hey guys quick question on just starting/shuting the engine???

starting: do you guys usually wait for ur car to go around 1k rpm or wait for the temp to reach in between hot/cold before driving??

shutting: do you guys rev your engine every time to 3000 rpms before shutdown on a normal drive or do u guys do that only when u drive short distance (ex. car wash)

i just wanna get ur input on what daily routines yall do to ur 8 :cool:

starting: do you guys usually wait for ur car to go around 1k rpm or wait for the temp to reach in between hot/cold before driving?? No more than 2 minutes then I am on my way.

shutting: do you guys rev your engine every time to 3000 rpms before shutdown on a normal drive or do u guys do that only when u drive short distance (ex. car wash) Only do the 3,000 RPM thing on cold shutdowns (temp needle not in the middle)

Omigosh people, you do not have to wait before driving your car upon start up. Maybe 10 seconds tops until the revs drop to 2000 or less might help, but not absolutely necessary.

Upon shutdown there is no need to rev to 3,000 RPM if the engine is sufficiently warm. I still can't believe how much paranoia is being spread around these boards because some people have flooded their cars. It is an issue, but if you warm up the engine before shutting off you should be fine. And even that is a precautionary measure.

Upon shutdown there is no need to rev to 3,000 RPM if the engine is sufficiently warm.


I dunno, whenever I go out for a hard driving session and then shutdown without doing a 3k rev, the next startup is always hard, unless the car gets left alone long enough for everything to go absolutely cold. Makes me wonder if it's an issue of a lot of fuel being dumped into the combustion chamber from the hard driving, and there being leftovers when shutting down. I've started doing 3k rev shutdowns after hard driving sessions.

I never rev my car at shutdown (unless it's cold). Never had a problem.

I only rev the engine up and shut down if the car is not sufficiently warmed (ie from a cold snowy day).

But yea, never really wait for the car to warm up either. Only waiting I do is adjusting the stereo ... then it's GO time.

I never rev it before shut down, even in dead winter on short drives( moving out of driveway) and have never flooded.

As long as the idle is smooth you should be good to go. Just take it easy until she warms up.

I do make use of the 3000rpm technique sometimes. Like today. I needed to wash/wax/clean the car. Pull out of garage onto driveway to wash. Back into garage and out of the sun to wax. The leather conditioner says to let the sun warm up the leather, so back into the driveway. Finish cleaning/conditioning the leather, back into the garage. I usually try to be conscientous about warming up but 4 times is a little ridiculous. So I put my faith in the 3000rpm procedure.

Upon shutdown there is no need to rev to 3,000 RPM if the engine is sufficiently warm. I still can't believe how much paranoia is being spread around these boards because some people have flooded their cars. It is an issue, but if you warm up the engine before shutting off you should be fine. And even that is a precautionary measure.

Well call it paranoia if you will, but I have personally experienced very hard starts when not reving before shutdown. When I first got the car I reved to 3k every time I shut down, then after about a month I thought I was just being paranoid and I stopped doing it. Then I started having occaisional hard starts.

Now this only occurs when the car has not completley cooled down before restarting it. If the car is left to cool down compleltey I don't have a problem. Its just after its gotten warm and cooled down slightly. For example, I leave work, and on my way home stop at the mall. The car is warmed up completley. I'm in the mall for about 30 minutes. Come back out and start the car and it doesn't turn over for about 10 seconds. After this happend on several different occasions weeks apart, I went back to reving to 3k before shutting down and have not had that problem since.

It could be purely coincidental, but it doesn't bother me to take 2 seconds and rev to 3K even if just for peace of mind.

The whole revving before shutdown, and warming up has become second nature to me now. I really don't even think about it anymore.

I guess I am being stupid, but I have always warmed my cars up before going anywhere. I let the car run for a couple of minutes and then drive off. You have different metals all within .000's of an inch of each other and they all expand and contract differently. It just makes sense to have the fluids at temp and the metals at operating temp before running the car hard. I mean Humans, dogs, cats etc. usually all stretch their muscles before moving around when they wake up in the morning, why wouldn't you do the same with your car?

As far as the 8 goes it gets a minimum of 2 min and then I don't rev the car over 3 grand until it is fully warmed unless I have to. When I have to move the car in the driveway or something like that I always do the rev to 3k thing. I have had my car flood once and it's a pain in the ass to get it started after that.

I guess I am being stupid, but I have always warmed my cars up before going anywhere. I let the car run for a couple of minutes and then drive off. You have different metals all within .000's of an inch of each other and they all expand and contract differently. It just makes sense to have the fluids at temp and the metals at operating temp before running the car hard. I mean Humans, dogs, cats etc. usually all stretch their muscles before moving around when they wake up in the morning, why wouldn't you do the same with your car?

