I am a new Rx-8 owner and, like most of us, have at least known that we did not know so we are here. I just want to put this straight forward, before and after with pic + OBD ii reports out there for the rest of the new guys. If you have yet to check your MAF sensor, DO IT NOW! I almost killed my 8 because I did not do a thorough check up immediately following the purchase, it caused a world of trouble! In four days my 8 was stuttering idle, could barely reverse up my inclined driveway, was running way to rich and sometimes would not make it to red line!

It is important to note that following this I reset the NVRAM to allow the Fuel Trim and O2 sensors to re calibrate.

Turn key on and within 8 seconds stomp the brake 20 times (success indicated by the temp gauge jumping toward H in some models)

Then turn key off, turn key on and in order to get the DTC light to stop blinking you need to turn your wheels all the way to the right and then all the way to the left. It should be off now.

The first attachment is a report generated by my ACTRON code scanner, even if you do not know how to read it, look at the fuel trim numbers, MAF numbers and the O2 sensor readings, heck it messed with darn near every sensor in the car. Just compare the two, this is just for those who need visual aids.

I used hydrogen peroxide to clean the MAF, it took about 20 minutes total. Notice that the dirty MAF pic is covered in what appears to be oil. I also checked the air intake (I already picked up a new air filter and through out the K and N).

I have seen a lot of comments from new guys asking what stuff looks like and what a OBD ii report reads like, here is before and after reports.

I hope this helps someone, I pretty much was up all night making sure I had my 8 running and now I have to go to work.

Bests

 

Is it a KN Panel or a KN Typhoon intake? Either way, throw it out and reinstall the stock airbox if it's the KN Intake. Stock airbox has been shown to keep intake temperatures down, it's really well designed and you can find high flow foam air filters that keep the engine safe for a reasonable price.

 

Thanks, that is the plan, but I am being kept rather busy finding everything that needs to be corrected from the previous owner! I have not been able to prioritize, at the moment the paper filter should be OK for another couples weeks. That being said, anyone knows where to get one used let me know!

 

The MAF sensor is a dark orange or light brown and transparent. The probe is coated with a specific weight and thickness of polymer of known thermal conductivity. This is to ensure that it can calculate very low to very high rates of air flow using heat loss from a surface heat = U * A * (Tin - Tout). The U factor and A are known from a cleaned MAF surface. If you abrade it by rubbing, use the wrong solvent (use only MAF cleaner) then you change the U and A and therefore the MAF never again reads correctly and you risk reducing engine life and engine performance due to changed air:fuel ratio.

 

If your MAF stem and probe are covered in oil - the likely culprit is (if you have a Series I from 2004-2008) that you may have inadvertently poured some oil into the intake breather during oil fill or top-off or oil is making its way back through a breather into the air intake.