Ok so i've been looking on the forums for a little while now about the problem. And it seems most people have solved it by replacing the coils and plugs. But I've replaced the plugs, and when I tested the coils with my Ohmeter they all seemed to pass the specs in the service manual.

This is the most information I know about the car at this point:

2004 base model.
K&N Short Ram Typhoon not sure which version
61000 miles
Daily driver almost always brought up to 6-7k RPM every day when getting onto the highway.
Regular oil changes
Plugs replaced probably 2 - 3k miles ago.

The problem i'm having:
When driving the car and it reaches normal operating temp (normally don't drive the car for less than 10 - 30 minutes at a time), if I turn the car off for a few minutes and try and start it again it does not start. Cranks but no start. Wait probably 10 minutes or so and it will start, may hesitate or long crank but it will start. It acts like it is flooded but the de-flood procedure does not solve it, seems like only time does.

I tested the coils as mentioned I don't remember the exact numbers but I think from A - B on the coil the Ohmeter read in the 1.4-1.6 on the 20k Ohm setting, and from B - C the meter read around 150 on the 200k Ohm setting for all 4 coils. I did notice on the coil to the furthest right a white spot on the bottom of it, didn't think to check the others after I saw that. Could the coils still be the problem?

I'm a poor college student and can't afford to spend that much on coils for it to not have been that. Therefore I am trying to find out what it is before buying parts. The coils have at least 30k miles on them.

 

Replace the coils, don't be cheap. I have a car with 37K miles. The car ran fine, but I felt it should have been quicker. I changed the coils, the car instantly ran better. It revs faster and it idles smoother. When I ohm the old coils, they put out the same resistance as the new one. You aren't really suppose to test coil with it off anyway. My car is an 06 with 37K miles, you have an 04 with 61K. Change it!

I know it is $150, but you are better off doing the job before you ruin your plugs and motors. The job is not fun, but you can easily do it yourself.

 

I know this may sound 'old'.... but have you gotten the updated/TSB battery & starter. I was having the same issues when I first got my '04. 1 coil wasn't firing correctly and they replaced it, but starting up was still hit or miss so they replaced my starter with the updated/upgrade starter. Haven't flooded... had a miss start... or anything since. Hope this helps a bit.

 

^+1
If you don't have the upgraded starter... get it!

 

I don't know on the starter, the battery is about a year old now, I got the car about a year ago with 30k on it and when I was at the dealership and went to start it for a test drive the battery was dead, i checked the stamped dates on the battery when they told me they would replace it and to come back in a little bit, i came back checked the battery dates again and the battery was brand new, but i don't know if its a better battery then what originally came with the car. My neighbor is a mazda mechanic, just havn't been able to talk to him. When I got the car, he ran the vin and all the TSBs and flashes had been done up to that point I think all but one, I brought the car in and they did the reflash.

But I don't know as far as the starter goes. I'm out of the powertrain warranty now so anything I do is on me unless the engine itself is bad.

Out of pocket cost, would would a new updated starter cost? I get paid on the 15th so I may be able to dump the entire check into maintnence.

 

Try one of these two sites:
http://www.finishlineperformance.com...cat=338&page=2

http://www.mazmart.com/PartsList.aspx?id=30&n=NEW&m=6

 

definatly don't have the $$ for a starter.

 

Unfortunately that is what you need to solve your issues.

I ordered one last week. It sucked to pay for but I need it.

 

As of 2:00 PM EST, August 18, 2009 I am informed I will be joining the New Engine Club at 60,943 miles.

Coils and Plugs didn't solve it so i brought it to Mazda and asked them to run a compression test. They did and determined it was the engine.

 

^sweet deal.....brand new 8 for u now(sort of).....

 

Yeah, they're letting me drive it around until the engine arives. If they didn't i'd be out of work for way too long. Now i can spend my money on fixing my noisy from suspension. Which is making really weird noises. A squeek and what sounds like a slight bumping noise from the driverside from wheel. Fun times.

