your DSC switch, has nothing to do with fuel starvation. And if DSC was coming on in the straightaway as he mentioned, then he has a lot more power to the wheels than the rest of us, to cause the car to break traction and activate DSC.

There have been a lot of RX-8 Owners that track their car have this fuel starvation issues, the pros run two fuel pumps, and dannobre has mentioned that a second helped him out. I would look into the fuel pump. Too bad it is hard to tell your delaership that in High G left hand turns on teh track your fuel cuts out...they might look at you funny.

 

For about $150 and a few minutes..you can replace your pump and see if the problem goes away......for $600 you can get Scott's fuel mod...with a high flow pump...etc etc and have no problems at all.

For my money...on a NA car...I'd replace the fuel pump...and see if it goes away. On a turbo car I'd get Scott's pump....

Or if the dealer is good...replace it, and if the problem goes away get them to pay for it

The pump will pass the low speed pressure tests that the dealer does....even if it is bad. So unless they test it at high flow..WOT condition...it will pass

Trust me..it was the problem in my car...and a few of the race cars that have to use the stock fuel system unmodified....

 

Blue and Red--Yea RA in march are so--it would be a blast if ya'll came back. Have we gotten a lot of stuff to show yall. How about a 260hp at the flywheel engine? NA of course , no porting--what one?
olddragger

 

er i mean--- want one?
od

 

how? i just want to know how.....

 

Big secret-----for now---certain people will release "soon"
olddragger

 

NOx? Can't get that kinda power for free

 

anyone down there running a snail?

 

I could be down for going down to Atlanta in March. Will just need to rent a trailer for my summer tires.

 

if you take your back seats out, and put down a blanket of some sort, they will fit int he back seat, I put 4 245's on stock wheels back there with ease.

 

sounds like a good time.......

times 2

 

no nox
olddragger

 

Fuel flows competely through the insides of most fuel pumps so they are full of flowing fuel anyway. I'm pretty sure they get plenty of cooling as long as you aren't literally out of gas.

Also, It's not like being on a track puts a larger load on the fuel pump. By this logic, you shouldn't run less than 1/2 a tank EVER, since you don't have proper cooling on the street if this is true.

 

right, because I know I drive the same on the track as the street, so its not possible for the pump to be working harder when I'm going 90 in third vs 70 in sixth

 

Enthusiasts dont consider any automotive sport "stupid".

its F'in difficult, actually. Have you been to a real professional drifting event, have you tried it? I have..I'll stick to club racing, drifitng is not simple, in some ways I would consider it more difficult than road racing, because Im expected to be in specific points measured in inches..while in control. Drifting requires you to be relative to specific points, and other cars..within inches, completely out of tactile control.

But ya..no foul in calling what happens around a corner "drifting"..its a common misuse of the term.

 

I had SEVERE fuel starvation problems this w/e at Roebling. Even with a full tank of gas. It was on one turn only. we call it turn 5-6. its a double apex left hander--pretty high g's for a short period.
Strange thing is that on another higher speed, higher g, longer left handed sweeper--i had NO problems.
I tried not double apexing the turn--take it slower--lower rpm/higher gear--make a sweeper out of it etc and nothing mattered. I f i used anything over just a slight touch on the petal the car would literally die for approx 50 yds. i even warned all the others on the track about this -just in case they where close to me in that turn.
Guess I will be replacing the stock pump for the 1st step in problem solving this.
olddragger

 

what are you looking at for a replacement?

 

Ya....I drive WOT all the time on the street...and the car burns 3X the fuel for distance travelled...that's the same load on the fuel pump Come ON wake up!

 

Guys, the fuel pump doesn't just pump fuel the engine uses.

Most cars use a return fuel system. The pump runs full bore all the time and pumps as much fuel as it can. Up near the engine there is a fuel regulator. It regulates the pressure to be manifold + X PSI. It returns as much fuel as it needs to keep the pressure here. As the injectors use more fuel, the fuel pressure regulator just returns a little less fuel. Even at WOT the majority of fuel is being circulated.

Some other cars don't use the return line, they just have a regulator like the one on an air compressor- the pressure on one side is unregulated, the pressure on the other is regulated. Once again, the fuel pump runs at full bore all the time. It's keeping the un-regulated side at 30-60 PSI all the time. Keeping fuel at 50 PSI isn't free.

There is some very small variation depending on how much fuel you are using, but the actual load on the pump may actually go down if it moves into a more efficent region of operation as the flow changes.

If you know something about the RX-8's fuel system that I don't then let me know, but every car I have owned before this runs the pump at battery voltage all the time and thus the actual fuel flow into the engine makes almost no difference to the pump. Only a smart pump that actually knows how much fuel the engine needs could change its load on the track. Does the RX-8 ECU vary the power to the pump?

 

RX-8 has a variable speed pump. It has an inline resistor that runs the pump at two different speeds, depending on ECU parameters.

The "fuel pump" we are talking about running out of fuel is the whole assembly...ie pump and regulator. If the pump is not providing enough flow to keep the fuel system at the desired pressure it "runs out of fuel"

The way the RX-8 fuel tank and pump is designed will allow fuel starvation due to fuel being pushed into the passenger tank faster than the return siphon can return it when high fuel load drops the regulator output. This is why it craps out at high flow/high situations.


If your pump output is poor...it may test OK at the dealer. But it won't have enough output to run the return siphon under high fuel loads.. This is what happened to me.