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Bought a used RX8, Did I Blow the Engine?

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Old 08-28-2019, 12:12 PM
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Originally Posted by thebubbadog
Coolant lever sensor location is here


Coolant temp sensor

That's just the connector. The actual sensor is located on the bottom of the coolant bottle.
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Old 08-28-2019, 12:24 PM
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Originally Posted by CaymanRotary
That's just the connector. The actual sensor is located on the bottom of the coolant bottle.
This is true but it still doesn't affect the car starting or operating.
Old 08-28-2019, 12:30 PM
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Originally Posted by thebubbadog
This is true but it still doesn't affect the car starting or operating.
100% correct.
Old 08-28-2019, 12:37 PM
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Originally Posted by BenG
Thank you for the reply!
The coolant is definately full and has stayed full with no leaks
The part thats almost here is the coolant resivour which comes with a new sensor.
Is it possible that thats the issue though? Because that sensor helps the engine choose fuel ratio.
Looking at an ob2 reader the sensor is locked on hot Im pretty sure. And like mentioned above because the sensor thinks the engine is always warm im pretty sure it doesnt give enough fuel on start when engine is cold so it doesnt fire up
You're confusing things. The sensor in the bottle ONLY measures the level, it has no influence on fuel mixture. The ECU does not look at its signal.

The coolant temperature sensor is a different thing, there is no light for it failing. There is a code, but it is not P0420 and that sensor failing usually causes immediate limp mode, which you would have noticed.

Not being able to restart while warm is a sign of low compression.

What are you seeing in OBD that leads you to believe that it is locked hot? What is the OBD coolant temperature reading?
If that was locked hot, your engine temperature gauge would always show hot, even when the car is cold. Is that the case?

Please provide the info you're seeing from the car, not your interpretation of it. It'll help us get to the bottom of this.

Last edited by Loki; 08-28-2019 at 12:41 PM.
Old 08-28-2019, 12:44 PM
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This p0420 reading kn my ob2 though says its possible its and ect
Old 08-28-2019, 12:51 PM
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Car just started up and is warming up now, it was a little rough of a start and it reved up to about 2k rpm and slowly worked its way down,, its been about 5mins and the temp guage still has yet to move
Old 08-28-2019, 12:53 PM
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So when you get the car up to temperature. Turn it off and try to restart it. The codes and sensors you are worried about wont affect operation of the engine. If it doesnt start hot you could be looking at serious engine issues. Just do the compression test and the block test and get back to us.
Old 08-28-2019, 12:59 PM
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So I just drove around the block and then parked it and shut it off,, first time starting it back up it took 3 seconds, and now it starts up perfectly every time after that. Ive turned it off and on about 5 times now and it starts right up with no stall at all and idles perfect
Old 08-28-2019, 12:59 PM
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Originally Posted by BenG
This p0420 reading kn my ob2 though says its possible its and ect
It's possible the coolant temp sensor is responsible on the average car, but on the RX8 the car goes into limp mode if the computer detects an ECT fault. So the symptoms don't fit.

It is far FAR FAR FAR FAR more likely your cat is in bad health. Not restarting easily when warm also supports this, because cat death is followed shortly by engine compression loss.

Think about it, the code literally means 'the cat is not doing its job'. There might be ways the coolant temp signal could influence it, but it's a stretch. The first, easiest conclusion is that the cat is not doing its job because it's dead.

Originally Posted by BenG
So I just drove around the block and then parked it and shut it off,, first time starting it back up it took 3 seconds, and now it starts up perfectly every time after that. Ive turned it off and on about 5 times now and it starts right up with no stall at all and idles perfect
That's a good sign. Let's get those plugs out and see what's going on inside.

Last edited by Loki; 08-28-2019 at 01:03 PM.
Old 08-28-2019, 01:01 PM
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Thank you loki!,, I am in the position where I am hoping it is just a bad cat 😩,, that said though, to blow through oem cat and an aftermarket cat in 87k miles seems hardcore
Old 08-28-2019, 01:01 PM
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So then bad ignition coils if compression test is ok
Old 08-28-2019, 01:04 PM
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Is it also possible in any way that its an evap system leak
Old 08-28-2019, 01:08 PM
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Originally Posted by BenG
Thank you loki!,, I am in the position where I am hoping it is just a bad cat 😩,, that said though, to blow through oem cat and an aftermarket cat in 87k miles seems hardcore
The aftermarket cat never had a chance, most aren't designed for rotary EGTs. The OEM cat did but if the previous owner let it run on failed coils, this is what happens. Number one killer of RX8s.

