04 rx8 80k miles
6speed manual

maintainace done less than 12 months ago
new plugs
new plug wires
new ignition coils
clutch
tranny and diff fluid
clean tb
new coolant
air filter
msp16 flash (i believe this to be the cause of the problem)

1st problem
I have sort of an isolated issue. this is the 2nd time this has happened.
Im driving doing about 60mph..all of a sudden the car looses power, i try to press the gas and it stutters and continues to die. The 1st time this happened i pulled over and let it shut off....opened engine check everything, everything fine...refire it and after a hard start it fires up and back to driving...ever seen the problem since july.

Now today after driving for a while i get the same problem, car starts to die...this time i let the car die while moving, pop the clutch and continue driving..it worked fine for about 3 miles then it happens again...this time i pull over..check everything and then fire it up again...drives fine....after another 15 minutes it dies once more and then i pull over and repeat process...i drive long enough to make it home...i let the car idle for 10 mins with minor revving and i have no problems.

Only thing i can say is it was pretty hot out today...my temp thing read 94 degrees...last time it happened it was pretty hot too. But then again its always hot in florida. My 1st thought was the coils and all that, but it hasnt even been a year since i changed them.

2nd problem
ill add it just cause it happened once and may add insight to my main issue...i was driving one day and the car wouldnt rev past 6k and it was back firing hard, shooting flames and popping loud (catless mid pipe)...felt like i was still shooting alot of fuel but there was no ignition. under 6k felt sluggish aswell. only happened once about 2 weeks ago.

as i said i have a catless midpipe so i dont think i have a clogged cat lol. i did the ignition stuff less than a year ago..

after changing my coolant a few weeks later that little radiator(house light) came on.i checked and the fluid is fine and there is pressure.

i noticed all this start to happen after i got the latest pcm flash...i never had any stalling or loss of power befor all this. Its hard trying to prove to the dealership this happened because of the flash, they are charging me 200+ dollars to check out the engine.

im not sure wht else this could be any ideas...

 

i sometimes lose power also when it gets hot. Im about to get a performance radiator

 

replace the fuel pump

 

i hear ya man, but we shouldnt have to resort to that..i figured under normal driving our cars (or any modern car for that matter) should be able to drive in hotter climates.

i really dont want to spend money unless im sure to solve the problem..with my last car i spent money blindly trying to fix problems and it became very costly..it was my whole reason for buying a new(er) car and i dont want to start that game again.

 

yeah i know.. but thats a rotary car for you. i assume that the stock radiator is generic just like mazda's other cars. But the renesis gets hotter than almost every other car that I can think of.

 

It sounds like Your engine is going to the rotary heaven.

it shouldn't cost 200 bux to have a compression test, a good dealership Should charge you only 1 hour of labor.

you should be covered under the new 100K miles engine warranty, but prepare the dealership will try to hit you with other stuff (like replace ur water pump, hoses, etc)

 

If it were on its way out it would be low on power all the time - still say it's the fuel pump . It's a cheap maintenance item that is due to be replaced at 100k anyway ....

 

It can also be a bad engine, sometimes a bad engine will show its symptoms only when its hot.

100K for the fuel pump? rofl ! I have replace mine at around 40K miles. Did it myself.

 

speak more of this fuel pump lol
cost, where to buy (please no dealership)
difficulty to install...i hope the problem is as simple as that lol

other than that i hope its not the engine..i mean it runs fine 90 % of the time...it pulls hard and runs great...just once in a while it has temper tantrums.

 

my car does the same thing. i replaced coils
clean the engine, new spark plugs.
worked good here in mild temp. went
to vegas did well there until we went for
a hard drive started losing power going up hill.
when it cooled down started running good again.
but on the way back home to L.A. she started to lose
it in hot weather again. i'm sure it's the engine
but unless it's ran hard on a hot day i dont think
they will see my problem, even with a compression test.
it pulls good in cool weather no matter how hard i drive it..

 

http://www.trademotion.com/partlocat...layCatalogid=0

search for a DIY about it as well that nycgps did

 

133 bux, not bad...just about the same as my maxima's was.

the fuel pump in my maxima was pretty easy to do, it was underneathh the rear seat. ill search for a diy and see how hard it is. other than that this weekend im going to pull my plugs and take a look at them, i need to get in the habit of checking them periodically.

thanks for the help guys, any other advice

do you really think it could be the engine going bad..im at 80k miles and honestly the engine feels great...it pulls pretty nice...sounds good...i just need to figure out how to get rid of the radiator light thats on, its annoying as hell.

