Love_Hounds

So yeah, bought an 2004 Ti Grey M/T with GT package and Navigation(well I'm sure it navigated somewhere at some point), had 30,790 miles then, 31,040 now. Yesterday, I decided that I'd have a little fun on some country roads. After about 10 minutes of easy driving, the fun began... Until I was going up a good size hill, in second, hit 7k and just as I was about to go into third, blinking CEL. So I drove it home, about 5 minutes away and parked it. I have an extended(guess you would call it that) warranty through the non-Mazda dealership I bought the car from and was hoping to get some thoughts as to, do I bring it in, and say "it misfired"? or diagnose the problem (ignition, cat, fuel pump, anyone of the sensors that might be mucked up) myself and bring that issue up to the dealer? or maybe ignore it and say it was a fluke?

Cheers
PS Also even with this issue love the car so far

Williard

iTrader: (18)

A blinking CEL is a misfire. There is no doubt of that. I would start testing your ignition system. Check the CAT to see if it's clogged as well. I doubt the "warranty" will cover any of this but hey it's worth a shot. I'd give them a call and see if they will. I doubt it but again you never know. Ignoring this problem could cost you your engine.

Loki

iTrader: (1)

Definitely don't ignore it, in fact don't even drive it until this is solved as it could be damaged further. If the ignition coils haven't been changed, do that first. Coils, spark plugs and wires.
Have the cat checked for blockage.

You can choose to go through the non-Mazda dealership, but those generally don't know much about these cars so their warranties come with them trying to figure out how to fix it. You might have to calmly but assertively point them the way.

Love_Hounds

...darn. Also I can't remember reading it anywhere in the misfire thread or the newbies guide, but will if I hook a scan tool to the obd2 port, will it still give me the corresponding misfire code?

Williard

iTrader: (18)

Hook up your scan tool and pull the codes. Then come back here and post them. What i said earlier wasn't a question though, a flashing CEL IS a misfire.

Love_Hounds

via the Torque app: P0301 - Powertrain Cylinder 1 Misfire Detected
Also, I have a 60 day 3,000 mile through the dealership, the extended warranty, I paid something marginal for through Allstate, is 36 months 36,000 miles and sorry for the delay, its a little cool in CT tonight didn't want to just start the car, grab the codes and turn it off before it warmed up a little.

Williard

iTrader: (18)

Do you have a spark tester? If not i would suggest you get one. How old are the plugs, wires and coils?

Love_Hounds

I knew that question was gonna come up, and I can't say for certain. So I'm gonna go with the fact that they are most likely the original ignition parts.

Love_Hounds

Also, I don't have a spark tester but my uncle is a professional mechanic, albeit one that has admittedly never worked on a rotary engine before, so I'll most likely try to get him to stop by.

Williard

iTrader: (18)

Then either way since your not even certain, you need to replace them ALL. There are a few places you can get everything, local mazda dealer, mazmart and advance auto can get them but they need to be ordered im sure. OR you can upgrade to something like the BHR kit. There are a few other aftermarket "upgrades" with the ignition system but IMO and many others, none compare to BHR's kit.

Ajax

Easy way to tell if the coils are shot is to pull them out and turn them upside down. If they have a circular white spot on the bottoms, they're bad or going bad.
Mazda has been through a ton of revisions on the coils for the RX-8. I have no idea if they ever got them right... I switched to BHR and stopped having issues with coils, just plugs.

Williard

iTrader: (18)

Ajax, It's been tested, debated and proven that the "white spots" dont' mean anything. I've had perfectly good coils with white spots and bad ones as well. I know RIWWP has a lot of links to threads that this was debated.. If i can find them i'll post them up. But you are correct, i too switched to the BHR kit and stopped having problems.

Ajax

Really? I got that methodology from Rotary Performance....
Hrmm..

I still say coils + plugs are probably the culprit.

Williard

iTrader: (18)

Yea, And i agree 100% that it's the ignition system. A flashing CEL is ALWAYS a misfire. I would say plugs coils and wires all need to be replaced. Especially since the OP has no clue how old they actually are.

Williard

iTrader: (18)

https://www.rx8club.com/series-i-tec...-guess-216689/

This is only one of them. It's been debated a few times just since i've joined the site. I too once believed that the white spots meant dead coils. After RIWWP schooling me and then doing a lot of research and reading i was incorrect. The white spots dont mean anything.

ken-x8

I believe there's a TSB that says white spots are not a sign of failure.

But back to Love's question Since you have an extended warranty, and you also have the CEL light on with definite codes, why not take it back to the dealer and cash in on the warranty? You're looking at a couple of hundred dollars (or more) in parts if you do it yourself. Anywhere from $700 to $1500 if you drove into a random Mazda dealer on your own nickel.

Ken

Love_Hounds

Well the CEL blinked, but its off now. Does the CEL normally stay on afterwards, when a misfire is the cause?

batsupsidedown

I've gotten the same thing twice in the 30k/mi I've put on the car, flashing CEL and a noticeable difference in the tone of the engine (much deeper). Coil change should solve your problem... at least it did mine. Still need to figure out why I burn through them so fast, but that's a project for another day.

ken-x8

It may or may not stay on. When my coils went belly-up, I first got a flashing CEL that didn't stay on. Eventually it did stay on.

But you said you read a misfire code. As long as you didn't clear it, that will still be there for the dealer to see.

Ken

Love_Hounds

To give everyone an update. I called up the dealer explained the issue and gave a summery of what you folks have said here and what is in the "Suffering From a Misfire? Start Here" thread and they said to bring it in. Unfortunately the dealership was a hour away but when I got there I looked under the car and the cat wasn't glowing and I was pretty easy on it the whole way there so hopefully the drive didn't impact anything. Also, the salesman had already talked to a mechanic and said that the mechanic had looked up the issue, and he pretty much agreed, so looks like they will be replacing the coils. I'll post anything else they tell me. I just hope they don't put cheap plugs or coils or anything of that sort in the car, we'll see...

RIWWP

iTrader: (2)

They won't be cheap.

Dealerships have been known to charge $1,500 to $1,800 for coils, plugs, and wires. Same stuff you can buy for $200 and change in an hour with a 10mm socket, spark plug socket, screwdriver, ratchet, and ratchet extension, but at least you can be assured that the visit will be anything but cheap.

Love_Hounds

I meant more along the lines that they would use low quality replacement parts. As the car is under warranty from the dealership, it will only cost me the gas and my time to get it there.

RIWWP

iTrader: (2)

Hopefully they don't deem the coils a "maintenance item" Warranty companies, including Mazda, have been known to do that.

You will have to ask to see what coil revision they are using, "original", "A", "B" or "C". It's entirely possible that dealerships still have older revision coils.

Other than that, the only way to get inferior to the OEM coils is to buy counterfeits on ebay, so you shouldn't have much to worry about.

Love_Hounds

Called the dealership yesterday after work, and they said they are still working on the car. I'm gonna call again tonight.

blckninja

iTrader: (1)

Did they give anything specific as to how far along they are? If not I would ask, and ask for a timeline when they should be finished.