I have read quite a few posts about the causes of my problem, and I think mine is very unique. I will attempt to give as much background on the problem and info as I can.....
I have a 2004 (July '03 production date) 1st generation 6 speed. The first day, back in April, that I bought it from a private seller, I drove it to Jacksonville Beach, FL, which is about 4 hours away from me in Atlanta. Before leaving Atlanta I had to take care of some things and drove the car around for about an hour without shutting it off when I made my brief stops. Had my two daughters (10 & 6) with me. Our last stop before getting on the road was at McDonalds to get them some food for the road. Pulled out from McD's and getting on the on ramp to the highway the car shut off and would't start back up... I thought that it may have had run out of gas. It had just under 1/4 tank so my first thought was that the gas gauge was inaccurate. The engine would turn over and crank, but it wouldn't fire up. Called the 511 HERO people to bring me some gas and they were there in about 15-20 mins. After pouring in a couple gallons it started right up and we were on the way. I, of course, filled up at the next exit... After about an hour of driving, I noticed the car having some acceleration issues while cruising and randomly losing power for a few seconds if I stepped on the pedal to pass someone. Eventually I had to come to a stop, and when I attempted to take off from the stop, I made it about 50 feet and the car died again. Same issue as when I thought it had run out of gas. Without knowing exactly what to do I opened the hood. {Now don't get me wrong, I'm pretty mechanically inclined, I've worked on most of my own vehicles and can do quite a bit, short of swapping engines. (Don't do anything with transmissions other than basic filter changes.) But when it comes to a rotary, I was a noob.} Looking around under the hood, I didn't see anything unusual. Get back in and turn it over and it simply cranks, but doesn't start up. It's about just under a half tank so I know it's not out of gas. Sitting there, my girls are asleep, so I pull up RX8club.com and start reading. After about 15 mins. I look under the hood again and take the radiator cap off. (No rhyme or reason, simply my mechanical curiosity.) Heard the pressure release when loosening it, but no antifreeze came out. The liquid inside the container looked very rusty. My first thought was "Wow, I need the change that when we get back." Put the cap back on and tried starting the car again and it fired right up without hesitation. Shut the hood and continued the trip... Made it to our destination and came back home the next day with the car shutting off a couple more times throughout........ skip forward to today...... Buying the car I knew it had 157k miles on the odometer. Previous owner put a new engine in it at 136k, and a new stock cat at 155k. The car now has 165k and I have done a tune up. (New plugs, wires, coils & cleaned the MAF.) New radiator, thermostat & replaced a few hoses. So obviously new antifreeze too. Original fluid was very rusty looking and smelled burned. Couldn't afford a new overflow container so I cleaned it out the best I could. New rear 02 sensor. (CE light was intermittently coming on and off. Had the code read at AZ to find out what it was. No more light after changing.) Have done most of the things suggested on this site, ie, cleaning and revamping the grounding contacts and cleaning the cabin filter (which was so clogged it looked like a flock of bird's had nested in there). The air bag lite was on when I purchased the car and this site helped me with getting it to go off. (Unplugging and replugging the harness under the driver's seat did the trick.) ..... After doing everything, I still had the issue of loss of power and cutting off after 1-2 hrs of constant driving. When I first start the car though, it runs great. (Instant start-up, speed, power, hyper-happy-over-enjoyment, it's all there.) From what I had read on this site, I thought what it needed was the MSP16 flash to fix it. So last week I took it to Jim Ellis Mazda off Cobb Pkwy in Marietta and they did the MSP16 flash recall and the airbag recall. A couple days later, I intentionally ran the car without shutting it off for over an hour and the stalling/shutting off issue is still there. The last thing I can think of to do would be to put on a new fuel pump. If the car shuts off, it won't start, it will only turn over. It will take about 15-20 minutes to sit before it will start up and run again. But what scares me is, if I loosen the radiator cap and relieve the pressure, the car will instantly start...... I would like to get a little guidance from the experts here before I spend the $300 on a new fuel pump.
