Dare2Drive

alfy28,

Thank you so much for sharing these steps. My RX8 came back to life in just 2 minutes following your procedure! Your detailed steps make the difference ! Could get her started before reading your post.

Thanks again.

deanrx8

Flooded mine the other day after I stalled it on our driveway... decided to post a video of the results... :-) It looks like a Red Bull Stunt Plane!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZVVGOr8jRo

alfy28

Glad it worked out for you, i totally forgot that i did a DIY.

Go Steelers

Add me to the list of people thankful for this thread. I've had my 8 about 6 months now and I have repeatedly reminded my wife of the dangers of not warming up the car. Well, this weekend I pulled it out the garage for a bath....I took it for spin around the block to warm it up. After the bath, Iwent inside and got ingrossed in a few college football games. Later than evening, a few rain clouds appeared, so I ran outside, and quickly pulled the car into the garage..... oops. The next day, I went to fire it up, and it was flooded. Due to a hectic schedule I ended up letting it sit for a few days. Last night I spent about 30-40 minutes following the procedures, and she finally fired up!! I had just replaced the plugs, wires & coils about a month ago, so today she is back to running like a dream.

Needless to say, the wife is very amused that I was the one responsible for our first (and hopefully LAST!) flood.

416to212

Add me to the list of people that this method has worked for. However, I did a variation to make my engine start up because I think I was severely flooded. Also FYI, I did the washer fluid method and it failed. I highly recommend this method instead.

Also I just want to tell some of you with problems what my engine sounded like when flooded. My battery was in good shape and you could hear my starter motor turning the crank. But what you would not hear is an clue to a spark catching or a putt-putt. It was basically the whirring sound of my starter motor.

Here is my variation due to being excessively flooded,

To start connect a second running car to your battery.

1. Pull out Fuel Pump fuse, disconnect Air Pump.

2. Crank 5 seconds, rest 5 seconds and do this for 1 minute.

3. Rest for 1 minute.

4. Crank 5 seconds, rest 5 seconds and do this for 1 minute.

5. Pull out the spark plugs and dry them out and brush them off. Set them off to the side.

6. With the plugs pulled out get in the car and crank the engine. Crank 5 seconds, rest 5 seconds. Repeat 3 times.

7. Take a look at the holes wehre your spark plugs should be. They should be oozing fuel and black soot. Use a cloth and clean up the mess.

8. Again with the plugs out crank the engine - crank 5 seconds, rest 5 seconds. Repeat 3 times. Check to see if any more fuel and soot are coming out of the spark plug holes. Clean up any more mess.

9. Reinstall the spark plugs (use anti-seize) and the plug wires.

10. Reinstall the Fuel Pump fuse.

11. Crank the engine. Crank 5 seconds, rest 5 second. This is the moment where the engine should start up. If it does not start after 1 minute go back to Step 1 and repeat everything all over.

12. Once the engine starts up keep things above 2000 rpm until the smokes dies down. Plug your Air Pump back in. Go for a spirited drive.

13. Pull out your plugs once the car has totally cooled down (some other day) and clean the plugs again because they will be fouled after starting up your flooded engine.


I had to pull my plugs because my engine was so flooded that my ignition system would not burn off the extra fuel in the rotor housing when the Fuel Pump fuse was pulled out and the engine was cranked. Because the internals were so soaked I think there was no spark to burn out the extra fuel during these steps.

Also want to say, don't give up!

rx7driver8

OMG THANK YOU FOR POSTING THIS. I started taking longer breaks at the repeat of step 4(out of sadness abd despair). it started and died once. but then it finally started about 15 mins later. I'd recommend stepping on the gas during the cranking, if not then just step on it when it starts to blow out the white smoke of victory. I didnt take out the spark plugs to clean, but definitely unattached the air pump the whole time.

kgenthe

Did this today and it worked! Thank you so much for the write-up. I have little faith in my local Mazda dealer so I was reluctant to take it in. After an hour and 15 minutes, it finally started, and stayed on. And made one hell of a smokey show.

Tomorrow I will take a look at the spark plugs and access the damage, but it was nice to finally drive my car again. (garaged for the winter)

Thanks again!

SAMSHIZZLE

Great thread! Helped me a a lot and saved me a ton of cash to be able to put into my FC!

Thanks a lot!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OpX3n...e_gdata_player

StringyUK

I'll add my thanks to that list too! Mine was on the drive for a month after it was stuck in the snow and ice we just had in Manchester. I went to start it and the battery was busted. Opened the bonnet and noticed it only has a 440CCA battery so got it tested & confirmed it was knackered. Bought a new 660CCA in its place.

It's taken me three days of following these steps to finally get it working. I went through things one piece at a time, starting with the simple foot to the floor 2 cranks, then progressing to these steps, getting the plugs out etc. It took a LOT of time and hard work and I lost heart at some points, but like so many others have said.... DON'T GIVE UP!

Keep at it, keep trying, keep the faith.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MIdK3nyMSow

juanjux

416to212, my engine is heavily flooded. Yesterday I couldn't do the entire process because I hadn't my wife car to bridge the batteries, but I saw looking at the plug hole that the engine is awfully full of gas. I'll try your method today, thanks.

