have no choice.

Seriously tell them to replace the cat, and wouldn't the car running lean make the cat last longer? Or is that the other way around?

i just called them to get the error code that came with my cel. it was p2096. i'm going to put that in google and see what i can come up with it more specifically than "an intake problem". my next move is to say that only way i'll take it back to them is if they check the cat. i'll see where that gets me.

You could use Google if you are into masochism, OR you could refer to our technical section and look it up in the list of CEL codes.

Whatev.

https://www.rx8club.com/series-i-tech-garage-22/rx-8-technical-info-cel-codes-pcm-pin-list-collision-guide-26291/

That code does indicate a large vacuum leak.....

thanks stealthtl.

i didn't know there was such a list. i had already figured out what the code was.
the unfortunate part of it is, is that i got another cel on my way to town today and i hooked up a scanner from advance auto and it came up p2096. same as before. now the dealer is going to give me free diag. the next time i have a chance to take it to them. most likely this week i'll get it there. my friend also printed off and diagnostic aid for the problem so i will have some idea what they are doing and why they are doing it and i will be alittle more informed for asking questions.

Good Luck!