Ok, just picked my RX8 up about a week ago with intentions of just trading it in towards a WRX. (It was a gift)

Its unfortunately a 2004 A/T 4 Port, great condition(I thought), with 102,000 miles.

Car has been running great. I drove it back to Texas with no issues (1700 miles).

Today has been different....

After driving about 30 mins today I noticed the RPM's were getting a little rough at idle. It had very little low-rpm power and almost refused to go every single time. Quite a few times I thought it was just going to die.

After it got up through the powerband it ran just fine and it seemed to have the same amount of normal power. (if you wanna call it that, lol) BUT....then my A/C started blowing warm, then cold, and back and forth, especially when going up a small hill. It was just very inconsistent as well.

Also, lol, I noticed when I had it in manual mode, going down a gradual slope in the road, the car stayed in 2nd gear AFTER I put it back in Auto. It theoretically should've upshifted to 3rd, then 4th at the speed I was going. Well, it took it about a good 15 seconds to do so. This was the first time this has happened. The Tranny IS slipping a little, nothing crazy and I was in the process of flushing it out this week. It just seems weird that this occurred while I was having the other somewhat non-related motor issues.

WTH??

Now, the car is stock except for the fact I removed the resonators (walls) in the airbox. I was thinking this could possibly be part of the issue, or maybe its just the fact I live in El Paso and its been in the 90s every day.

Any opinions?? Thoughts?

I was thinking possibly ignition, or belt...maybe even a little from the walls removed??? Just weird...

Thanks guys

 

A few points:
- 2004 Automatic is the worst of all combinations for reputation of engine life here. Call up MNAO with the VIN and ask if it's ever had it's engine replaced, and at what mileage.

- The idle issue could be a number of different issues, including failing ignition (every 30k is roughly the life span, and could have been ignored), compression loss, vacuum leak, grounding problem, MAF sensor dirty, or e-shaft sensor fouled.

- The AC cycling is possibly just the ECU detecting wrong calcuated values. I believe our AC compressor shuts off if the ECU detects the engine higher than a certain % of maximum load, and it could be triggering this, and possible triggered from the issues noted above.

- The transmission gearing thing is unknown to me. I don't know what commands that or how it all works to suggest anything there.

 

Makes sense....

Im going inspect a few things and see If I can visually tell (not too used to Rotaries...coming from a Honda guy).

Oh, and the motor HAS been replaced. I got the Rex from my Mother and she had it replaced in 2006 I believe. I believe from a bulletin or recall of some sort (she didnt pay anything).

Thanks man!

 

Well, I thought things were good after I cleaned the MAF but the problems came back.

It still runs like crap during stop/go traffic after it warms up. I have since:

cleaned MAF twice
Cleaned ESS
Checked all vacuum lines
visually inspected intake/screens/filter
Cleaned TB (pretty decent carbon buildup)
Reset everything

Checked just about everything else.

Changing coils/plugs/wires today

If that doesnt help Im checking SSV, CAT, and last resort a compression test.

Motor was replaced in '05. All recalls performed including PCM reflash. Cat/Coils/plugs/wires replaced in Nov '10.

This seems to be an ongoing issue especially with '04 models. I would think by now with so many people having similar issues in hot weather, that there would be a common solution.