KoroshiyaJason

I have a 2004 RX-8 A/T that I bought with 3,800 miles. It's currently at about 13,700, and I finally had my first issue with the car. I was going up a decently steep hill on the return from work and I was in manual mode 3rd gear RPMs a little below 3k, and I drive this every day, but for some reason instead of keeping a consistent ~57MPH, the car didn't seem to have the power and slowly started dropping. So I gave it more gas, which didn't seem to help so I go to downshift to 2nd when I have a serious loss of power - like losing one of the rotors, and the engine picture on the dash starts blinking. So I'm in second limping up this hill trying to get over (Reno traffic = nobody nice enough to let me over), and eventually I get to the top of the hill and the car is fine. It never died; it just suffered a huge power loss. After the power loss, everything seemed to be normal and there was no visible CEL. The car had oil pressure the entire time. I pulled over as quickly as possible (but after the power loss), and there were no funny smells. So I drove it around this residential block, and everything seemed fine. And I made it home okay. So I'm confused and not sure if I should be worried or not. Clogged fuel filter already, maybe?

Razz1

No it's the CAT Converter.

That's one of the test: drive up a steep hill if power declines the catalytic converter is clogged.

KoroshiyaJason

I was really hoping it was just a hiccup in the fuel system. It would seem like a clogged catalytic converter would be more of a consistent problem. This (so far) has only happened once, and it was a major drop in power. But, again, any hints towards diagnosing the problem are so vague I'm actually hoping the car was just nice enough to fix itself...
The real question I have is whether or not I should spend my next Saturday at the dealership trying to get them to honor the warranty and check the car out or not. I don't think the car has had any of the recalls or TSBs performed, but, like I said, up until now I haven't had any problems at all (other than poor fuel economy, which I have realized all along is my driving style/nature of the rotary)...