Petscar

New to the rx8. Bought a 05 with 26k miles on it. I researched the car before buying it accepting the engine issues and understanding it needs to be driven hard and hot. My question is under normal/,casual driving if that is even possible driving an rx8, at what rpm do you usually shift? Also when cruising steady at 30 or 50 or 80 mph, where should the rpm be, telling me which gear I should be in. 6 speed manual. How often should I redline?

BigCajun

iTrader: (1)

https://www.rx8club.com/rx-8-discuss...ly-rx8-104308/



https://www.rx8club.com/new-member-f...t-here-202454/

Petscar

Thanks.

mazdaverx7

iTrader: (6)

There is no reason to beat the crap out of the car every time you drive it. An occasional redline is just fine and can help prevent some carbon buildup. Drive the car with respect and maintain it properly and address potential problems before they become problems. Having a 26k mile RX-8 should be something to be proud of and something you should drive and enjoy but treat with care and respect. Whoever started this trend of telling people to beat on their car every chance they get should themselves be beaten.

Petscar

Thanks. Initially I was told the reason the engine goes is that when you baby the car, it creates the carbon issue. The saying I heard was to drive it like you just stole it. The feel of the car encourages you too drive it faster and harder than a normal car. I was initially afraid to drive it normally because of what I heard.

Also it is said the rotary loves to rev high above 5 k rpm. I found myself when cruising to keep it between 4 - 5k rpm. Now I'm hearing 3 - 4 k. I also am now hearing it is the rpm that causes the wear over the mileage so it makes sense not to drive it in the higher rpm mode as often as I originally thought. What is the frequency one should redline? Some say once every time you drive it.

Something I just read is that initially many including dealers thought the engine was bad but it was actually the coil pack that would go at 30k miles.

BigCajun

iTrader: (1)

I drive it like I stole it almost every day.
Not because I think that's how you clean the carbon necessarily, but just how I like to drive it.
Fast starts, hard stops, lots of downshifting and redlining.
I just do what I do.
If one can't afford a lawyer to take care of tickets, I wouldn't drive that way.
Bought my '04 6spd.GT 6 years ago with 18.5k miles on it, now +84k.
Engine is now failing, but still runs great.
I attribute that to driving it with a bad cat for the first few months and several thousand miles because I didn't know how fragile the Renny is and thought it was fine because it was running too good to be bad.
Typical noob.
Then I found RX8 club 6 months later and learned more about it.

BigCajun

iTrader: (1)

If I had to say what the most important thing is to keep it healthy as long as possible, I would say #1 is frequent, regular oil and filter changes, EVERY 3000 miles, more often if you track it.
Stay on top of maintenance, learn how to check your coils and ignition system.
Get some type of device to monitor your OBD so you can monitor your engine's health and nip problems in the bud.
Either a scanner or a Smartphone app with a Bluetooth dongle.
I use an Android with the Torque app.

UnknownJinX

I cruise around 2500~4000 RPM, with 3000~3500 being the sweet spot.

About beating on the car... It's kinda hard to drive this car without a lead foot. I redline at least once a day. Just kind of a habit now.

I never got tickets. First gear redlines at below 40MPH(for an S2 at least), and that's within the "speed limit + 15km/h" rule here.

Loki

iTrader: (1)

Best long range fuel economy is around 4500 in my testing, so I shift to 6 a bit later than feels natural, around 110kph, so 70mph?

The redline thing: how you redline is more important than how often you do. Your goal is to cycle all the intake valves and increase combustion chamber temperature and pressure to self-cleaning levels, just like an oven. That happens at full throttle, so the longer you stay at full throttle, the better. By that logic, redlining in 1st is useless, 2nd is ok to keep it legal, 3rd and beyond is best in a place where you can do that (race track).

Petscar

How long do you redline? Also what is CAT and OBD?

Loki

iTrader: (1)

There is no point in staying at redline and it's pretty bad to do so. Just run it up to redline in 2nd or 3rd and shift up. I don't even bring it to redline per se, stop around 8500.

Cat=catalytic converter
OBD= onboard diagnostics, that thing which makes the check engine light turn on and provides codes about things that are misbehaving.

UnknownJinX

Wow, you guys are lucky.

Where I live, redlining in 2nd is fine, but redlining in 3rd is really chancing it.

I can see how you can kinda do it on those big highways in the States, though.

Petscar

Big Cajun said he initially drove with a bad cat for a while. How do you know when it is bad?
​​​​​

UnknownJinX

There are ways to check, but the best way to make sure is taking the cat off and looking inside.

Petscar

How often do cats go bad? He said he had 18k miles when he bought the car. Mine has 26k. Shouldn't a check engine light come on or some other indicator?

BigCajun

iTrader: (1)

I got a CEL 4 days after I bought it for a bad cat, P0420 "Catalytic below efficiency".
Unfortunately, I bought it AS IS, so the dealer wouldn't replace it.
At that time it was $1400, I didn't have it after just buying the car, and it was running so good, I thought it wasn't a big deal.

I was still thinking in terms of piston engines, where a bad cat could prevent the engine from running, but not damage it.
It wasn't until I started getting misfires and blinking CELs that I finally started researching and found RX8 club.

After taking advice from many helpful members, I changed the coils, plugs, & wires, and dropped the cat.
The front half of the cat was broken up and clogged the back half.
I found out one of the coils was bad, and the corresponding plug was carboned over solid.
That's what killed the cat.

I and many others use the mantra,
"Misfires kill cats, bad cats kill engines."

I bought the BHR resonated midpipe, and other than a few typical issues like batteries and a couple of fuel pumps, it's been great.

Petscar

This is all new to me. What is a CEL? Is it an indicator o the dash?

UnknownJinX

Yes.

You need to read through your Owner's Manual and New Owner sticky.

BigCajun

iTrader: (1)

Check Engine Light.

Petscar

Thanks for the info. I'm just getting my feet wet so I appreciate your patience in asking basic questions.

Loki

iTrader: (1)

No worries, we all had to start somewhere. If you haven't already, read and re-read the thread linked earlier: https://www.rx8club.com/new-member-f...t-here-202454/

It answers most of the questions you've asked so far.