My car feels completely different now that its been in single digits the last couple nights. I've driven a lot of cars in the cold but the eight seems to have the most dramatic and negative response to it.

Few things I've noticed:
- My windows rattle a bit when they are all the way up. When I crack them a tn bit they stop rattling. This is probably because I washed my car when it was almost 60 degrees out but the next day it was literally 3 degrees!! Thats Nebraska weather for you. There might be some residual ice in the seals.
- Engine begins idling at 4k when I start it up... it settles down slowly.
- Clutch pedal is more stiff and doesn't come back as quickly for awhile after starting. (This is probably normal in most manual cars)
- 1st to 2nd gear is a little sticky. Sometimes it even gets a little grinding. It seems like this problem dissipates after a little driving.

This one was a little weird...
- Was sitting at a stop light shortly after leaving my house and while it was in neutral the engine would rev up from its idle point to about 2k and once the needle dropped back it would do it again... over and over. It stopped right before I started moving.

So does anyone else experience any of these things when it gets really cold?

 

Welcome to RX8club, We all experience it, well those of us who live in the colder regions, FTW Florida, Texas and other southern states

 

err...i had something like this when i had my fd years ago. keep in mind that that's a car from 1993 so it might not be related, but you never know. upon starting and warming up, just as the rev is about to settle down to the warmed-up idle speed, which was ~750 if i remember correctly, it would surge and little by little it would settle down to 750 and stay there. sounds a little like what you're describing. the problem on my fd had to do with some kind of throttle sensor position switch. once replaced, it was fine

 

For the record, every car has quirks in the cold.

In four winters with mine:

1) Upon cold start, engine revs to 3000 rpm, takes about 3 minutes to settle down. Never experienced the surging you did, you may want to get that looked at - could be a bad sensor.

2) Stiff gearbox: My RX-8 was my sixth manual transmission car - the gear oil gets thick when it is ice cold. Once the engine and drive train warm up, the gear oil warms to operating temp and is loose again. Ever put maple syrup in the freezer? Same concept.

3) Clutch stiff: Same issue. Clutch is operated with hydraulic fluid which gets more viscous in cold temps. Same with the brakes - brakes become less sensitive in cold.

I also noticed:

- More creaks and rattles - all the plastics become stiff and rattely, and the rubber seals creak rather than slide over each other.
- Creaky leather seats
- Tires develop flat spots sitting overnight, take several miles until the rubber gets enough heat in it to become pliant again.
- Suspension gets VERY stiff - again, it's the oil in the shocks that turns more viscous.

All normal.

Now, you should notice one additional thing - MORE POWER. Cold air is more dense. More dense = more oxygen molecules per liter of air pumped into the engine. More oxygen = more ability to burn fuel. More ability to burn fuel = more power. Same principles that nitrous oxide provides an engine.

This of course is only noticeable when the engine is warm.

 

Hmm. Sounds about like what I was getting. This is the first time I've gotten it and it hasn't happened since. I thought maybe it just the way the ecu was programmed to warm the engine up a little quicker. My warmed idle is around 750rpm bu when this was happening the car was idling at 1500 and doing the little rev thing to about 2k. They became a little slower then it stopped doing it and the needle dropped below 1k.

 

i have yet to figure out what is causing the fluctuating idle, i have the same issue.

i have had that happening since late summer, sometimes does it, sometimes doesnt, may happen at start up, might kick in after driving to work (30 minute drive)

it does stop doing it when i depress the clutch though.

weird

 

I didn't try to press the clutch in. Like I said this only happened a couple mins after startup and it was extremely cold. You sound like you might have a bad issue... I might too. I'm gonna get it checked out if it happens again.

