shadycrew31

iTrader: (6)

I trust a Mazda mechanic about as much as I trust a crackhead in a mansion.

munki098

I just did this an hour ago a ton of smoke came out all over the street and the car feels great. My rough idle is gone and the car feels better overall. Great DIYhttps://www.rx8club.com/images/smilies/Eyecrazy.gif

don_peppino24

iTrader: (1)

do you have to leave the car in neutral and rev it to clear it out, or can you just get out and drive the thing once you fire it up

shadycrew31

iTrader: (6)

I've now cracked open 2 engines that were seafoamed prior to being pulled and seen 1 that was seafomed regularly.

SEALS WERE STUCK AS ****, ROTORS WERE COVERED IN CARBON.

I guess I need to crack a few more open and show pics for you guys to get this through your thick *** skulls.

9krpmrx8

iTrader: (46)

No ****, it's a good thing we had that bad *** Harbor Freight degreaser. It saved the day.

I will have a blast cabinet before I get to my next rebuild, scrubbing engine parts blows.

shadycrew31

iTrader: (6)

Yea dude that was for sure the last one I do by hand.

GK1707

iTrader: (10)

Did this today with Seafoam it was super easy and my 8 almost sucked up the whole can of Seafoam (theres like .5 oz left in the can). I let it sit for an hour then fired it up. Tons of smoke came out and i left it to idle to operating temp.

Only prob I had was after it was idling normally i started revving it to 6k like the TSB says and my CEL started blinking. It blinked for about 15 seconds then went away. I drove for about 30min after that to clear out the rest of the Seafoam and no CEL, the cars running fine.

I know the blinking CEL means its misfiring but could that have been due to all the seafoam in the engine. Because im not gettin any misfiring or CEL since I seafoamed it (this morning).

nycgps

iTrader: (1)

Rotors are always covered in carbon, even when it snew, after maybe a day or so, it will be covered.

The better way to do this would be water, seriously, it will clean everything. But might cook your cat. Steam works best

shadycrew31

iTrader: (6)

Yea thats kinda my point... I did see a thread on the 7 club about a guy who steamed his FC regularly and when they pull the rotors they were pretty much carbon free.

nycgps

iTrader: (1)

Why u guys even let it sit for so long before u start it up? U do know that he **** gets hard when its cold right?

What i am hinking is mazda use this to try to get the steaming effect, but seafoam only works if the solution and the part is hot.mazda probably afarid that wrench monkeys cant handle water cleaning and might damage more than fixing anything

P.S. : god, i hate typing on a tablet

breezy_rx8

Just completed the zoom engine cleaning procedure. Took me all day due to some complications...

Some tips:
1. Definitely remove the wiper fluid tank, makes getting to the nipples easier.

2. The nipple covers are tough to get off due to the vacuum in the tit. I used needle nose plyers to delicately tease the nipple caps off. Don't press too hard or you could damage the tit. To put the covers back on the ****, spray some windex on the **** to lubricate them making it easier to slide the covers on.

3. Don't overdo it on the zoom engine cleaner. I ended up flooding my engine because apparently I used too much.

4. To get to the ESPS, I removed the battery and the plastic battery holder. There are 3 bolts to get this off. The battery holder is in two pieces. You have to wriggle the top piece of it off from the bottom portion of it to get to two of the bolts. Once this thing is removed, it is easy to access the ESP sensor with your right hand. *No need to remove the intake manifold. Note: you need to reconnect the battery before cranking (duh)

5. Once locating the sensor, clean it off with a rag before attempting to take it off. Mine had tons of grease buildup.

6. The sensor is stubborn to get off. But if you squeeze hard enough from the back on the release tab (using your right hand index finger and thumb on top side) and then pull, you can get it off and back on no problem.

7. Your battery will most likely wear out by the time you are ready to try and start it. It wasn't until I used jumper cables did the engine turn over fast enough to get it to start.

8. This procedure WILL drench your spark plugs with black carbon sludge. If you are planning to change spark plugs, I suggest you wait until you are done doing the cleaning procedure before installing new plugs. Mine got covered with sludge and I had to clean them. Tip to clean the plugs: use the same engine cleaner on the plugs and watch it "eat" the carbon (it sizzles like acid).

