I was on my way home yesterday from Sevenstock (and yes I drove) and about 60 miles outside of Albuquerque traveling at 80ish miles per hour the engine just completely stopped as though the fuel just completely died. We pull over to the side of the road to check for the typical things (spark, fuel pump, etc) and all are completely fine. The fuel pump kicks on and works fine. The spark plugs have spark. And it didn't flood (pulled the fuel pump fuse and cranked for 30 seconds or so, put it back in, still nothing).

Now, upon getting the tow truck there to pick us up and take the car back to my new place in Albuquerque (I moved there Monday) the driver of the tow truck stated something interesting about how this is a relatively common problem on this road due to fuel cut off switches being popped off due to the bumps in the road, and people hitting them and it convincing the car it was a head on collision. So, before I call Mazda and have them tow it to their place, can anyone tell me where the fuel cut off switch would be located at so I can at least check it prior to shipping it somewhere to get fixed?

 

I have no clue for the rx8 but if usually cars have their fuel cut off somewhere behind the glove compartment around the passenger foot well. That would be interesting though if thats what really caused the problem

 

I really don't have any idea as to what else it could be, I mean I have power to everything, everything is in operational order, it just is acting like the fuel has completely cut off. The injectors are good, pump good, spark good, everything is good. I'll check under the dash glove box.

 

IIRC, the roll-over switch is in the back somewhere, but I have NEVER heard of this tripping in anything short of a complete roll-over.
Plus, your fuel pump started, right? So it isn't that.

 

Fuel pump starts, there is spark, even if there was bad compression from a blown seal it would at least *attempt* to start, as I've had blown rotaries before, this is absolutely nothing like that. The injectors are still getting 12 volts. Everything is completely operational, it just is acting like there is absolutely no fuel in the engine to ignite anything. I still haven't had a chance yet to go out and check under the dash yet to see if I can find it, and I have never heard of the fuel cut off switch being triggered either until the tow guy told me last night that it happens relatively frequently out in west New Mexico on I-40.

 

This may seem odd but check your gas cap for proper installation.

 

I've had my issues with the gas cap on and off for the three years I've owned it. I checked to ensure it was closed up and everything. Even at its worst, though, I never had a problem like this.

 

Unhook the fuel line and see if there is fuel. Just be careful.

 

perhaps a blockage somewhere?

 

Beware that presence of fuel, even under nominal pressure, does not necessarily indicate proper fuel flow.

 

That is true.

 

A long time with no update. Sorry guys.

It ended up being a faulty fuel pump. It started out with the fuel level sensors going somewhat bad and thus telling me I had much more fuel than I had, drying out the fuel pump. The gauge still works, it is just off. At a quarter of a tank it only has 5% fuel left. I will be ordering the level senders soon, but for now I am just dealing with the misreadings.

 

I had a similar problem with the transfer pump a few years back, my car died but I had 1/2 tank of gas according to the gauge.

I have a whole fuel pump assembly in the garage if you want it. It has over 100,000 miles on it but was working fine when I pulled it to install the BHR fuel pump assembly. I will let it go cheap

 

The fuel pump has already been replaced. I just need the sending units at this time, but how cheap are we talking?

 

You replaced just the pump itself or the whole assembly? It's all one unit IIRC, I don't think the sending unit is seprate.

 

I paid the dealer to do it because 1) I thought I had to drop the tank and 2) I don't have much room to work on anything. They told me they replaced *just* the pump and the sending units would be an addition sum of money, plus they'd have to send out for the parts putting my car down even longer.

 

Sounds like BS. I don't think you can buy the individual parts. The whole fuel pump, sending unit, pick up, filter is sold as an assembly. You could PM ASH8 and ask him to verify in the parts system.

 

According to Autozone I can just the fuel pump for 205. I don't know. Either way I got ripped the **** off after I found out how easy it is to replace the fuel pump.

 

You are confused. The entire assembly is one piece and sold as so.




The pump itself looks like this and you can get it aftermarket and install it but it requires some modification and is not sold by Mazda (at least from what I remember).

 

Then I think the dealer screwed with me hardcore. The cost itself was enough to justify the entire assembly and then some.

 

Yes. My pump had over 100,000 so I didn't see any point in changing out just the pump itself because then the filter, sender, pick up, etc. would all still have high mileage. So my options were to go OEM, aftermarket OEM replacement, or BHR. I went with the BHR (uses a Walbro fuel pump modified to fit in the factory assembly) because of my engine mods and nitrous use.