RX-8 dies when stopping, only after driving for a while and won't start up again
 

I have searched and searched, and while I can find similar issues, I can't find anything that really fits my current problem.

I have a 2004 RX-8, with 81,534 miles on it.

Friday night, after driving to the airport, after a few stop lights/stop signs (after exiting the freeway), the car randomly died, and wouldn't start back up. After 30 minutes of letting it sit for a while, it started fine. It had plenty of gas, was not running abnormally on the freeway, and gave no indication anything was wrong until it died. When it started back up, the idle was a little rough, but eventually started running normally, and got back to our hotel just fine. Saturday morning, I moved it to a closer stall, let it warm up, reved it up a few times, let it go to idle, and it was acting completely normal. I didn't drive it any ware that day though.

Today, I had to take my Mom back to the airport, the car ran great, at first, but I noticed when I downshifted to pass, it didn't have it's usual pick up. When I got off the freeway, it was still running well, but died when I came to a stop, again, completely without warning (after plenty of red lights), and again, would not start back up (fortunately, this was as I was waiting to pull into the hotel). I pushed it into a parking stall, tried to start it, but again, no luck. I waited 45 minutes, and it started just fine. This time, I left it on for about an hour, it didn't die once, idled fine, engine seemed normal and strong.

The loss of power when passing, and fact that it seems to run fine when it's not in motion, and only dies after being driven (instead of just on) when I press the clutch in to come to a stop has me thinking the clutch might be bad, or something is wrong with the transmission (like maybe it only happens after that part of the car has been used for a bit), but I am unsure, and was hoping to get some feedback, so that I can try and keep the mechanic honest (or maybe find out it's something I can do myself), as I have an extended warranty, and I am really hoping it's something covered by it.

If it's something easy, I can do it myself, and would prefer to not have to take it to a mechanic if I can.

Any input is greatly appreciated.

id assume your battery is going out, also check your alternator and make sure its doing its job.

Battery is good, alternator is good as well. First things that came to mind for me as well.

spark plugs, ignition maybe?

No, if that was the case, the car would have problems staying on weather or not it's been driven. It only happens if the car is driving on the road for 30 min or more. I can turn it on, keep it in the parking stall, redline it, hold it constantly at 4k rpms, or whatever, and it will stay on just fine. It doesn't die until I have had it in gear for 30 min or so. I could be wrong about the ignition system. While I do a lot of my own vehicle work (when I can) I am not a professional. It just doesn't seem to fit to me.

Check for vacume leaks around the intake tube. Around the accordion piece. Check for cracks, old hoses. etc. Clean your E-shaft sensor , that is to the right of the crank pulley. The little "L" shaped device pointed at your crank pulley.

Make sure all your connections on your battery are on tight. I would get the same symptoms on my other car , the positive connector wasn't on tight enough and when the engine was at full temperature , the heat from the motor made the metal expand and after 30-40 min of driving the connector would be barely touching the post, end result the car would shut off.

Make sure you battery connectors are clean too.

Make sure your spark plugs are not fouled, low spark equates to poor idle or no idle at all.Make sure your spark plug wires are in good working condition, there not split, damaged, etc. Bad ignition coils could play a part in that too.

Can't think of anything else....

Since you bought your car with 65k miles on it, and you now have 81k miles on it, have you once replaced the spark plugs, wires, coils, and cleaned the MAF and the ESS? Have you reset the ESS profile?

Letting a car sit and idle away isn't the same as driving it in traffic.

BC.

Im willing to bet it something in the ignition.. batterie, coils, plugs...

Thanks for the input guys. I broke down and took it to a rotary specialist in my area (Tri Point Engineering in Chatsworth, CA) instead of trying to trouble shoot myself. I will let you guys know what they come back with. I hope its something simple, like the coils, spark plugs, or something. That stuff I can do myself (thanks to the forums on here). I already replaced the battery and checked the alternator. It came back fine.

Turns out it's low compression that gets worse when the car warms up. After it shuts down, the compression is so low that it can't start back up. Most likely culprit is the apex seals.

I have the sorta the same problem but most new does it when it's cold then when it warms up it doesn't do it anymore. But when it dies it will start up just fine and body think of what it could be?

What year is your car? If it's a 2004 or 2005 that could be very very bad, as it is likely to get flooded if it dies when it's cold. I would get it into a mechanic right away to at least diagnose it. If you are a do it yourselfer, once you get a diagnosis, if it's simple, you can fix it yourself. that being said, my car started out with small things that I didn't realize were symptoms. Once in a while it would die when I stopped at a red light, but start up without issue. After doing a lot of research on my own, before I posted this issue, your problem could be a multitude of things, from cheap (bad plugs, wires, coils, etc), to expensive (engine mount).

Mine does the same exact thing. But my car has 153k miles on it. Still the original engine as well. Both the dealer and my local rotary specialists did compression tests on it, they say its running just fine. I definitely need new motor mounts, and the rotary specialist says the fuel pump needs to be replaced. From what the other poster said, cleaning the crank sensor. Mine is completely black with like an inch of black grease sludge all over it. Just like everything else at the bottom of my engine. Never had an oil or any fluid leaks though. I should buy electrical contact cleaner spray right? My cat was replaced with a new high magnaflow cat. Another thing I also learned, if you have a high power wet/dry vac, disconnect the cat by the o2 sensor, and connect the shop vac hose to the other end, if you hear the shop vac struggle as if you put your hand over it, your cat is clogged, if its not clogged too bad, which was my case before i replaced it, it ends up sucking out a ton of black dust pieces which im assuming is carbon in chunks. I was told not do it because it would break my cat up with that suction, but it never did, no rattles or anything. I ended up having to replace it anyways after 6 months with the new high flow cat because of it being so old and getting rusty. Diddnt want to take the chance.

I have the same issue I am going to check fuel pressure

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If you replace the engine, among other things be sure to change the fuel pump. At your miles if it is the original OEM pump it is dying or soon will be.

So what ended up being the problem?