The thing is... pretty much anything short of an exotic is going to need less TLC. It doesn't have to be a civic.

 

^ +10.

 

by that logic 8 out of 10 people that bought this car never should have bought it.

 

rx8 is a great daily driver car.

just remember to rev to 5k before turning the car off. redlining is great on the highway. but after that most people get a few miles of low rpm city driving right before they turn their car off. thats carbon rich driving, so i always try to rev to 5k before i turn the car off. obviously i dont do it at 12 at night and wake my neighbors, but when its reasonable.

and that tech is retarded. if anything the young guys driving the **** out of it will be the ones with the best engines. (the trans is another story. lol.)

but, out of all the rx8s that had problems, most are 2004 automatics...

 

1. The dealership which replaced ur coils did NOT check your car fully. they just plug their WDS into your car's comp, read some coils codes,replace them, and tell you to drive off, what they should've done was to check ur plugs and cat. This is what they should've done.

2. Do NOT trust the dude u're dealing with now, while some of the stuff that he said is true, but 600 bux for plugs, oil change, cleaning and computer programming(wtf?) You can get all 4 plugs for 80 bux, synthetic oil I give it 7 bux a quart u need about 4, good oil filter 6 bux. cleaning? what cleaning? I doubt he knows how but a Mazda cleaner cost 20 bux + 5 bux shipping, computer programming there is a MSP16 recall, u can get the most up to date computer programming for FREE. He cant program your computer.

3. Now maybe its time for you to drive(or tow, if it does not start) back to Mazda dealer(some other dealer thats good in ur area, ask people from TX which one is good, there should be a few of them) and let them check ur engine and CAT.

 

okay, I think some people need to chill on the "youre an idiot for buying an AT" ****. Not everyone knows that the AT is that bad, I didnt when I first got this car, I found out through here!! Now the kids stuck with the car and hes asking for help and he clearly stated that trading is not an option for him. So bashing him is not only immature/being a ********, but also beating a dead horse.

>Now to the OP, Cat or compression test. My cat took a **** at 59K, along with my coils, plugs, wires which caused a string of power loss and noises that had me on the edge of my seat for a few months. Fix it, its a standard ignition tune up and a cat, your car should be okay. Ignore the people that bash you for having an 04 AT. You still have a rotary.

 

5/27 Today I took it to the dealership with high hopes. i told the guy everything wrong with it and he said he would put it into the machine and then have a guy test drive it to see if it would stall. If it didn't stall and nothing came back, he could do nothing. My hopes have sunk completely. So i go back about an hour ago and he tells me nothing is wrong. The computer said nothing was wrong, and the guy drove it around for 30 miles and it didn't stall. my luck. I start arguing with the guy about it, but i was so lost in it i completely forgot about the cat converter. Then the guy goes "Your putting 93 in it right?" and i said "no... 87.. i know plenty of people on the forums that use 87 and have no difference". he looked at me, completly stunned, and said "you sir, are lucky this car is not in the shop more often" WTF!? he then ranted on about how i shouldn't use Chevorn to fill up and use Shell instead?!?!?!?! I was so pissed i just freaking left the place. Lucikly, it was under no charge :/ But I drove home in it, and suprisingly it felt a little better. Even though they did nothing. So im on the freeway, driving the **** out of the car, redlineing it (almost trying to get it to stall to prove my point) . start to pull in my driveway, and started revving to see if anything happens. Hit about 6.5k RPMs and the ******* radiator red line shined at me, then dissapeared.

Wow. thats all I can say. Sell it or keep it? **** civics.

 

Yeah the dealer doesn't know what they're talking about with the octane. Just tell them you're putting premium in it. In Theory you would see less power with 87 than 91 but the car should run fine and definitely not stall. As far as different brands no car manufacturer specifies that you can only fill up with a particular brand of gas. That's just silly.

It sounds like it runs better when you hammer it eh. That's normal the harder you push it the more she likes it. If it's running fine on the highway and when you rev. it up then your cat. is probably fine. A clogged cat. would feel like the car is running out of breath at the top end like it's running out of power the more you rev.

So is it still stalling or no? It sounds like it's okay right now.

My $0.02 is figure out exactly what conditions the car stalls under. Is it a specific commute etc. and track the conditions/time/location when it happens. Then go back to the dealer after you've been able to reproduce it at will and have the tech ride along with you and reproduce the stall. Sometimes you need to just take them out and show them.

