RX8 will not stay on. Dies at idle
 

Hello everyone,

First of all i would like to introduce myself a little bit since i am new to this. My name is Eddie and ive had my 2004 rx8 since 2006. Up until last year it ran fine.

However, over the years I had noticed that the rx8 would take slightly longer and longer to turn on (up to about 3 or 4 seconds). I figured it was the fuel pump going bad because the spark plugs are new and i also started to notice some throttle issues. The pull was very weak at higher RPMs and the car just felt "slow" overall. Me, being the idiot that i am, put it off and tired not to think much about it. :wallbash:

Anyway, in October of last year, i was driving and as i came into a parking lot the car started jerking and eventually shut off on me. I had just enough speed to pull into a parking spot.

I tried turning it back on and it worked but my RPMs seemed unstable. They remained under 1000 rpms until it shut off on me once again.

Worried that i would damage the car even further if i tried driving it in that condition, i drove it home and put it in the garage.

Longer story short, at the time i was in school, wasn't working much, and didn't have the money to get it fixed. The winter was coming and i didn't want to drive it in the cold so i put it away for the winter.

So now it has been sitting since October of last year. I tried turning it on a few times in the winter just to see if it would turn on but no luck. I always suspected that my fuel pump was bad because i had never gotten it serviced before.

Recently (2 days ago), I finally decided to order a new fuel pump and install it myself. The next day I jumped the car because my battery was dead and i got nothing :sad:

THEN, i thought id try a de-flooding technique that i found in another thread. After about an hour or cycling through the "fuel pump fuse" technique i FINALLY got it to turn on but now im back to the same problem i had back in october.....my car stays on as long as i keep the RPMs up. But once i let go of the gas it shuts off.

so PLEASE, someone give me some feedback. Has anyone had this problem?
or maybe have an idea of what could be wrong?
i really want to avoid taking it to the dealer because they will charge me an arm and a leg....and i don't have either to spare.

Here is a video of when i finally got my rx8 to start:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6svleJOXp7k
the check engine light turns on @ 0:34 and if you skip to 2:08 you'll see when it shuts off
also, that popping noise is the exhaust backfiring i believe

Here's another:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yk_Z0uqjCm4
in this video i kept the RPMs up long enough for the engine to completely warm up before i let go of the gas.

ok, how many miles on your car? when was the last time you changed out your coils? I see you did plugs...
Also, do you know if your catalytic converter is clogged? Remove it and inspect.
Find a way to get the check engine light read (autozone reads it for free) and post the results here.

Lastly, you should get your compression tested at a mazda dealer. They usually charge $100-150. If you have bad compression, it will be free, but you'll have to have your engine replaced. If you're under 100k miles, it's under warranty

Good luck

My 8 just started doing this as well. Havent figured it out yet.

Mine doesnt die at idle (yet), but noticed erratic idle today at stoplights. Starting has been getting worse the last two weeks.

Mine sounds like yours for a minute of so, then sounds normal- and drives normal.

Also check for vacuum leaks, check the accordion tube upper plastic elbows. Mine were old and cracked, which caused a small vacuum leak. Car wouldn't stay on and would stall at idle.

1) Check the entire intake system, especially the three plastic elbows on the intake hose.
2) Reset the e-shaft profile.
3) Clean the e-shaft sensor.
4) Check your air filter.
5) Clean the MAF sensor.
6) Make sure you have good fuel and oil, too.

Charles- thanks for taking a look at this thread.

OP- I think we have different issues.

Mine is getting worse- hardly starts- sounds flooded. I have LOTS of white smoke- smells sweet.
I think Ive got a blown coolant seal, which is leaking coolant into the combustion chamber.

Im going to check my coolant level once my car cools down.

Definitely sounds like a coolant seal issue, Cam.

Sorry for the late response. As you can see im new and i never even noticed that i had several responses.

I have about 47K miles on it and i have never changed my coils. I should probably check those out also. The last time i actually drove it last year and my check engine light was on i took it to Autozone and they told me one of the possibilities was that there was something wrong with my Air/Fuel ratio.

I also read in another forum that the O2 sensor before the catalytic converter is known as the air fuel ratio sensor. I replaced the second O2 sensor last year but never even thought about the first one.

Yesterday I decided to take a look underneath and check the first O2.....it was completely BLACK!

Could this be a possible explanation to why my 8 keeps dying at idle?

If you haven't gotten to them all yet, the biggies are here in this thread. Coils and MAF have been mentioned. I would do MAF first, cheapest and easiest. The computer seems really good at adjusting for a lot of stuff on these beautiful little motors. But, when something gets too far gone, it goes to hell. A dirty MAF will make it very hard to keep thing in line, it will not know how much air is really going in. A vacuum leak , or leak in one of the accordion hoses, will do the same thing. While not really vacuum, it is letting air in down stream of the MAF that is not part of the calculations. I learned this the hard way.

You have had the car for awhile, so a re not a new owner, I would still suggest the links in my sig, both new owner and $100. $100 applies for the age of the car and picks up several other possible contributors like the grounds.

Good luck.

Yeah what this guy said.
Especially the e-shaft sensor.
Get that cell read if its a P0335...
It's exactly what happened to me.
https://www.rx8club.com/series-i-trouble-shooting-95/p0335-eccentric-shaft-position-sensor-circuit-problem-car-will-not-idle-194505/

Chances are you either need to clean or replace your MAF sensor.

In one of the toolbars above, there is a spot called Thread Tools. In this dropdown, you can select Subscribe. This will give you various options of keeping track of a thread including sending you an email everytime someone responds.

