No Powe, but no ECU codes.

[manxman]

I\'m nearly tearing my hair out with frustration and hope I can get some help trying to solve my issue.

Around 6 months ago I purchased a 2004 RX-8 231PS, I live in the UK, actually on the Isle of Man, and we only have one Mazda authorised dealer.

The car ran fine for a couple of weeks, but then started to get a warning light on my dash along with a loss of power (wouldn\'t go abouve 5500rpm). I took it to my Mazda dealer and they pulled the code off it, 301 if my memory serves me correctly. They told me that the cat was fried due to a misfire.

So I dug into my savings and purchased a new cat, this one to be precise.

At the same time I replaced the plugs, coils and leads as I didn\'t want to lose another cat over the same issue.

About a month passed after fitting, no more error codes logged, but I did have the occasional loss of power. I spoke to my dealer and they told me this was probably due to bits of the old cat working through the system.

I hadn\'t been hitting the high revs for a while as I\'d been driving in town, but I went out for a burn and when the engine got to between 4500-5000rpm the power I\'d come to expect just wasn\'t there. Now if I keep my foot buried in the carpet it will eventually make it to 9000rpm in the 3 lower gears, but it doesn\'t sound right, and it\'s really lazy.

So I went back to my Mazda dealer, and they tell me that the cat has gone again, and I should replace the cat, coils, plugs and leads. I told them not a chance I was doing that again after only a month and since they hadn\'t identified the original issue.

So they speak to Mazda HQ and they recommend a compression test, which is done, the results came back in their words "slightly lower then normal". Their recommendation? Buy a new engine, cat, coils and plugs which comes in at arounf £7000. I think that they haven\'t got a clue whats wrong with it so they\'re suggesting I throw money at the problem.

So I got on the phone to mazdarotaryparts.com and the guy has been really great trying to help me identify the issue.

He sent me a de-cat pipe to use whilst I identify whats up with the car, so I\'m not just burning through cats. So I\'ve replaced the cat with the decat and to me (I\'m not an expert) the cat that was supposedly broken looks fine. The mazda dealer actually told me it had a hole in it the size of a golf ball, it looks pretty darn perfect to me.

Anyway fitted the de-cat thinking all my power would be back, but it\'s not, possibly a slight improvement due to the lack of cat, but still the same symptoms.

I\'ve cleaned the MAF sensor, so that\'s not the issue, I\'ve got no error codes being thrown by the computer, the mazda dealer said they couldn\'t fix it without any codes.

All I can think now is that there is a problem towards the rear of the exhaust system, I\'m considering disconnecting the rear section of my de-cat and taking it for a very short drive just to see if I get the power back, but I\'m not even sure that is wise.

My car doesn\'t show any of the normal low compression symptoms, it always starts quickly from cold or warm and it\'s never flooded.

I know this is a long post, but if you\'ve managed to get through it I\'d really appreciate and help anyone could give? Many Thanks.

[wolfie1]

So if there is no codes it has to be something mechanical, fuel pump, dirty fuel filter? I would start with the cheap things first and work from there

[manxman]

I found a video on youtube that looks pretty similiar to the problem I\'m having here
 
Isn\'t the fuel filter built into the fuel pump on an RX-8?
 
If so would you suggest adding something to the fuel to clean or are we talking about a replacement fuel pump? Would that be my dealer who would need to install that? Thanks.

[wolfie1]

Well there will be a gauze filter on the pump but there will be another 1 under the vehicle, I am not to sure where on an rx8 but on an rx7 it is in front of the rear crossmember as for what\'s involved in the job I\'m not sure, you will have to wait till 1 of the rx8 guys posts up

[manxman]

I\'ve found someone who can loan me a MAF sensor to test in my car, can\'t pick it up until tomorrow, but will see if that helps.

[manxman]

Replaced the MAF sensor, it didn\'t work.
 
Going to see if I can find a friendly mechanic to clean the ESS and possibly the SSV, and test the fuel pressure.
 
Does that sound like a decent plan?

[wolfie1]

Yea start with all the cheaper stuff, it can\'t hurt doing it anyway