The story goes: Car has driven awesome since I got it 3-4 months ago until today. I drove to work, no problems, I left work, no problems. I stop for gas at a valero, get my 12 gallons of 91, and the car starts shuddering like its about to stall. I give it some gas, it shudders but ends up moving me along, but as soon as I push the clutch in and revs drop below about 1500, it stalls. I got out and don't notice anything glaringly obvious, nothing dripping, nothing broken, but I'm no mechanic...

I try to turn it on again, no luck, it was like I had no battery. Let it sit a minute or two and it worked ok for a couple hundred yards before the CEL started flashing and the engine got very rough, then it stalled again at low RPM. I managed to drive it home about 2 miles by keeping the RPM above 2k the entire time, but when I parked there was a little bit of white smoke (smelled sweet maybe?) coming from the upper right side of the engine compartment.

I let it sit for an hour or so and decided to try it out. It was ok for about a mile, but then it started up again.

My guess, after reading some info here and elsewhere, is it may be something with the coolant. I am planning to take it to a mechanic tomorrow, unless one of you guys has any experience with this particular problem and knows an easy fix. Thanks!

 

can't really say man. sweet smell is normally coolant and our temp gauge is largely useless. Check your coolant level. Then look into buying a obd2 dongle and the torque app if you have a smart phone. Taht way you can check actual engine temps.

Flashing cel is a missfire. It can be caused by many things. So first check out the ignition. Stock system is known to have low milage failures. Also plugs are only good for about 30K miles. It's expensive, but alway's best to swap plugs and do an oil change on a car that is new to you.

You can but a cheap HEI plug tester from anauto parts store and check your coils for yourself.

The best thing to get done is a rotary specific compression test. Yeah it's another 100-200 bucks but it lets you know if the engine is bad before you throw all sorts of money at other stuff.

Have you read through the new owners thread and the 100 dollar thread?

 

I had a similar problem on an old ap1 s2000, and often times a rough or low idle that stalls out can be due to a vacuum leak. Look for bent or cracked hoses coming to and from your radiator as well as air/water pumps. Also check the couplings themselves and make sure they all have the C-Clamps on snug and tight. This is all integral to the car breathing properly, which is massively important to keeping the combustion cycle going.

I'm by no means an expert, but this is a good place to start before paying for a new motor you may not need

 

Search.

Engine--> Symptom troubleshooting

M A Z D A

 

I had this same thing happen to me, and it was a failing fuel pump. It would die shortly after startup, and if I kept it above 2-3k then it wouldn't stall.

I don't know of any way you can 100% rule this out; as even a pressure won't tell you if it's pushing the correct volume at pressure. The best thing I could prescribe is that the next time it stalls; listen carefully for your fuel pump. If you can't hear it, it's bad.

Depending on your comfort level with doing your own maintenance, you can replace the fuel pump motor for about $50 instead of dropping over $300 for a new assembly.

 

Thanks for the advice everyone! After trying to work i on it this weekend I found out the problem is outside my knowledge and skill to diagnose.

I took it to a shop this morning and say they need to replace all 4 ignition coils, which seems to be a little odd to me. All 4 shouldn't go out at the same time, unless something else takes them out, right?

 

Flashing CEL, always a misfire:
https://www.rx8club.com/series-i-tec...t-here-222280/


https://www.rx8club.com/series-i-tro...t-here-222584/

Starting the Engine
• Starter
• Battery
• Engine Compression
• Grounding Wires
• Ignition Coils
• Spark Plugs
• Spark Plug Wires
• Fuel Pump
• Fuel Injectors

 

Yeh, ignition components are a wear item on our cars. You should replace coils/plugs/wires as a unit every 25,000 miles or so. Never just replace coils or plugs or wires by themselves, replace 'em all at the same time.