snyderej

Car was running ok, seemed to take 6-9 cranks or a few more to start lately. Started up to go to work and accidently stalled it leaving the neighborhood. It started again but probably wasn't warmed up. It made it about 90 feet then 1 rotor stopped firing. turned it around about 1/2 mile down the road knowing something was wrong and darted back home. By the time I got home the catalytic converter was glowing red (resulting from the non firing rotor still dumping gas I guess). Drove my trusty never failing bmw to work (sorry I'm just mad at this dam* thing). Got home and the RX8 started right up but after about 25 seconds one rotor stopped firing again. Checked the coils and 3 appeared bad so I replaced coils and plugs. Reset ECU. Won't fire at all (occasionally it sounds like one rotor starts to fire but thats probably wishful thinking). Any advice?

Also which is the leading (RE7 NGK I assume?) and trailing (RE9 NGK) plug, and is the upper plug the trailing or leading?

I8U

iTrader: (1)

synderej, you realize the car doesn't have "cylinders" right? For the sake of all things rotary, please stop saying that. As for the plugs, listen to Charles.

snyderej

Yep, 20 years of working on "cylinder" engines is a hard habit to break, just like being a problem pointer outer instead of a solution provider.....

leadguitarist05

haha, I used to work for BMW, you know they laugh about "the ultimate driving machine" slogan... NOT the ultimate reliability machine! lol, beemers are pieces of ****... expensive pieces of ****... no offense... but they aren't anymore reliable than RX8's are... just like I'm a lucky RX8 owner who's had minimal issues, you're a lucky BMW owner... luck of the draw!

I've been having an issue lately with my 8 though... it starts on one rotor... runs for a good 30 seconds to a minute before the second rotor starts firing too... I'm wondering if my plugs could be bad? coils? maybe bad compression in that rotor? fuel delivery problem? it only does it in warm weather and only the first time I start it for the day... once it's ran that day it starts perfectly the rest of the day, and it was cold and rainy all week last week and it didn't hesitate to start both rotors! not once! seems that the hotter the weather, the harder it is to start...

any advice anyone?

Old Rotor

Please give us the history on your car. The service it's had, miles and parts replaced. Type of driving it gets(long commutes, short trip), fuel used(reg or prem), ever flooded, mods installed. Have you ever run any engine de-carbon cleaner to improve compression? You might need this to clean up the carbon buildup from a lot of short drives and not much red lines. Just any thing that you can add.

leadguitarist05

it's got around 79,500 miles, oil changed regularly with Castrol GTX 10w 30, it received a mazda factory rebuilt motor at about 20k, had a bad eccentric shaft position sensor last year, was flooded as a result and the dealership fixed that... about six months ago it flooded and carbon locked... I used seafoam to get her going again...

I red line her at least once a day... always have... I have no mods, she's 100% stock except for the rims and ceramic brake pads.

about two to three months ago my radiator took a ****... she overheated a bit but never got into the red... I replaced the radiator and she's ran like a champ until this...

oh, and the very best gas mileage I've ever gotten was about 21-22 on the drive home from my last visit with my parents about 3-4 weeks ago... I set the cruise control between 65-70mph... before that the best mileage I had ever gotten was about 18.5-19mpg... on the freeway...

my gas mileage hasn't changed noticeably these last few weeks... once the 2nd rotor finally kicks in it's all business as usual...

I called Rick's Rotary in Pleasanton this morning and he said the first thing he'd try is some injector cleaner, so I poured a whole bottle of seafoam into about 3/4 of a tank of gas... I got a flashing cell tonight on the freeway on a hard pull in third gear at about 8k rpm...

leadguitarist05

oh, and usually long commutes... at least 30 minutes, save for the occasional trip to the grocery store... and I tried regular fuel for two tanks about a year ago before deciding that .02 cents wasn't worth the risk... it's only had Premium since...

Old Rotor

How many miles on plugs,coils,wires?

leadguitarist05

I don't know... if they replaced them with the new motor then between 50-60k...?

Old Rotor

I would replace those three items, it cost $250-300. My son and I did mine in around an hour. More then likely it will cost twice as much if the dealer does it. Look at the DIY section, some have good pics too.

snyderej

So, the original problem was I stalled it about 2-3 minutes after starting it on a 50deg morning (I've flooded it 2-3 times in the last 3 years and am getting used to blowing it out etc. and getting it going again). It started back up this time but then seemed to stop firing one rotor. after replacing all the plugs, coils - of which at least 2 coils measured bad (open). I believe the rear leading coil was also going bad after it began to warm up, it gave me some weird meter readings which would explain the single rotor firing. I went ahead and replaced the battery even though it was probably ok. I then had it towed 53 miles to the nearest Mazda dealer (Hennessey mazda on the southside of Atlanta), insurance paid about 1/2 the tow charge, I paid the other 44.00. Left a note in it as instructed with contact info and everything I had done and problem statement. I'm pretty busy during the week so I waited for them to call. After 6 days I called them and they said "Yeah we've been waiting for you to call to tell us what's wrong". I explained to the cocky guy the notes in the passenger seat as requested, OH was his not cocky response (kids, at least he sounded like a kid, I must be getting old ). However, they called 5 days later and said I could pick it up. So I asked whats the bill, nothing he said, we found it extremely flooded (I pulled the fuel pump fuse and blew it out when I was troubleshooting but they must have found more fuel in it, and they also burned the newest rev in the PCM and did a documented compression test to verify it's not dead yet (75k, I was hoping this car would make it to 120k but based on the posts I'm optimistic). Anyway it's back to feeling like it was 60k ago. I'd definitely recommend replacing the coils after 50 to 60k, that's about when I think I started noticing slight power loss. Having designed 80K to 100Kvolt atmospheric surface treaters, I've seen my share of insulation failure, I've been looking at the plastic bottoms of these coils and have convinced myself 2 have completely broken down the plastic and burned up the coil and one is probably arcing to the coil mounting plate after a couple minutes as the cracking plastic expands. So in all I spent ~440 on coils, plugs, battery and towing but Hennessey Mazda surprised me and really came through, even made it easy for me to pick up the car late, and they charged me NOTHING (still amazed at that but happy). I think there are 2 guys that answer the service calls there, one is definitely better than the other to talk too (called a few times to run ideas buy him before I sent it in). The other doesn't check before opening his mouth nor was he willing to offer any advice, but overall I'm happy i didn't pay another 2000 on this Da,,this car...I had convinced myself to sell it as soon as I got it fixed but am back to enjoying it again so I guess I'll keep it. Hope this detail helps.

nycgps

iTrader: (1)

... ok

I replace my coils no later than 20 K miles.

Hell, one time I replaced them all with just like 8 K miles.

YEs I spent quite a lot. it might not be necessary, but I keep it in top shape whenever I can