RotaryManiax

Hi all,

Just wanted to share a litte story of mine. I have an 04 AT RX-8 with about 18900 miles on it. It was used and I bought it when it had 10900 miles. Previously, I had issues that I've seen many others on this board have: power loss during high temps.

I do a lot of stop and go traffic here in Salt Lake City, UT and when I've driven the car for about an hour or two in the 95 degrees+ summer heat, my car experiences huge power loss and rough idle with the A/C on.
I considered trading in my car for something else. It didn't make sense to have a car that you can only drive in Fall and Spring (Winter has snow, summer has heat) so that's what I was going to do.

Two weeks ago, I drove down to Wendover, about 1 1/2 hour drive away from here. You basically have to drive through the salty desert to get there from Salt Lake. Anyway, driving up wasn't so bad since I started in the morning and the temps were cooler. When I drove back, the temperature reached 106! I got off the freeway and entered the city to get back home. I had HUGE power loss and very rough idle. The RPMs were dropping to almost 500 and shaking bad. I thought I was gonna stall!

After I got back home, the car's fan didn't turn off for almost 30 minutes! I knew this couldn't go on, so I wanted to trade it in. But, I decided to check the boards for some fixes I could try before doing that .

Well, a couple of searches led me to buy some engine cleaning stuff and reset the ECU. So, I ordered some BG44K Power Enhancer formula on eBay and waited a week for it to come. When it did arrive, I went out and did the "depress the brake pedal 20 times" thing and also removed the negative terminal on my battery for a half hour. I hooked everything back up and poured in the BG44k into my gas tank at about 3/4 full. Then I went around and drove it HARD, redlined a few times and stayed in lower gears. If this didn't work, I was probably gonna have to part with my 8

So today, I drove to Park City. It's about an hour away and there are LOTS of uphill driving that has to be done. The temps were about 95 degrees and I did a lot of stop and go traffic when I was there. I totally expected my car to have rough idle and power loss. But guess what? It drove perfectly! No rough idle, and I didn't feel any power loss! I had my A/C on, too. Also when I arrived home, the fan did not run when my car was off! Maybe this was what the engine needed?

I usually drive in sport shift mode all the time and shift at around 4-5k RPMs. I don't know how the previous owner drove it, but maybe he babied the car and left it vulnerable for major carbon build up?

So, to all those who have the power loss and rough idle symptoms, go buy some BG44K online, reset your ECU, and drive HARD! I plan to use the stuff when I reach another 15000 miles just to make sure there's as little carbon in the engine as possible.

Sorry if this turned out to be lengthy, I didn't expect it too heh.
Hope this helps!

Razz1

Yep, carbon build up is a NO NO

Brettus

iTrader: (2)

I think there could be a few others that would benefit from doing the same ....
Keep us posted

Jethro Tull

iTrader: (6)

Hey, RM, we've been looking for you in the Mountain Forum. I'm in the SLC area too. PM me- a few locals are trying to get together for a meet-n-greet before the weather gets cold.

RotaryManiax

Heya Jethro! I wonder if I've seen you around or you seen me around? I got a VR RX-8 with spoiler, front splash guards, and 18" wheels.
I'll definitely have to get in touch with you, if I have some time to meet up. I got school and work that's just killing me!

Another important thing I forgot to mention about my original post...I switched to Royal Purple 5w-30 synthetic. I know there's a big debate about conventional vs synthetic, but I figure if synthetic can keep the engine cooler, I'd give it a try.
Let me know if these things work out for you guys.

LivinLrge

I wish the solution was this easy for me Ive owned the car since day one and I drive pretty hard, the car definitely gets redlined at least once aday, hell I get 12mpg so that should say enough

I only experience a power loss/rough idle w/without the AC on and the transmission in gear on hot days in florida; 97 or 98. When I was on the way to Tallahassee a few weesk ago it was 109 in the downtown area the car literally felt like it was going to fall apart it was shaking so bad considering the rpms were at around 500 as well. Even if you pressed the accelerator down it would start going, rpms increased and then cut off, almost like it were out of fuel, but i had half a tank. Took it to the dealer 4 times, ran compression tests and variety of others, they said the car is performing above the required specs, and they couldnt find anything wrong.