As far as the 8 goes it gets a minimum of 2 min and then I don't rev the car over 3 grand until it is fully warmed unless I have to. When I have to move the car in the driveway or something like that I always do the rev to 3k thing. I have had my car flood once and it's a pain in the ass to get it started after that.


i just wait until the fluids are at operating temperature...hehe which is easy for me to read b/c i have gaugers:p but i never go anywher ewith out warming her up..not b/c of flooding (she's already on how can she flood lol)..but b/c of teh different metals in teh side housings and intermidiate housing on teh 13b-msp :D


but to each his/her own

I start it up , put my seat belt on, then put it in gear and away i go.

1) letting your car warm up before driving kills your fuel economy.
2) driving at low rpms (under 3000 rpm) is the quickest/safest/most efficient way to bring the engine to temperature

and as for the animal analogy, yes, you are supposed to stretch before doing physical activity, but you get a better stretch if you do some mild exercises first to get the blood flowing and loosen up the muscles. think of the <3krpm driving as the warmup and stretch rolled into one.

1) letting your car warm up before driving kills your fuel economy.
.


it doesn't kill mine..it's not like a 13b-rew...idleling isn't as bad in our car (for fuel economy)...haha and besides it isn't like our cars are very effeicent mpg wise anyways :D

in warm weather, I wait a minumum of two minutes warm up time and I never red line it unless its fully warmed up and I do redline the car each time I drive it, as it helps keep the combustion surfaces cleaner and less prone to poor or stumbling idle, running BG44k through every 3 months helps too,

winter, I warm it up at least 5 minutes if the car is parked outside, my garage is insulated there for it never gets below 50 degrees in the winter and I still wait two minutes for warm up. I never go above 3000rpm until it is almost warmed up all the way, I have had hard starts whether the car was fully warmed up or not when it was shut off, but with the yellow top optima, starting is no longer a problem, even if it floods, that battery will melt the starter before it dies, and I try not to over heat the starter when it floods, and it flooded twice, but I was able to follow the flooding procedures and it started, does not make me happy when it floods, it s embarassing with neighbors staring, they dont understand rotaries

as far as revving it to 3000 rpm before shutting down, its new to me, its seems odd to do, I will have to do some research on that one, think I'll ask a rotary certified mechanic, see what they say, I do know that you have to idle the car and cool down the oil a bit before you shut it down, and it cools down the rotors too, and I have not found mazda literature that states that you rev 3 grand before shutdown...

I remember years ago, my Engineer Uncle bought a Mazda Cosmos I believe it was, my Aunt hated it, it was not all that reliable, he was really proud of that car, he has passed away years ago, I am guessing he would have been thrilled with the rx8........

as far as revving it to 3000 rpm before shutting down, its new to me, its seems odd to do, I will have to do some research on that one, think I'll ask a rotary certified mechanic, see what they say,

It's mentioned in Mazda's own literature, although not the owner's manual.

It's mentioned in Mazda's own literature, although not the owner's manual.

Is it due primarily to the carbon buildup issue??

It's mentioned in Mazda's own literature, although not the owner's manual.

It's also on the DVD MNAO sent out to MSP04 customers in February.

I always warm me car up till it hits the "c" , the rpms are usually around 1200 rpms when I take off . If I take off too soon , the rpms jump around alot , like its not warm . No harm in warming it up a bit . I also always rev up to 3000 rpms and kill it ...only once have I had a hard start and thats when the car sat for 15 hours in 15 degree weather . Once it got started , wasn't a problem . Never flooded and I always get 17mpg .. I figure it might cost me 1 mpg warming it up a little longer , but in the long run it will pay off !

i warm my car up till the needle rests at 1.5k rpms... then i drive slowly tiill it hits normal running temp...

i rev the car to 3k EVERY time as a precautionary measure.. and immediately shut it off ... the car starts in less than a second when doing this the next time! and i rev to 4K for 3secs when taking it out to wash.. and shut it off..

i warm my car up till the needle rests at 1.5k rpms... then i drive slowly tiill it hits normal running temp...

i rev the car to 3k EVERY time as a precautionary measure.. and immediately shut it off ... the car starts in less than a second when doing this the next time! and i rev to 4K for 3secs when taking it out to wash.. and shut it off..


Well, a word of caution, reving to 4k activates the secondary injectors along with the primaries ... thus dumping more fuel into the chambers. I'd suggest you only rev to 3k as this dumps less fuel that needs to be swept out to avoid flooding.

I mean Humans, dogs, cats etc. usually all stretch their muscles before moving around when they wake up in the morning, why wouldn't you do the same with your car?

