thehulk623

hey fellow rotary gurus! I have a 2004 rx8 6spd with a arm intake, under drive pulleys and a cat delete mid pipe. I have a misfire cylinder two cel flashing and remaining on. I have replaced the basics such as plugs , wires, coils. I have done the nvram brake stomp. Cleaned the mass air flow sensor. I have tried sea foam.. I had a clicking sound that sound like an arching sound from a plug wire. Put tried taking out the ssv valve. It was filthy in sludge . With that finding I checked my intake and it was coated in oil!!. I just ordered a oil catch can. I will install this week. I'm also going to take the upper intake manifold off and seafoam the ssv again and intake. Does anyone know of any other troubleshooting ideas? The car still drives fun under normal load. But when I try to give it hell it surges after five thousand rpms and almost feels like something is getting stuck or clogged. Any feedback would be appreciated.

stinksause

iTrader: (5)

could be vdi/apv sticking? Does the misfire occur only at high rpm? Any vacuum leaks?

niteshade247

I wonder if the under drive pully is causing this. Under drive pulleys are not advised on a rx8 it can cause meany problems with cooling alternator power and other things.

stinksause

iTrader: (5)

Swapping to stock if easier than taking lim off - I have stock pulleys if you need

thehulk623

It dont misfire at all when I'm not in gear and just rev it. But when I'm driving and put it under load it misfires / surges! Feels like something is stuck or clogged real bad. It feels like it almost forces itself clear and takes off. Now if I pull it slow up to six grand in second then hit it down hard its fine. I'm not sure what the vdi /api is? Can you elaborate for me please. I really appreciate you guys helping me out. I dont have my stock pulleys and really have no desire to swap. I dont feel its them causing the issue. Cause I have had them on for two yrs before I had this problem occur.

niteshade247

VDI is a valve or shutter at the front of the intake before the air filter. If it's not opening when it should it could cause the surge of power but not the misfire. Misfire with new ignition system and loss of power could be a sign of a failing engine if you've covered all the bases for misfire troubleshooting get a compression test.

Big light bulb moment. I just reread your post. You misfired then replaced the ignition system. Your comment of something being clogged brought a thought to mind. A single misfire can clog a CAT and could cause power loss till back pressure gets high enough to force it's way through. Drop your CAT do a inspection if you can't see clearly through it or it has cracked or chunks missing it's bad. Do this ASAP a clogged CAT can and will kill the engine and in short order.

Khurram

If you haven't driven her hard (redlined) in a few weeks then cel would flash.
Redline it a few times to clear out any carbon and it should be fine.

Also, if you remove the upper intake or lower intake, make sure you buy all the gaskets or else be prepared for a vacuum leak.

niteshade247

I don't know about the LIM but you don't have to buy gaskets for the UIM I've had mine off a few times now and no vac leaks. Just be easy with it and don't turn the bolts down to hard remember the UIM is plastic.

thehulk623

Heck ya I just got my oil catch can in the mail. This weekend in going to try and take the upper intake manifold off. Is this process harder then taking the ssv out? That project took me two hours. I really hope if I take the upper intake off I can solve the situations I have been having. Cause I wanna get all that oil and sludge out. So I'm going to drench the adv and runners on manifold in sea foam an let sit for an hour or so. I miss my 8 being healthy. Anything I should try or do with the upper manifold off and laying around? Any other troubleshooting I can do?

Legot

iTrader: (1)

Did you rest both the NVRAM and the KAM? They're both equally important when messing with engine control equipment!

I know you did a cat delete, but did the cat blow out beforehand? If it did, the debris could be clogging the cat back, that's more the cause of a random misfire though. Since is only misfiring on one rotor, could you have an issue with installing your coils and wires? A loose connection or intermittently bad coil would do the same as what you're seeing.

thehulk623

I'm did the brake stomp clear. Plus I had my battery off for a couple hours when I took the ssv out. I wish I could figure it out. I keep getting two of the same code for misfire cylinder two
. I'm hoping to take the upper intake manifold off and clean everything with seafoam. I'm also going to replace all the hoses as maybe one got cracked to eliminate vacuum issues.

Williard

iTrader: (18)

OP,

Get a pressure test done on the cooling system..

I had an issue similar (clicking was SSV) Went through the normal list, plugs, wires, coils ETC...

Turns out i had a small coolant leak in the #1 Rotor housing.

Pull the plugs and see if they are wet, smell your exhaust (outisde of course) coolant smells sweet.

If you have a code reader or COBB or anything like that, do a DATA LOG and post it up.

Hope that helps


Travis

thehulk623

I pulled my plugs and they were not wet at all. More like the car was running lean. They were a brownish color. Only code it was reading was p3002 random misfire in cylinder two. Two of the same code. How did you fix your issue? Did you take the ssv out?

Williard

iTrader: (18)

Hulk,

My issue has changed i guess is the word for it. Seeing as my car is spread apart through my garage. Im currently replacing the engine and going F.I.

Have you tried swapping coils/wires to see if the fault follows?


Travis

thehulk623

Yes sir, I actually have a set of mad plug wires and another set of plugs. The misfire stays with my second set of ignition parts on. I am stumped lol

Williard

iTrader: (18)

Did you test the coils though? swap the coils if not. see if the fault follows to the other rotor.

Travis

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04Green

iTrader: (1)

Hmm, Lot of good stuff tried.

Have you cleaned the ESS sensor?

Also, correct me if I am wrong, you are good applying power up to about 5K, then it peters out but recovers after a bit. If you accelerate slowly, it is fine. There is another post out there that describes something similar, but I do not recall if it got resolved. The fact that it recovers leads away from the fuel pump. But, at your age, that should be on the list.

I forget the name of the valves that inside the irons, that tune the intake. The oil might have gotten that far and that could be the gumming up and sticking. From what I understand, you cannot get at them with the engine in the car. Others will hopefully chime in here. Also, the seafoam ports people use do not go through this area, I forgot why.

Wait for a few more the chime in on this recommendation, but, if it were me, ...
If the oil garbaged up those valves, you can get a cleaner in there by loading up on fuel injector cleaner (I like Lucas) or using the spray version of seafoam in a vacuum line, while the engine is running. Since you will be tossing cleaners in there, I would toss some 2 cycle oil in the tank with the injector cleaner to ensure you maintain the oil film on housing.

Best I got. But, see if the more experience folks have a comment before trying the above. Just because I would do it does not mean it is right, it just means I would do it.