Hi guys,

My RX-8 started to be unhappy a few months back - hard to start, low power, slow to rev up. Traced the problem to the coils/sparks (all 4 coils showed signs of arcing through to the mounting plate). 42k miles so about right to replace.

New coils, leads, and sparks - ran great for a few weeks.

Now I am seeing three symptoms...
1) First symptom was an occasional engine miss-fire with CEL code for "cylinder 2 miss-fire" flickering. Couldn't reproduce when trying.
2) As of two days ago it will no longer rev above ~4k when going up hill, ~6k flat.
3) This morning it started and quickly stalled a few times running very rough. On the 4th attempt it spluttered badly for a bit then came right.

I took it to a dealer - they verified the ignition system was fine but the reported that chunks of the cat had fallen out partially blocking the exhaust path.

New cat + O2 sensor = over $2k!
(and according to the dealership it takes 2 hours to replace the cat plus an EXTRA 1/2 hour to replace the O2 sensor . I should have laughed at him when he said it but I was in shock)

Fed 8 years / 80k miles? Car purchased in December 2003
And California.

First problem - finding a cat at a realistic price...
Most of my searches have resulted in "8 years / 80k miles" or "not legal in CA".
Can anyone recommend a good source for an OEM cat or an aftermarket + legal in CA cat?

Second problem - I am not 100% convinced all symptoms are solely due to the cat. I guess I have to replace the cat anyway so will deal with any remaining issues after the cat is replaced.

I want my car back!

Any help with sourcing a new cat would be much appreciated.

Thanks,

Nick

 

Hunt one down in the for sale section, the dealer sounds like they're going to hose you man. You got all the signs of a gone cat and it's possible running with bad coils previously caused the killing of it. Best of luck