 

Just spoke to one of my automotive "mavens" and he says that likely it is the MAF sensor pre-heater not operating correctly. The MAF (Mass Air Flow) sensor is a hot wire suspended in the intake stream that senses the amount of air flowing through the throttle and adjusts the throttle opening and fuel injection appropriately for the requested throttle opening (the RX8 has a "drive by wire throttle" - your gas pedal is hooked to nothing but a sensor and the computer interprets your "request" via the gas pedal into action in the engine. It does so by the "wind chill" of the air over the pre-heated wire.

If the MAF sensor wire((s) (he can't remember if the RX8 has a single wire or grid MAF sensor) isn't being heated properly or is dirty so the computer can't read the temperature drop (aka the resistance drop as well - the hot wire has higher resistance, the cooler wire has lower resistance - this provides the computer its info) properly it can cause surging.

Had a question for you - do you (or either of you) have K&N or other brands of oil-charged air filters? K&Ns are notorious, especially after cleaning and "recharging" them with oil, for allowing oil to blow off them and accumulate on the MAF sensor.

 

Nope. Stock. If the maf sensor is just dirty is this a diy fix? Sorry I'm pretty new to mechanics.

 

I think there might be a DIY on it - it's worth a

SEARCH!

 

yeah should b a DIY and it is baiscallly very simple!

 

https://www.rx8club.com/showthread.p...diy+maf+sensor

Here you go!!

Merry Christmas.

 

My car felt smoother and nicer then ever the last few nights...

I'm honestly not lying..the only thing I might agree with are slight rattles caused by snow but compared to my jeep, ford contour, cadillac...it's quiet as hell.

 

Yeah, car likes to idle higher at first, gearbox is like molasses in winter, and the rattles. All normal.

 

maybe its cuz i have a slushbox and my **** shifts the same regardless of temp? i dunno my **** never shifts rough, always so smooth.

 

my car absolutely loves the mid-40 degree Fahrenheit range. sounds great drives great has a little extra pull, throttle response is noticeably better without any cold induced anomalies.

 

Yeah, we hit near 80 degree's one day, the next was 27. The car felt like I added a turbo after that

 

I had the same problem on an old (92) prelude.

Ended up changing all the valves on the TB :-/
That was a bitch...

 

lately mines been feeling better in the cold...its really liking the ~50 degree weather...

i DO live in SOCAL, summer tires all year round FTW!

 

ugh, I miss Cali weather (especially today with 5 inches of snow )

 

it was clearin up this morning, and getting sunny...now it looks like its gonna rain again

 

Starting my cold engine when it's 11ºF, I love the way it fires right up, knowing 5W-20 is flowing faster and easier than thicker grades of molasse… I mean, oil.

Hmm, wonder if there's a 5W-10…

 

I def don't miss those cold *** negative digits when starting up wondering damn i hope it starts this morn....then driving feels like you put 12 tubes of JB weld in ur tranny its' so hard to shift....haha Florida is great like Dozer said "SUMMER TIRES ALL YEAR ROUND FTW"

 

My RX-8 hates me for trading it in

 

Oh my car would love 40 degrees for sure... but we're talkin 5-9 degrees the last couple days.

I haven't had any problems with the surging idle since. Hopefully I won't see it again. I mean that day it was realllyyy cold and I hadn't started it for around 24 hours (I think it was 1 degree).

Still having some rattles, but I've figured out that its basically every crack in the car has been filled with water because I got a car wash a couple days ago when it was 60 degrees out. Next day it was 10 degrees! I'm not even kidding! Since it got so cold so fast I'm sure my car was not able to dry completely and I was not expecting it to get that cold again right away.

Anyway, I think there is ice lining the windshield because every time I go over a bump it sounds like the windshield is slapping against its frame. At least I'm hoping thats all it is. Its getting really annoying. I had little bits of ice in the the top seals of the drivers window, so thats why it rattled when I had it all the way up. I was able to crack the ice out by running my finger along it and that went away for the most part.

Looking forward to literally thawing out my car tomorrow when I go home for Christmas break. Parents have a climate controlled garage Hopefully my rattles go away.