Originally Posted by BenG
So then bad ignition coils if compression test is ok
Ignition coil replacement is basically preventative maintenance on these cars. Stock coils, especially early versions, live 20-25k miles reliable. After that they're on borrowed time. Aftermarket solutions based on GM coils don't have this problem.

Originally Posted by BenG
Is it also possible in any way that its an evap system leak
Different set of codes and symptoms. Do you also have EVAP codes?
If you want to investigate this further, now that you car idles warmed up, see what the OBD long-term and short-term fuel trims and AFR are at idle. Should be near 0.
Old 08-28-2019, 01:15 PM
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Short term spiked once at 3.2% for one second after watching it for a couple minutes, and

long term is a consistant 7
Old 08-28-2019, 01:17 PM
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7% long term is a bit weird, but within reasonable range. You might have a tiny vacuum leak but nothing that would upset the car. If it was in the 20's I'd worry more.
Old 08-28-2019, 01:18 PM
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The on board monitor shows a lot of o2 sensor rich and lean readings,, then it also has this and this is what made me question evap,,, havent gotten any evap codes, but like I said this shows up in the monitor
Old 08-28-2019, 01:19 PM
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Yeah those numbers are consistant as well, pretty sure it stays about that way throughout driving
Old 08-28-2019, 01:21 PM
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Short term also bumps to lots of negative % sometimes is that normal?
Old 08-28-2019, 01:27 PM
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Compression is likely not the issue. Loki had great suggestions so I'm sure you'll get it up and running perfect.
Old 08-28-2019, 01:35 PM
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Short-term can bounce around, that's pretty normal. Positive and negative is OK.
The EVAP leak mention there sounds consistent with the slightly high long-term trim, but as you see it says small leak. Fuel trim exists to compensate for stuff like that, so while it's a thing, it's not hurting your car at the moment.

O2 will show rich and lean depending on what the car is doing. When you're off the throttle coasting, no fuel is injected, so it reads lean. There are various transient enrichments for throttle tip-in, etc. but those are all transient. Mixture is never stable, this isn't an airplane
Also the front O2 is a wideband which reads actual AFR, while the rear (cat) O2 basically only knows rich and lean, but not how much. It's supposed to bounce between the two. If the computer notices that it doesn't spend enough time in lean, it concludes that the catalytic converter isn't cleaning the exhaust and you get a P0420. There's a bit more to the self-diagnostics, but that's the gist of it.
Old 08-28-2019, 02:10 PM
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Yeah,, shouldnt the sensors be trying to stabilize the mixture as best as possie tho, to keep it at around midrange,, when driving and watching the o2 sensor it bounces from lean to rich but never tries to regulate
Old 08-28-2019, 02:15 PM
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Originally Posted by BenG
Yeah,, shouldnt the sensors be trying to stabilize the mixture as best as possie tho, to keep it at around midrange,, when driving and watching the o2 sensor it bounces from lean to rich but never tries to regulate
No, there is no single best mixture. When you're at full throttle you want enrichment, when you're off the gas you want no fuel at all, and everything in between. Mixture is a function of load, rpm and a few other factors. All fuel-injected cars work like this.

If you're cruising on level ground and constant speed, the front O2 should show relatively stable mixture, the rear O2 may still bounce around because it's imprecise.
Old 08-28-2019, 03:48 PM
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Just got back in my friends car with a swivel extention and spark plug 13/16 deep socket and am waiting for the enging to cool down to get the spark plugs off. Ive fired it up multiple times and its started right up, I also let it idle for about 10 minutes and it had no issues when going back to check, after I shut it off I tried to start it again just to check and it started right up, maybe a half to a second of a hiccup. But ye, now its cooling down
Old 08-28-2019, 04:44 PM
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I would plan on at least trying to get the cat off to have a look inside of it when you're working on it
Old 08-28-2019, 05:56 PM
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This is one of the leading plugs, any diagnosis? Just old plugs? Possibly coils?


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