2FAST2FURI0US

Hey so I have the same issue, what I'm curious about is the air pump... How do u disconnect it and is disconnecting it really necessary???

RENESIS rotary

here is what i did to start my car up... its -25 in calgary and my car did not start, so i think i flooded the engine just trying to get it to turn over. when it warmed up to -19 i tryed again. hold the gas pedal down for 8 sec, and turned the key over, did this for 3 times and on the 4 it started to sound like it was going to start so i keeped hold the gas and turing the key till it finally jumped back to life. lots of smoke and smells like gas.

RENESIS rotary

now it seems like the thortle is suck, it revs up 3000rpm, the was is warmed up i could drive but it will not got faster then 30kph. even when i hit the gas the rpm does not move

RENESIS rotary

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mV862gi6RKU

RENESIS rotary

rpm jumping up and down with out touching the gashttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5UR0ABp-AWk

Boyd

I had a similar issue tonight. I flooded my engine the first time this morning in my 3 years of owning this car. While it wasn't quite -25 here in Michigan, it was a chilly 7 out when I stalled it in my drive way. I attempted alfy's method, and *nearly* got the engine to fire up. I suspect my 65k old stock coils and cold *** weather had something to do with it not working.

So what'd I do?

I tow started it as per RotaryGod's instructions. Bogged for a bit but than fired right up. Much faster than taking the fuse out and trying to clear it out.

rotarykillz

iTrader: (1)

My 8 flooded a few days ago after sitting for a couple weeks. Took me about 20 mins to deflood.

I used the method that has worked 2 other times for me.

1 Don't remove any fuses at all, but hook up some jumper cables to a running car
2 Hold gas pedal all the way down
3 Turn engine over for 10s
4 Rest for 10s
5 Repeat steps 2-4 5 times
6 Try and start regularly (no gas pedal depressed)
7 If no start repeat steps 2-4 7 times
8 Try and start regularly (no gas pedal depressed)
9 If no start repeat steps 2-4 10 times
10 it should start by this time.

Each start attempt you should feel it almost start or possibly start and die....you're getting close. If by step 7 it doesn't even attempt to start, probably not gonna work for ya.

SueStarr

My car has been away since before Christmas. I am waiting for the warmer weather, which may be June since I live in NY state. Anyway, any suggestions on what I shoulf do before I try to start the car or just go for it? Thanks.

StringyUK

If I've not driven mine for a while I generally put my foot to the floor and crank the engine for a few seconds - just to get things lubricated and warm before adding any fuel to the mix.

Then start as normal.

rx8cited

Thanks to alfy28 and other posters for this DIY which helped my get my 1st time flooded RX8 deflooded.

Flooded car was parked on an upward sloped driveway, so I resisted pulling the plugs due to unsafe jacking conditions and that probably cost me much extra time cranking with foot to floor to deflood through the tailpipe.

I would have tried RotaryGod's tow method, but I don't have a tow rope. Any recommendations on what tow rope to buy and where to buy it? Also, how do you tow an RX8 to jump start it ..... Owner's Manual says "Don't use the tiedown hooks under the front and rear for towing. They are designed ONLY for tying down the vehicle when it's being transported. Using them for towing will damage the bumper." so we attach the tow rope?

I was feeling like there was no hope toward the end and added 30cc 5W-20 to both front and rear lower intake manifold vacuum ports as per ENGINE CRANKS NO START TSB. Shortly after that, she came back to life.

I changed the plugs last summer, so do I still need pull them out if the car runs okay?

How can I tell if my catalytic converter got damaged?

Thanks again to all!

NOTE TO SELF: Don't let her get flooded again.

BJP

iTrader: (2)

This thread saved my ***! I had a severe flooding issue after bringing the car out of storage and it had a dead battery.

soud8789

hi,thnx alfy and others posting in this thread =)

i got my first flood after 6months using my 8,and i followed the deflooding instructions and after sometimes i got it started..i was a bit scared since my fuel tank was nearly empty and here in japan its hard to get fuel after the earthquake.i gambled and went on queuing at the nearest gas station as soon as i got the car started(waited for half and hour until the white smoke was gone) and luckily after 2 hours of queuing i finally made it and drove it for about 20-30minutes.
my problem right now after the deflooding is my car wont start if i dont press the acc to the floor and slowly depress it while turning the ignition on. and if i just simply turn the ignition it sounded like the sound when your car has already started but you still turn the keys,but in my case i just turn the keys a little my 8 made that kind of sound..did i do something wrong during the deflooding ,can anyone help me please.

suposo

I want to thank you for this procedure too. My car flooded and would not deflood for 3 days. The 10th try on the 3rd day she roared to life. I was just about to call the rental car company so thanks for saving me the bucks. My new spark plugs and coils are on order as I write this. My 2005 8 has 97,000 so I was worried the engine was done for.

TQCuong3th

iTrader: (1)

thank you i used ur step n it work great lol awsome

Leesha

This step didn't work for me.