Hi all,

Hoping you guys can help me pinpoint a problem I'm having. I got a 2004 Mazda auto RX-8, no mods except the Borla cat-back. It started when the weather got colder. Anyways, I noticed my car is having a much harder time starting than before. It almost sounds like it's sputtering before it can actually turn over.

After it does start up, when I put the car in manual mode (which I always do), and press the gas in first gear, the car feels like it's in limp mode from about 1k-3k RPM. After it gets pass that point, it revs up and drives normally. But, when I get to a stop sign and the car goes back to 1st gear, it happens again.

I also noticed that after I drove the car for about 20-30 minutes, the problem seems to go away and first gear feels like it should when starting from a stop.

Could this be a battery problem? I haven't changed my battery since I bought the car in 2004. Another possible culprit is that I've used some pre-mix this past summer (you know, pouring a little bit in the gas tank). I'm not sure if that affected the fuel lines or something.

Any help would be appreciated!
Thanks.

 

How many miles on it? Have you changed your plugs and or wires?

If it goes away, perhaps its just the cold weather? But I doubt it.
Makes sure its nice and warmed up before you rev it etc. Perhaps that MSP-16 flash might help if you haven't gotten that.

Do you drive it alot during the cold weather? Everyday sort of thing or every couple weeks etc. If its not very often maybe put the battery on a float charger while you're not driving it.

 

It has about 21000 miles on it. I took it to the dealer for the msp-16 reflash and they said they changed the plugs at the same time. I haven't changed out my wires, yet.

I tend to start the car and then immediately drive it without waiting to warm up, but I make sure I stay below 4k rpm until it's warmed up. I usually do drive it in the cold weather, like last year without a problem. That's why I'm thinking it's the battery that's going old or I introduced some problem with the fuel lines when I started using premix last summer, which I've stopped when it got colder.

 

get the new battery first off. secondly have you cleaned your air filter recently?

thirdly where are you? nobody ever puts where they are and that can save us diagnostic time

 

hmm thinking some more- could be tranny related. on the MTs there is a switch which tell the pcm you are in neutral. sometimes those get stuck and can cause rough cold idle that goes away when the warmed up switch starts working correctly.

could be a similar thing with the auto. have you tried driving in regular auto mode? does ti do this then?

 

Yep, I actually cleaned the air filter about two months ago, even though it wasn't that dirty to begin with.

I was thinking it might be something with the tranny to and didn't realize MT's had that sort of issue. I haven't driven in full auto-mode since...I can't remember
I'll have to give that a try at lunchtime and see if the same problem occurs.

If it doesn't, will this mean there is a problem with the tranny which I might have to replace? I haven't replaced the fluid since I last bought it so maybe that could be a fix. Or maybe I can not even drive in sportshift mode anymore

Anyway, thanks for the info!

Edit: BTW, I live in Utah

 

yeah if it doesnt do it in full auto then its a tranny issue. if it still does it still might be a tranny issue. change the tranny fluid asap. see if that changes it. if not it might just be a bad TCM