Hi guys,

I've got an 04 with around 80,000 miles on it. It's been real sluggish when cold lately. Once it warms up, it runs fine. Any ideas?

Thanks,

 

This is from RIWWP's "new and potential owners thread"

Warm it up before hard driving!
This is true for ANY car out there. Not just rotaries. Let the car warm up before you start mashing the throttle or revving the snot out of it. Keep light on the throttle and under 4k rpm until the water temp needle is pointing straight up (or however slight off of straight is normal for your car). Even then, technically the oil temps aren't fully up yet, but they are getting there. Mazda actually put a lower rev limit when the water temp is under a certain point to help reinforce this. The 2004-2008 RX-8s have a rev limit of ~5,500 rpm until the water temp reaches 100F (I think, might be off). The 2009+ RX-8s have a 2 stage rev cut, at 5,000rpm and 7,000rpm I believe, each at a different water temp point. This doesn't really mean that it's 100% safe just because you have cleared the rev limit, so give it some time, take it easy, and let it warm up. No need to let it idle warm (though some do), light throttle driving is just fine.

Here is the thread:
https://www.rx8club.com/rx-8-discuss...t-here-202454/

Most of the answers you will seek will be there.

 

I'm having the same problem with my '05 automatic, 75K miles (new engine at 40K). I took the car to the dealership a month ago (for a gas leak which they fixed) and they said nothing else was wrong with the car.

Something has to be up though because I've had this car since it was new and it didn't used to drive poorly when cold. It feels like it's about to stall, and I'm afraid to pull out in traffic the first 15 minutes I'm driving it because the acceleration is SO sluggish, jerky and unreliable. Then once it's warm it seems to drive ok.

So, I'm wondering.... Did you found a solution to this problem jmccalli?

 

Whens the last time you changed the Coils/Plugs and Plug Wires?

 

You can get a clue about the coils by reading its part number on them. If it reads N3H1 18 100 then they definitely need replacement, as the 100 series were last produced in 2006.

This summer my 2006 RX-8 started to have trouble starting up while cold and I checked the coils. I noticed it had 100 series coils on it, which meant they were 7 y.o. I replaced them with 100B series, and that problem has completely gone away.