As a previous owner of a first gen Rx7, I took a chance and bought a 2004 RX8 at an auction from a storage lot. The owner had abandoned it when he quit paying the storage fees. It was actually a minimal risk as I got it for $450. So, I got a key made, put in a battery, had the key programmed, and she started right up. She idles fine. I can blip the throttle and the tach shoots right up. However, when I drive it, the power isn't there and I'm lucky to get up to 20 mph in 2nd gear. The engine light is on but of course that doesn't tell me much. I have a Scangauge II but it won't scan the codes. After idling for some time, a little smoke would come up from the exhaust under the hood. Not sure if this indicates the engine was getting too hot (the coolant gauge read normal) or if it was just burning off a year's worth of dust accumulation.

As I'm new to Wankels (I never worked on the Rx7 way back then) I'm not really sure where to start. Should I start with a tuneup? Is there something I should check that would be typical of a Wankel that has sat unattended for a year and a half? Thanks for any help or suggestions.

 

replace the gas and oil before you start it again. Or, fill with fresh gas and techtron gas treatment and let it run for a bit.

you may qualify for the first RX8 barn find.

The not-scan-codes part is a bit of a worry.

Smoke could be rat crap on exhaust.

Pictures..

 

^ First barn find lol haha. And $450 is one hell of deal even if it needs a new engine, assuming the chassis is in decent condition. OP my friend you are one lucky dude. Provided your halfway decent with mechanics you can have a fully functional 8 for cheap.

 

Yeah, I'm pretty damn excited about this. Except for a few tiny dents and normal wear and tear, the body looks to be perfect. The price of the car was actually closer to $300, the other $150 was for registration and taxes.

 

First of all this is an amazing purchase. Well done sir!

Have you set up the scangauge correctly? I use one and it works absolutely fine.

The coolant gauge read normal refers to the scangauge or the rx8 gauge?

 

I was referring to the in-dash gauge. I simply plugged it in to the OBD socket. Is there something else I should do?

 

nice find. worst comes to worse you get a new engine in there and still could sell it for a profit if you wanted.

 

Was the scangauge able to connect with the vehicle? Did you follow the procedure as indicated in the scangauge manual (turn the key to on position and wait until it connects....)?Had you set up the scangauge to read the coolant temp? Were you getting any readings from the scan gauge?

 

It would never connect. Just said waiting to connect or something like that.

 

Hmmm...How long did you wait? It could take up to a minute or two. Could be the OBD not working...Maybe some fuse is blown?

 

sounds like you're in limp mode....if you can get it to connect, you might be able to read/reset the code and be set, but something likely caused the limp mode too. Either way, get the tool connected somehow (try another one if you can) and good luck!

 

^What he said.

 

$450...wow!!! You got lucky there finding that car in an auction!

Anyway, post pics of the car...

 

I finally got the scangauge to work, p2070, SSV stuck open. Looks like I should be able to handle cleaning and fixing this.

 

There is a DIY as well if you need some guidance. How many miles does the car have? Is it a manual?

 

It has about 80k, it's a manual. I've found several tutorials and I'm going to start working on it today. Thanks.

 

Sweet deal. Good luck with the fix.