Sorry to bring this thread back, but mine has the exact same problem. It happened today, but instead of idoling weird for minutes like yours, mine shuts down almost immediately after I start it. If i give it juice though, it'll stay on. As soon as I let go, it drops to idol, then turns off. But... I had it towed; hopefully it's nothing big.

engine going down. sorry to tell you the bad news.

a PROPER running engine will NOT just die on idle.

Hello my name is AJ,

I've had the same issue happen to me 2 weeks ago. Read up on my post I made recently.
https://www.rx8club.com/rx-8-discussion-3/issues-8-need-help-215377/

Sorry buddy, I took it to the dealership and my friend/mechanic told me my motor went out. One of the 2 rotors was not spinning and was misfiring, had no compression in the engine.. My engine had to be replaced... luckily my miles were at 93k. Read up on my posts and replies... esp. the last one.

sooo mine started doing this, PLEASE HELP, my dealer wants me to keep my extended warrenty even though i just cancelled it 2 days ago, not sure why since when i bought the car it came with a 3 month, 3 thousand mile warranty from them. HELP!!!! mine has the same problem, dies on occasion at idle, but is rough and sounds really loud and crappy. So whats the overall consensus? What do i do? 6 Speed, 55xxx miles, 2004.

And just went out again and now it wont START AT ALL! HELP!!!!!

Unfortunately we have heard nothing from the original OP.

Have you tried the above suggestions?

For the ones that hopped on with the same problem, especially the 04 -06 ones...

The compute is pretty darn smart, it can adjust for a lot. But, when it can adjust no more, it goes to hell fast. Part of the going to hell process leaves you flooded. Then you are in hell.

People here are saying clean the MAF, coils and plugs. MAF is part of the $100 thread below. I would look at the grounds (made an immediate difference for me, also in the $100 thread and cheap) before spending money on coils and plugs. You will need coils and plugs sooner or later, but if you have MAF and ground issues, problems will come back.

I read that when i first got on here. I dont have a garage, but i guess ill have to work these things out.

Also, it would not blow AC either, just hot air it seemed like. And it just happend so fast too, ran fine on the night before, than try to leave the next day.

Well got it figured out, turns out to be an ignition coil, BladeCutter helped me troubleshoot it and figure it out. Just one bad intermittently functioning coil.

Just to help out other people, I'll go into a bit more detail for everyone on what the car did, how we tested it, and what we did to temporarily resolve it (no shops in Denver have coils on hand to purchase at any price point on Saturday).

Slvrmzdrx8 called me on Friday night, asking for a bit of advice with his car.
He said it was running really rough, smelled really bad, and had no power.

His car is an '04 manual with 55k miles on it.

I asked him if he had a CEL on, and he said yes.
I then asked him if it was flashing, and he said yes.
I told him to not drive it until I could get there the next day, if possible.

So Saturday, he tried starting it again, after calling me on the phone.
Again, rough running, flashing CEL, and bad smell, along with no power.

I had him do the 20 pedal stomp, just to see if that helped any.
It did a smidge, but not much.

So I made my way over to his place, and first thing was I connected my timing light to his coils, and found that the 3rd coil was not firing at all.
I believe that coil feeds the leading spark plug on the rear rotor. (if I'm incorrect on that, can someone let me know?)

So we decided to swap the #3 and #2 coils to see if the no fire follows the coil, or if it stays with the cylinder.

As soon as he started the car, it was idling perfectly, and the #3 spark plug wire (originally the #2 coil) was showing good spark, while the #2 coil (originally #3 coil) was showing intermittent firing.

CEL was still on, but no longer flashing.

So, proof positive of a coil issue.

Slvrmzdrx8 then took his car out for a spin, and noted that all his missing power was back, and seemed to have brought a couple extra friends with them.

We then zipped over to O'Reilly's, and borrowed their code reader, and got a P0300 Random Misfire code, and cleared it out. CEL then stayed off.

Car has good power again, starts way easier than before the 20 pedal stomp and coil position swap, no longer stinks of unburned fuel, and idles perfectly.

The coils on his car are the original coils from the 2003 build date of his car.
He is ordering new coils to replace them, and that will be done as soon as he receives them.

Hope this bit of info can help other people with troubleshooting and resolving the issue with their cars.

BC.

OK...So what worked? Same deal for my car. Changed out plugs, wires, ignition coils, catalytic converter cleaned MAF and TB new ECU flash. Eshaft sensor cleaned and position reset. Checked compression it Otay too. Ran great for about 1k then pffft back to intermittent rough idle and stalling. What do I need to direct the guys at the dealership to do, other than start finance paperwork on a new ride?

Hey guys. Here's a little background info on my 8.
It's 2005 70,600miles. Got BHR coils about 6k miles ago at most. AEM intake. BHR catless midpipe. Stock headers stock catback. Fuel pump is stock as far as I know. Plugs haven't been changed since before the BHR coils and wires. It's been about 8k miles since I changed the plugs.

Anyway so the story behind my 8 is yesterday I was driving for about 8 miles after class to go to my gf house. Temp is about 25 degrees Fahrenheit. No problems going to class. While at a light the car idle dropped to 750 and jumped back up which is normal for my 8 to do that once in a while every few weeks. Then I get to a second stop light and it can't find a good idle spot goes from 800 to 750 to 1.2k then to 500. Once it went to 500 I revved it for a second. Then it did it again about 30 seconds later and went below 500 and I tried revving but it was too late it died on me. I pushed it to the gas station next to me with some help. I let it cool down for about 45 mins and got it running again. I decided to drive back home instead of going forth to my gf house. The car died again at a light about 10 miles after the first one. I have to keep it idling with the gas or else it will eventually slow from 800 to 0.

I really could use some help please.