 

^they should give you a rental when it's in the shop though......SHOULD(they didn't for me)

try and get an R3 or Speed3.....haha

 

They won't cause i didn't get the car from them. To be honest, I was actually hoping for the new engine. The labor rates are rediculous and anything other then a new engine wouldn't have been covered and I woulda had to pay. The lady at the counter though gave me a little bit of a hard time because I tild her what i thought it was related too and she was like, "How did you find out about that? You need access to the bullitens to know about them." and I was like, the internet. She then proceded to tell me my car was out of warranty and I said, "If you look in the bulliten it says 8 years, 100,000 miles. Then she was like fine, we'll look at it. But if it doesn't turn out to be this then you need to pay the rates.

I was about 80% sure that it was the engine which is the only reason I took it in. Although my car didn't show any noticeable loss of power, the rough idle was fixed by the new coils. The mechanic that looked at it even said the car ran beatifully, so he didn't understand why the car wouldn't start when hot as the bulliten said:

"Some vehicles may experience difficulty starting (cranks no start).

A cranks, no start condition may occur after driving the vehicle a short distance without engine reaching normal
operating temperature. Examples: starting a vehicle and moving it to wash it, engine stall due to mis-application
of clutch then restart. This commonly occurs at port facilities or dealer lots where vehicles are frequently started
cold, moved for short distances and then turned off.

A cranks, no start condition may be caused either by fuel flooded spark plugs or lower than normal compression
due to apex seals locked into rotor groove from carbon accumulation."

When he told me the bulliten was about a cold start issue. I responded with, "In the TSB it says MAY OCCUR, therefore it does not say it MUST be cold in order to have it fall into that category. In the begining of the TSB it also states, 'Some vehicles may experience difficulty starting (cranks no start).' In the first line it doesn't mention anything of it must be cold." He then proceded to say to me, "Well i've checked the coils, sparks, ... and the only thing that came back out of spec was the mass air sensor." in which he said was at something like a 5.6 and normal is something like 5.4 or something like that. It was just out of spec. So obviously I had questioned him on it. Saying that there was another half of the TSB he had not done and when he asked what it was I said, "Well the TSB said if it continues then to check engine compression." In which we got into a conversation about cost and labor rates if it wasn't a bad seal. At which point I figured it was better to go ahead and do the compression test anyway. If i hadn't it would have cost me around $90 for labor, I figured I'd gamble the other $90 he said it would take another hour for the test. My gamble obviously paid off.

So another lesson learned. If you do your research it really pays off. Honestly if I hadn't found RX8club when I first bought the car I probably wouldn't have known enough about the car to be getting a new engine right now. So I pretty much owe it all to the people here as with posting all the information on here and my looking and asking really paid off today.

 

I have a question about this, since i've not had an engine replaced like this. Does mazda keep the bad engine and sent it to get rebuilt or do they just trash it? Would it be possible for me to keep my bad engine? I'm one that enjoys taking things apart and rebuilding, so I'd actually love to keep the engine and rebuild it for possible future use if this happens again I have a spare.

 

Rather than starting a new thread. I had a question. I got the car back and finally drive it this morning. My parents picked it up for me since I was in NY. The clutch was replaced while they had the car apart. Now I don't like the way it feels.

The clutch now feels as if your stepping in 4" of soft mud. Its real soft and I honestly think the gas pedal has more resistance than it does. Is there any way to increase the resistance on the clutch pedal? For my own sanity. The clutch engadgement point is fine just way too light for me.

 

Might want to start with bleeding the clutch line.

 

Really think thats what it is? The endlink doesn't look bent or broken at all. it also doesn't feel loose. i'll try and replace that before buying all new suspension which was next on my list of things to do.

Though tonight I got a CEL so off the Mazda I go again first thing in the morning.

IS this endlink the right one?
http://finishlineperformance.com/sto...cat=380&page=1

And how hard is it to replace? Just lift the front end and remove it? or should I compress the spring?

 

Yes and yes.