Thank you in advance for the help + my apologies for the lengthy post,
Christian
I have a 2004 (July '03 production date) 1st generation 6 speed. The first day, back in April, that I bought it from a private seller, I drove it to Jacksonville Beach, FL, which is about 4 hours away from me in Atlanta. Before leaving Atlanta I had to take care of some things and drove the car around for about an hour without shutting it off when I made my brief stops. Had my two daughters (10 & 6) with me. Our last stop before getting on the road was at McDonalds to get them some food for the road. Pulled out from McD's and getting on the on ramp to the highway the car shut off and would't start back up... I thought that it may have had run out of gas. It had just under 1/4 tank so my first thought was that the gas gauge was inaccurate. The engine would turn over and crank, but it wouldn't fire up. Called the 511 HERO people to bring me some gas and they were there in about 15-20 mins. After pouring in a couple gallons it started right up and we were on the way. I, of course, filled up at the next exit... After about an hour of driving, I noticed the car having some acceleration issues while cruising and randomly losing power for a few seconds if I stepped on the pedal to pass someone. Eventually I had to come to a stop, and when I attempted to take off from the stop, I made it about 50 feet and the car died again. Same issue as when I thought it had run out of gas. Without knowing exactly what to do I opened the hood. {Now don't get me wrong, I'm pretty mechanically inclined, I've worked on most of my own vehicles and can do quite a bit, short of swapping engines. (Don't do anything with transmissions other than basic filter changes.) But when it comes to a rotary, I was a noob.} Looking around under the hood, I didn't see anything unusual. Get back in and turn it over and it simply cranks, but doesn't start up. It's about just under a half tank so I know it's not out of gas. Sitting there, my girls are asleep, so I pull up RX8club.com and start reading. After about 15 mins. I look under the hood again and take the radiator cap off. (No rhyme or reason, simply my mechanical curiosity.) Heard the pressure release when loosening it, but no antifreeze came out. The liquid inside the container looked very rusty. My first thought was "Wow, I need the change that when we get back." Put the cap back on and tried starting the car again and it fired right up without hesitation. Shut the hood and continued the trip... Made it to our destination and came back home the next day with the car shutting off a couple more times throughout........ skip forward to today...... Buying the car I knew it had 157k miles on the odometer. Previous owner put a new engine in it at 136k, and a new stock cat at 155k. The car now has 165k and I have done a tune up. (New plugs, wires, coils & cleaned the MAF.) New radiator, thermostat & replaced a few hoses. So obviously new antifreeze too. Original fluid was very rusty looking and smelled burned. Couldn't afford a new overflow container so I cleaned it out the best I could. New rear 02 sensor. (CE light was intermittently coming on and off. Had the code read at AZ to find out what it was. No more light after changing.) Have done most of the things suggested on this site, ie, cleaning and revamping the grounding contacts and cleaning the cabin filter (which was so clogged it looked like a flock of bird's had nested in there). The air bag lite was on when I purchased the car and this site helped me with getting it to go off. (Unplugging and replugging the harness under the driver's seat did the trick.) ..... After doing everything, I still had the issue of loss of power and cutting off after 1-2 hrs of constant driving. When I first start the car though, it runs great. (Instant start-up, speed, power, hyper-happy-over-enjoyment, it's all there.) From what I had read on this site, I thought what it needed was the MSP16 flash to fix it. So last week I took it to Jim Ellis Mazda off Cobb Pkwy in Marietta and they did the MSP16 flash recall and the airbag recall. A couple days later, I intentionally ran the car without shutting it off for over an hour and the stalling/shutting off issue is still there. The last thing I can think of to do would be to put on a new fuel pump. If the car shuts off, it won't start, it will only turn over. It will take about 15-20 minutes to sit before it will start up and run again. But what scares me is, if I loosen the radiator cap and relieve the pressure, the car will instantly start...... I would like to get a little guidance from the experts here before I spend the $300 on a new fuel pump.
Thank you in advance for the help + my apologies for the lengthy post,
Christian
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