Weird noise and hard starts
 

So I have a 2004 Manual RX8 with about 68000km on it right now and i've noticed it has started making a wierd sort of ticking noise around 3000rpm while cruising. the noise goes away as soon as i push in the clutch. I've also noticed that in the last two days the engine seems to be starting louder but then goes back to normal, we just had a blizzard the other day though so that could be related. On a side note it's about -17C right now

The other issue I've been having is that the engine has been having trouble starting if i shut it off warm and try to restart it shortly after, I've had my coils replaced about a year ago and I just had my wires and plugs changed last week. My mechanic noticed that my spark plugs were pretty carboned up so he replaced the leading plugs with hotter ones.

I spent about the last hour searching and couldn't really find anything that really fit what I have happening right now.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

There is only one set of spark plugs for the RX8. They are made by NGK and there are trailing and leading plugs. You should have just replaced all of them. They cost about $23 a peice.

You may want to look into a HIGH CCA battery especially since you are in much colder weather then most people on the forum. I have a 650 CCA battery that works fine for me. You might want to look for a 650+ CCA battery. This should help with the starts.

Warm starts can take a couple extra cranks, but should not be anything excessive. I bought my car with 48k miles and thought it ran well. A few months later, I found out there was low compression and got a new engine. You may want to look into a compression check.

As for the ticking, where is it coming from? Have someone try to pin point the noise while you rev the engine. Check under the hood and under the car to see if you can get a general idea of where it is coming from.

check coils .. replacing mine took that sound away for me.

Now that you mention it, the ticking could be the coils or it could be the spark plug wires. If the boot is not on properly or if the metal contact is creeping, you may have some arching going on.