 

All cars run like shat when its 100 and over out. But if your car is dragging its *** thats a dif story. Compression check!

 

Well, I will say give your fuel pump a shot first. Its not that expensive, oh yes you have to get it thru a dealership (just use the link people gave ya, 133 bux aint bad) , oh , dont forget to buy a new fuel pump gasket (like 40-50 bux)

MAKE SURE YOU HAVE VERY LOW LOW LOW FUEL IN YOUR TANK ! maybe 20 more miles after fuel light turn on.

The hardest part is to take that god damn Fuel pump cap off, if u know your dealership people, you can "probably" give them some deposit so u can borrow their Mazda fuel pump tool.

 

thanks NY i appreciate all your help, i did a search and couldnt find a DIY thread started by you, do you have a link?

on and o the way home the car didnt stall but i did have the issue of not going past 7k rpms...i 1st or 2nd i couldnt get past 7k...it kinda cut off and made a muffling noise like its struggling...then under 7k it drive normal..funny thing is i can rev to 9k in neutral or at a stop...any ideas

 

Congrats on being accepted into the New Motor Club

 

arrrrrrrrrrrrrrgh dont say that....i dont want a new motor

 

My first motor was doing the same thing as yours. Lost power on hot days. Welcome to the club. I am on my 3rd motor

 

if thats the case then u might need a new engine ... but like I said, even u're engine is covered for 100K, prepare the dealership gonna hit you with some utter bullshit.

You dont even need a DIY for pump, lemme just tell u right now

the pump is located at the "left side" of the car, right under the cushion of the left rear seat, to take that cushion off just lift it straight up with ur hand, then u should see a metal cover, take it off, then u'll see the pump, make sure ur battery is off and drain the car's power by pressing in the brake pedal a few times, then take the power connector off, take the quick connector off, becareful cuz if u break it, u might have to replace the whole fuel line which is not funny, so just be real careful, u can read service manual about how to take the quick connector off, when u do it right, the Connector will stay but its not secured on the plastic thing anymore, so just slide the whole tube out but prepare, fuel WILL spill so make sure u have a towel nearby to suck all the "juice" up, then use the Mazda's fuel pump tool to take the cap off (dont even try to do it with anything else, it wont work), after its off, the pump will pop up, now there is another quick connector connected to the middle of the pump, take that one off as well, then just remember how the wire goes behind the pump(u'll know what I mean), then pull the new pump out and put it back the way it was. Oh, get a bottle of "fresh" engine oil, before u slide those quick connector back to the new pump, rub a little bit of new oil on the nipples for better sealing.

It took me about 2 hours to do it, the most painful part was the cap. Now if u tell me to do it again, I probably do it less than an hour.

 

sounds good, im gonna try this out probably next weekend...thanks for all your help!

 

The MSP16 is supposed to fix loss of power right? 94 amb is not that bad, it can get easily over 100 here in CA. Nevertheless 100k+ for the RX-8 is really getting into danger territory. Especially for 04s.

 

or maybe his car blew up in the process ?

 

before you do anything just take a vacuum reading if it is less than 16 dont bother to do anything--just take it to the dealer.
OD

 

sory for not keeping in touch, i been busy and on vacation currently.

i have the car at the dealersdhip getting checked. decided to get a compression check too. i got an update, they were able to duplicatw the issue...they say the car gets hot (i figured that already) they broke it down to me and said my problem happens in stages and depends how hot it is outside...ist step is noticed with slight decrease in power and rouch idle...then progresses to car goin into limp mode with severe power loss, miss fires, and total loss of power in high rpm ranges and then full power loss resulting in car dying. i witnessed all this myself. they are checking the cooling system and will get back to me.

they did some kind of check on the engine and said my barometric preassure is low. he tried to explain to me but i did understand much. any idea what this is, they did this before doin the full compression check..they are checkin that and should be doin the compression check today hopefully. i see that since im out of town they are takin their sweet time. i needed this done by monday.

well here is the update, any ideas????