 

Actually, one thing I was thinking about

The car was sitting out in 8 hours of pure heat before it stalled both times. And both times i was pushing pretty hard

 

87 is alrite for crusing... but please my friend. ur in TEXAS. at least give it 89 if u even spirit drive....

please don't be spanking the car hard with 87, it's like asking a wrestler to fight when ur feeding him tofu and water.

 

Hm. Well it's good to know that your car is in good shape at least. No need for a new engine or any other problems.

One thing that may be useful if the stalling is inconsistent is to pick up a scantool (harrison R&D or Hymee Scanalyser) and track your actual coolant temps real time when you are driving. The temp. gauge on our cars is not much more than an idiot light. It will only move when the engine temps. get above 230F which is pretty close to engine damage territory. You may be seeing some weirdness due to higher engine temps.

I'm not sure what would cause that though. Keep trying to track when it stalls and see what the common thread is.

 

well the only real consistency is gassing it + hot weather


i just checked the oil level and it actually went down about 10% since yesterday so i filled her up.. maybe she will run better

 

try premix !!!

 

does your car still feel powerful? If so then it was probably never the cat. its a very noticable loss of power.

 

 

I don't get to drive the car hard everyday. More often than not, I'm in bumper to bumper traffic. Never had problems even after 60,000 kms. So I doubt that a CEL is from lack of redlining the engine.

Use premium fuel, make sure the gas cap is tightly closed. Start with the simplest things first then to more complex source of problems.

Don't listen to the rotary snobs who think you bought the wrong car. As far as I know, a CEL is not an normal condition.

 

i agree with you. there are still tons of people bashing others because they have an AT. i cannot see anything wrong with that. Like you said, it still is an RX-8 or rotary engine.

 

I felt a loss of power before the car stalled. Like... major loss of power. but now it runs fine.. :/

 

I don't see the need for it in this thread, but to be honest I find it hilarious that people buy sportscars with AT. I can see that rich lazy businesspeople do it to show off, and I can understand why you do it if you drive in heavy traffic all the time. But why get a sportscar then, you are not enjoying it for what it's made for.

They don't even sell them with AT in my country. And judging from this guy's posts he'd be better off selling it, getting a daily driver and getting an MT RX-8 he can enjoy for other things.

But that's OT anyway. I don't want to send anyone towards Civics either way :P

 

people enjoy different aspects of a car and buy them for different purposes. Its opinionated to believe that a sports car must be mt, therefore people who own at rx8s dont need to be ridiculed every time they ask a question. My .02

 

LMAO




IMO you should sell it,
thats because like some have been saying this is a hate it or love it type car, there's not too much middle ground. I have an 05' 4AT and i love it. I'm sure I would enjoy the MT version more stock, but I like being the underdog. The problems that you are having is the risk of owning a car. search any car forum and you will find tons of threads exactly like this one of owner's with repeated problems and dissatisfaction with there car.

as for all the AT bashing, the MT people soon forget that when "car and driver" and any other sports car magazine test sports cars it is the MT version they are testing. with that said MT owners, please find me an article where the rx-8 ranks 1st in a particular category vs. 350Z, s2000, STi, etc.... usually it might rank 1st or 2nd overall meaning it preformed well good in most categories, But how many times are you going race at the 1/4 mile and then go autocross, and then take it to the track in the same day. Dont get me wrong, it feels great to be able to take a corner ridiculously fast, but the joy is gone once that g35 passes you (my friend has one).

All that just to say that the AT can be just as fast as the MT, theres just not enough interests in making that happen yet. majority of car enthusiasts with money or means to modify their car buy MT, So if for some reason people started to favor autos over manuals then the AT would magically become the car of choice.
The 4AT will have its time to shine, just wait for their price to drop below $7-8K

anyways, not sure what side of town you stay on but I like Joe Myers Imports off 290 .
I stay away from Munday Mazda 45 & 1960

 

hmm, when my cat went bad I lost power and it stayed away. Bizarre, I'd recommend just doing the damn compression test, might as well just know.

 

i don't know Munday Mazda's kelly hooked me up pretty nice. and auto will always sucks. slush box + decrease in power.. you gain nothing.

 

I agree they don't have to be ridiculed, but if I bought a tractor for autocrossing I'd expect to get told off :P Automatic is totally opposite of active driving, it's not an opinion, that's a fact.

 

sounds like a very clogged air filter...........


cleaning your MAF sensor might help too

my car idled very rough in the morning too and I cleaned the MAF sensor and changed air filter and the problem went away

as for dying on you, idk, never had the problem

take it to the dealer, ask them for all the recalls ALL OF THEM, do a compression test

redline your car daily, the 04 ATs have a lower redline, so it is VERY IMPORTANT that you redline it daily

good luck