rx8 on fire
 

Hey guys. Do you have any suggestions as to what i should do... while driving on the freeway, i noticed that may RX8 started misfiring... when i got off the next freeway exit, my rear bumper had caught on fire :icon_no2: ...i understand that these are pretty hot cars, but not that hot :rollingla... anyways, do you think such stuff is covered by the warranty? i just hit 80k... greddy pipe and k&n intake... all else stock... thanks in advance...

i'm pretty sure it's the coils, and coincidentally, i have a DIY Engineering ls2 kit coming in this week, so that'll be fixed...
http://img197.imageshack.us/img197/4273/firetr.jpg

They will blame the aftermarket exhaust on this (and is probably the case). I'm guessing by pipe, you mean mid pipe minus cat? I'm thinking this one's going to be on you. You can try and scam the dealership, but obviously not recommended.

I don't think this ever really could happen unless you're 1) using aftermarket or 2) lacking maintenance on the vehicle (plugs/coils/wires/etc). If you do in fact have a cat delete setup, this would be the primary blame. I've never seen much in the way of flames get past a cat, but have seen a lot of flame on cat-less setups.

Misfire, plus no cat, plus large diameter Greddy tips = melt.

Agreed, this one's on you.

Greddy never made a cat delete setup.... i've got the SP exhaust they sell which is legal in CA and does not void the warranty... but seeing such responses makes me see that dealership will try to blame flying pigs rather than taking responsibility for a problem that is clearly on them =] maintenance on this car is done regularly, and i would have replaced the faulty coils in a heartbeat would i have spotted any problem, but there simply was nothing wrong with the car up until it misfired on the freeway...by the time i was able to stop (a couple of minutes worth of time), the darn thing was on fire =].... so if you're just trying to blame the maintenance/ nonexistent cat delete to make yourself feel better about your car that sill has a cat, then bad news...lol... have an extinguisher on your hands at all times

I have not yet read of an unmodified RX-8 doing this, even with misfires...
Except for the engine core warranty, I don't know of any other factory warranty that would cover anything related to this at 80,000 miles.

The dealership may address the misfiring (replace your coils) but they're going to tell you to take a hike on the fire damage. That is a direct result of not having a cat during a misfire condition - its on you.

Not saying it wasn't burning, but couldn't have been much. Looks more like a lot of melting, then some of the junk was in contact with the exhaust more than anything. If it was a spontaneous fire, one would think there'd be char and burn marks everywhere and the bumper would have more flame damage? That huge tip, and super rich mix looks to be your problem, I had to cut mine away for a dinky Corksport exhaust... Even had a pipe once and it never even melted a little, but it did do the flames nicely!!

But wait! That doesn't even look like a stock bumper.......

damn it, the car HAS a cat... i'm in CA, so i can't smog it without a cat...plus, there's just no reason in removing it in first place... but you're right, i called the dealership, they said to bring it in and reminded me that the warranty only applies to the engine, so this is on me...no big deal though, it's just the cheap plastic insert...everything else looks fine under the car... but, @ spin9k, it was burning really well =] i had to run to some yogurt place to get a bucket to put the fire out! lol.... the lady in there was like "your car is on fire!"...lol... but, this car (the catback and k&n) is practically all stock...this is just an extreme of how abruptly the ignition coils can die, and the direct result of it... so for any of you 04-08, let this be a lesson! either get or make an ls2 ignition solution, or you may as well find yourself in a similar, if not worse situation... i don't really care about the damage since it's an easy fix, just glad that wasn't my bacon... =]

:lol: sorry to laugh ... but when I read your reply .... I can just picture you going to that yogurt place with your car melting away.... did they give you water or a bucket of old yogurt :lol2: ??? (just kidding)

That has to suck. Last time I saw one like that was when a guy had a single race exhaust and it was soooooo hot.... it melted the bumper way worse than yours. Any way you should be able to pick up a shroud replacement on the forum... just cut some of it away this time and it should not happen again - after you get your new coils.

Ouch. I don't see how this happened with a stock cat converter.

http://img28.imageshack.us/img28/5215/img015kz.jpg
http://img233.imageshack.us/img233/6742/img016vp.jpg
http://img202.imageshack.us/img202/5410/img017em.jpg

there, some more pics, better look of the damage....and what's that?...on that last pic? the cat, perhaps?.... as i'm saying, this is practically all stock.... check your ignition coils...or :mchase:

spin9k, i wish it was yogurt, but the one they handed me was with water...lol.... good one =]

It did on my car when the only mod was the Corksport catback exhaust.

