I've just bought my first RX-8...a 2004 GT 6-speed in silver with red and black leather, 15000 miles--GORGEOUS! After driving the car home and parking it overnight...check engine light came on after warming the car up and driving off. Car ran fine. Dealer replaced all the coils, plugs and wires under warranty.

About 2 months later...check engine light came on. Car ran fine. Dealer replaced gas cap and purge valve.

2 days ago....you guessed it! Check engine light came on. Car ran fine. This really pissed me off, so the next morning I decided to "reboot" the car by disconnecting the battery for awhile. BINGO! No more check engine light.

The car has has the 4206 PCM reprogram done in 2007.

Anyone have any ideas, comments or suggestions?

 

An 04 with only 15K mi. is a rare find.
We need to know what codes are stored in the ecu. Disconnecting the battery to reset the ecu is probably just a temporary fix. The problem is still there and will trip the CEL again.

 

I had a small argument with the wife (the car is actually a present for her) about whether I should spend the money for a Scanalyzer so that I can read the codes. But since life itself is a "temporary fix" I'll take the reboot solution for now and stifle my curiosity .

If, as you say, the fix is temporary, why wouldn't it have recurred already (now 3 days and a hundred miles ago) and also why doesn't the car stumble or bumble or something that would indicate a malfunction. Isn't it possible that the computer could be generating some random codes because it is itself defective? Could this be a sinister plot by Mazda to steal my 401K?

 

this is another cheapish option to read codes and other nifty things.

http://www.scangauge.com/

 

By the way, Voltaire has an "e" as in ECU on the end.

 

um, ok , sure

 

Autozone can pull the code on the CEL for you at no charge next time it trips.

Picking up on the missing 'e' at the end of Voltaire - now that is reading all the details in a thread post...

 

5 days since reboot and still no CEL. I think the computer records random incidents that have no consequences and require no further attention. I drive a limo and had this happen once on a Lincoln Town Car. The CEL came on and I took the Lincoln to a dealer. The dealer reset the CEL and it never came on again.

 

If the dealer is still providing warranty, I would still take it back to them. IF the ECU is malfunctioning as you suspect, I would want that replaced. Not inexpensive. Or, if the ECU is fine, something is trowing codes.