As I mentioned, my engine flooded due to this zoom cleaner. I ended up having to de-flood the engine by removing the plugs and purging all the liquid and "crap" out of the engine. (This is documented in an Engine Cranks No Start TSB). Make sure to disconnect the ESPS before attempting to purge the engine. Also, put rags near the spark plug holes otherwise this crap shoots out the side of the engine all over the place. If your engine floods and you use the purging procedure, go ahead and clean and dry the plugs as I mentioned above. Once you have purged the engine long enough and are satisfied you deflooded it enough, reinstall the plugs and ESPS connector. This is where I had to use a jumper cable to start my car since my battery was as good as dead by this point.

Finally after pretty much all day, I got the white smoke I was praying for. Did the rest of the procedure to to run the engine at 2K rpm and then series of 6K rpm revs. Eventually it idled okay. Although I seem to be having issues with the engine not wanting to idle at stop lights, I know eventually this will go away in time.

Hope this helps

TeamRX8

iTrader: (25)

congrats on wasting an entire day and whatever money it cost you to accomplish nothing useful


with that out of the way I suppose now you can fully devote yourself to searching for the Holy Grail ...

breezy_rx8

Thank you. Was a learning experience for me. I am no mechanic but being able to successfully clean my engine and de-flood it was certainly an accomplishment.

As the saying goes, "never wrestle with a pig, because you both get dirty and the pig likes it".

-breezy_rx8

BountyHunter

Epic thread bump by BH!

Just read through 663 posts on a crazy adventure with some strange turns (took about 3 days). I'm going to de-carb my engine tomorrow with zoom power and I felt like putting in my .02 after the long read.

I removed the washer fluid bottle the day before for some extra room(I've never even used this fluid so I might just leave it off ). I've disconnected and reconnected all of the tabs the night before just to make it that much easier while the engine is hot (this should be common practice if it is your first time doing this procedure). I am going to be cleaning my engine in the alleyway where my garage is so hopefully the neighbors don't get too pissed.

Thank you nyc for the great instructions.

jamesf

iTrader: (1)

Question:

For the ESS, the connection is a bit corroded and has a lot of dirt buildup. Is it sufficient to just unscrew and move the ESS out of the way so it is not lined up with the pulley and just leave it connected? Or is there still a chance that the vehicle may start like that?

nycgps

iTrader: (1)

Can each of you who read this thread donate me a dollar to help support my poor RX8 turbo funds ?

skrubol

iTrader: (1)

I've done that for that reason and not noticed any issue. It certainly won't start, but I suppose noise could make it spark or inject a bit of fuel randomly. I'd pull the fuel pump fuse as well just to make sure there's no fuel.

jamesf

iTrader: (1)

You tried that for the zoompower cleaning?

I suppose I could just hold the gas pedal down while cranking to take care of the fuel issue.

jamesf

iTrader: (1)

Also, I do not have a vacuum hose to put fresh oil into the nipples.

Is this neccesary or just a precaution? adding the engine oil upon starting the engine back up.

shadycrew31

iTrader: (6)

Dam dude you guys are making this sound like you are pulling out a transmission.

jamesf

iTrader: (1)

Well how about this;

I have a small hand-pump that you can screw onto bottles. Can I just put 1 on each nipple and pump them both a bit from cups of fresh engine oil? I'm not going to go out and buy an expensive vacuum pump just for this.

Any one do this part differently?

9krpmrx8

iTrader: (46)

Expensive vacuum pump? Yeah they cost a ton


And why are you noobs decarbing again?

jamesf

iTrader: (1)

I am decarbing to remove the carbon buildup from the inside of my rotary engine. Personally I thought "Decarbing" sounded pretty self-explanitory but I am happy to clarify why.

And yes, when I checked online auto parts stores, $170-$200 was the median. I would say thats a good chunk of change to dish out for 1 process. Only 1 was cheaper which was a smaller plastic hand pump.

Maybe I am looking in the wrong place, so if you would so nice as to assist the noobs , You could maybe offer a suggestion or guidance rather than making rude remarks. But hey, to each their own.

cheers.

9krpmrx8

iTrader: (46)

My advice has been posted already, have you read the threads on this subject? The "decarb" process is horse **** and does nothing beneficial. The smoking people see is just Zoom Zoom cleaner or Seafoam burning, that is it.

Anyone that has torn a Renesis engine apart will tell you how difficult carbon is to remove from the engine with elbow grease, many hours, a wire brush, and solvent so there is no way in hell a trickle of cleaner is going to get rid of any of it. I know because I have seen inside of my engine that was "decarbed". Waste of money.

TeamRX8

iTrader: (25)

^^my work is done here ....