:rolleyes: hmmm..........

Why would letting your car warm up kill your fuel economy? :confused:

^ Because it's running a rich mixture and not driving anywhere? :D Sorry, I try very hard not to be a smart-a$$, but it's in my nature. What I mean to say is that it's not doing anything permanent, if that's what you're wondering. It's just worse in the sense that stop-and-go traffic is worse than continuous driving.

Seriously, though, there's not a huge difference between running at idle and driving under very low load, but it does seem like the car runs much more smoothly once the temperature rises enough that the idle speed is below about 1500. The dissimilar metal expansion thing makes me kind of cautious here, too, but then I've only had the car for 3 months and need to learn to relax.:)

And a rev before shutdown, turning off the ignition as your foot leaves the throttle and the revs drop, does help sweep the chamber clean, and it doesn't hurt anything, so I've got in the habit of doing it every time.

My 2 scents is as long as you don't drive the car 'hard', there really isn't any need to warm it up for a lengthy period of time.....as long as all the fluids are circulating, there shouldn't be a problem.
As to the rev before shutdown......why is this a concern? My feeling......'JFDI' (Just F@#*in Do It) What harm does anyone think it will do? I think its been 'proven' (don't really like using that word) to be of benefit. Its a habit at this point and besides that it gives me an excuse to hear the exhaust. My Dealer salesman also suggested doing this.

I drive away as soon as it starts, and never rev on shut down.
Idid flood once, got latest flash and a addin for the owners manual, which say rev to 4000 rpm before shutting down, but this only apply to a cold engine.
been getting just over 22 mpg since flashed about 1 mpg up.

I had my hardest start today. Seriously thought that it might not go. I had my car on the driveway and wanted to move it into the garage cause the weather was supposed to get bad. So I figured I'd go fill up the gas tank, and then put her back in the garage. But because I was in a rush to get to work, I went to the closest Shell station, which was less than 2 miles away.

I REVVED to 3,000 rpm on everyone's recommendation, turned the car off and filled the tank. When I went to start the car, it took a while to start, but managed to get it going. I wonder what would have happened if I didn't rev? It would have sucked to be stranded at the gas station...

Yep Idid try it once after it was flashed had same problem won't be doing that agian.
2 miles should have warmed the engine up enough.

im so use to of reving my car .. that when i drove my mums truck the other day (auto)

i reved that too... :o

I never wait for the car to warm up before driving. Once the idle stabilizes I am off.

I have never rev-ed a car at shutdown in the past. In most cases I don't rev the RX-8 at shutdown either. However, based on Mazda's recommendation, if it was a "short trip" I do follow the procedure they gave on the DVD:

1. Let the car reach normal operating temperature or idle for 5 minutes.
2. Rev to 3000 RPM and hold it there for 10 seconds
3. Let the engine return to idle
4. Shut off the car

yeah i just wait about 2 mins on a cold start then drive off slowly not pushing the car. and no i dont rev it before i shut it off and its fine.

I used to warm up my car before I start going, but now I start then go. I always rev my engine before shut down I only have done it maybe 5 times and once it flooded and when I dont rev it the next start it starts choking.

I've just had my car for 1200 miles and today I drove it about 30 straight miles home. Upon
turning the car off I heard a "thump, thump" noise coming from the back. I turned the car
back on and stepped on the accelerator and it would thump a couple of times pretty
loud. It never did this before! Is this "flooding"?

Also, my oil light kept coming on and off every minute or so. I'm sure I just need to add
oil. (HOW MUCH?)

Thanks guys.

I've just had my car for 1200 miles and today I drove it about 30 straight miles home. Upon turning the car off I heard a "thump, thump" noise coming from the back. I turned the car back on and stepped on the accelerator and it would thump a couple of times pretty loud. It never did this before! Is this "flooding"?

Flooding is when the car won't start because of excess fuel trapped in the engine causing problems with the spark plugs igniting the mixture or causing problems with the apex seals sealing so compression can't be achieved.

What you describe sounds more like a backfire (fuel detonating in the exhaust system). You should have your dealer check it out.


Also, my oil light kept coming on and off every minute or so. I'm sure I just need to add oil. (HOW MUCH?)

Add oil until the dip stick shows the oil-level at the top of the range. I think it is 1.25 to 1.5 quarts if you are at the low mark (someone who knows correct me on this). Avoid over filling.

I always warm me car up till it hits the "c" , the rpms are usually around 1200 rpms when I take off . If I take off too soon , the rpms jump around alot , like its not warm . No harm in warming it up a bit ...

I can pretty much say the same thing. As a rule, I wait until the RPM's are holding steady at 1100 or so. Regardless of the weather, it takes about five minutes.