Are those stock exhaust tips? If not, are they larger with less clearance to the plastic ?

This happened to my friend's dad's car. Almost exact same scenario. Driving on the highway and suddenly caught fire. Dealership said unburnt fuel in the cat caused the fire.

i already got those plastic inserts from a local dealer, and after putting them back on, the clearance seems fine...i mean the old ones did just fine up until the misfire... and, Dale8000, it certainly was due to unburned fuel... IMO, one of the ignition coils went bad, so there was quite a bit of fuel combusting in the exhaust... whatever got out, must've spilled on the bumper cover, causing a fire... @ PeteInLongBeach, the exhaust is Greddy SP, so no, the tips are certainly not stock... anyways, my ls2-to-rx8 wires are coming in tomorrow, and i got my harness and d585's today...hopefully that'll be the last of my car catching on fire due to crappy ignition coils...what a joke...:icon_no2:

when I put my non stock mufflers/exhaust on I had to cut some of the plastic off , make sure it is not touching at the bent at the back of the cover . if any of the exhaust is touching cut it away or poof .

My question was not "does the clearance seem fine to you", it was "is there less clearance" than stock tips?

There have been lots of bad coils reported here, along with related misfires and shutdowns. This is the first I've read about the tailpipes melting the surrounding trim, so I have to wonder if it was due to less clearance (or something else).

let me assure you, this is all the coil's fault... i'm saying so, because my exhaust pipe didn't melt anything (prior to this situation)... the tiny trails of burning fuel in those tips leading into the pipe were the proof of that....i don't have a picture of that on me because i was preoccupied with putting out the fire when i saw my car in flames :yesnod:
as to the clearance of the pipe... it is with a 100% certainly that i can tell you that the larger exhaust tips of the Greddy SP exhaust system allow for less clearance around them than the embarrassing stock IV tubes...:squint: i can also assure you that the actual sound dampening system inside the muffler of the Greddy SP is a lot less restrictive than the stock application, which is why i saw those burning fuel trails which people probably would not have on a car with unmodified exhaust.

but i'll clarify this again, the fire was caused by the burning fuel which made it's way out of the exhaust system onto the bumper cover...all thanks to the total disgrace of a coil Mazda managed to whip up for our cars... now, i'm sure the tips were pretty hot too, partially contributing to the melting, but the fire was the direct result of an ignition coil going bad suddenly and completely on a car with an unrestrictive exhaust system. nonetheless, thanks for advices and whatnot :wavey:

i'll try D585's tomorrow or tuesday =] that should end the coil issue once and for all :wiggle: ...maybe even make some sort of a "how to" and some associated costs =]... but we'll see

I don't discount the coil failure, but it also sounds like the non-stock, unrestricted exhaust contributed to the scenario which resulted in the fire.

Based on your account of the incident, it seems the stock Mazda exhaust would be safer in the event of coil failure.

i still dont understand what "greddy pipe" means in your original post

@PeteInLongBeach, that's exactly what i said... IMO, the stock pipe probably would not have allowed for the burning fuel to get onto the bumper cover...but, that only means that it would have combusted in the muffling system, causing heat build up next to the gas tank...would you agree? after all, that's simply the chemistry of the situation... x amount of fuel provides y amount of energy, regardless of where it ignites... and i'm just not sure which option would cause more damage... but, i've already replaced the coils with the GM D585's and the car runs absolutely perfect... also, the car hasn't caught on fire or melted anything....so the LR ignition coil that was completely dead is to blame after all ;)
@Zoom44, if you do as much as type in "Greddy SP RX8" into the google search, you'll know what i was referring to... I only mentioned that it was the "Greddy SP" exhaust like a bunch of times...the only other thing that Greddy makes in terms of exhaust upgrade is the SP elite....google is a friend

anyways, this is the new toy =] i put about $320 into it, plus about 3 hours of labor... not sure about the gas consumption yet, but feels a lot smoother through the whole rpm range... not sure about the exact power numbers either, but definitely not a loss in that department...
http://img847.imageshack.us/img847/813/ignitioni.jpg

since then, i've replaced the acrylic pieces next to the coils with some wire-ties :fingersx: