As the title of this thread obviously points out I have no clue what is going on with my car right now. I live in West Virginia and it has been humid as hell here the last couple weeks. I've noticed during this time that my car seems to be running really sluggishly. I don't want to use the term "overheating" because I don't know if that's the case, but I've definitely noticed a loss of power and a few really poor idles during this heat wave. The car has even shut off a couple of times when I've started it up.

I seem to notice the most problems whenever I run the AC on circulation through the car. A couple examples; I was on a hill the other day with my AC on and I was in a line of traffic waiting on a red light to change. It took more pressure on the gas pedal than usual just to get the engine to rev up. And I wasn't even sure if I was going to make it up the hill because there was a major lack of power. This seems to happen almost daily everytime I am on a hill....Today I was driving back from the gym and right as I was pulling into my place my car randomly shuts off. .

My car is an 04 bb. It's nearing 50k miles. I just took it to the dealership last month for a checkup, had the spark plugs changed and even had my air conditioning unit replaced because the one that was in there was defected (was blowing out hot air when I had it set to cold).

Any suggestions?

 

This is how our cars are in the heat, man. I live in Memphis and the other day I felt a big loss of power driving at about 11:30 am. If you know Memphis, it is among the most humid places in the country. And the rx-8 has hardly any torque in the low gears so it takes a lotta gas to get it going when it seems that even more power is lost due to the heat. It's normal I'm pretty sure, man, so nothing to lose too much sleep over. Although it is pretty late!

Hope this helps,

Jonathan

 

It was 101 degrees the other day and I ran my RX8 from stop light to stop light in city traffic. With the A/C on, i can feel a slight decrease in power. I have never felt under powered with the RX8 even in hot weather with the A/C in stop and go traffic. My RX8 never had unstable idling in hot weather with the A/C on either.

 

Only if you don't follow a good maintenance schedule or have a worn out engine.
35°c here and no issues. The car shouldn't feel sluggish at all, just a little less reactive like any car when's hot outside.

 

What do you suggest for a good maintenance schedule?

 

Depends, i'd replace the oil at least every 6000miles, the plugs every 20.000miles and the coils as soon as you can, especially if you're over the 30.000miles mark.
You can go as far as changing your oil every 3000miles but that's overkill for a street driven car, imho.
Also cleaning the MAF\IAT helps if you've never done that.
A good water to coolant ratio is 70\30. even 80\20 if it never freezes there.

Worn ignition systems (coil\plugs\wires) tend to suffer a bit more from hot temperatures, could you pull your spark plugs out and show us some pics?

I would still highly recomment contacting one of the guys @ blackhaloracing since you live so close (Charles R. Hill, Easy_E1 , Flashwing ) since they will probably set you straight with some kind of live inspection which is what a forum lacks!

 

Sounds like you both need to replace your ignition coils. Especially if you have 50K on the originals. $30 each, you need 4, and it takes an hour. Common problem. Search is your friend.

 

Just as a point of reference:

Might want to pick up a vacuum gauge, the the Actron one all auto stores carry, and measure your idle vacuum. If its unusually low, might be a tired engine. Gauge should only be $20 or so, and that's a lot cheaper than throwing parts at it hoping the problem goes away. New ignition parts won't fix a worn out engine.

 

Does your car have the MAZDA SPECIAL PROGRAM (MSP16) - ENGINE LACK OF POWER - PCM REFLASH? http://www.finishlineperformance.com...13-08-1925.pdf.

APPLICABLE MODEL(S)/VINS
2004-2008 RX-8 vehicles, produced from April 10, 2003 through November 9, 2007
• VIN Range: JM1 FE17** 40100053 - 80215462
DESCRIPTION
Some 2004-2008 RX-8 vehicles may experience a lack of engine power and/or low/rough engine idle speed in
high ambient temperatures. A revised PCM calibration is available which increases metering oil lubrication
amount during engine start and changes ignition timing control during high ambient air temperature conditions.

 

How difficult is it to do this because pretty certain i need this done and also my car jerks as if not getting gas or something when its hot above 80 outside and after ive been driving it about 30 min i have replaced coils plugs and battery but still doing it and it goes away if i add octane booster or let it sit and cool what could issue be? Ive cleaned maf and put ngk plus and delphi coils in it and seemed to he better for thousand miles then back ti like it was cant hardly get to work in it now

 

If you are referencing the PCM MSP16 reflash, you can't do it. That has to be done at the dealership (unless you know someone with an active subscription to IDS and a legitimate VCM-II.) Best bet is if you are not the original owner, call Mazda North American Operations, give them your VIN, and see if it has ever been into the dealer and had that flash performed. Though, based on your symptoms and what you are saying, and if it has that many miles on it like in the picture, that points me in the direction of low compression. You can have a compression test performed at the dealer for around $100.00 or so, which will confirm or deny if its a compression issue.

Based on what you are saying, like I said, it does sound like low compression, which would require a rebuild to fix.

 

Octane booster? So what octane do you normally feed the car?