Ok.. I gather from skimming through these posts that these cars have a few very common issues.. (putting it nicely) I have only had my car about 3months.... and it's happened! Damn thing Cranks, but Won't start. Its a 2004 6-speed with only 48K miles. I absolutely LOVE this car, I hate to think this is a warning of things to come......

Im told it's flooded, that spark plugs need to be cleaned or replaced and Cylinders are flooded. I tried that "hold the accelerator down" thing thats in the manual... that didnt work.

Is this something you guys do yourselves or should this thing go to a dealer? Does any of this have anything to do with the recall & people getting engines replaced? or is that for a different reason?

I have a power-train warranty from where I bought it, but it's not a mazda dealer. I dont know where to take it! Or could someone pretty mechanical do it at my house.....

Also, it sounds like I have rocks rollin around in my tailpipe.... Do I have a dead CAT under there??

Like I said, you guy prob talked about this all before, but I'm a newbie and would LOVE some advice!

THANKS MUCH!!!!!!!
~Angel

 

Well if it's turning over that rules out the Battery. Although likely by the time the problem is found out from multiple turn over times, you'll have to replace the battery especially if it's the OEM one.....from what I gather here it dies pretty quick in scenarios like this.

I'd suggest taking out the spark plugs and look them over. If carbon is all over them like white on rice then they need to be cleaned or replaced. Another possibility is your cat converter is stuffed up with carbon and needs to be replaced. Those are the common issues I grasp from what people fix when in your shoes.

Perhaps someone who has gone through the cat replacement can give a nod if it sounds like rocks rattling down there when they got theirs swapped out.

 

rock rollnig around the tail pipe o_O

the cat is on the passenger side where the hump is, they may make rattling noise some times when they are dead and can clog the exhaust, could unbolt it and see if it starts, or u can go to the dealer, the cat shoudl be covered to 80,000 miles

 

ok... will try the replacing of the spark plugs caz I think they are due to be replaced anyway.... Do we try to turn it over without the spark plugs in to evacuate fuel from the cylinders???

ALSO.... Anyone know a good high-performance cat replacement? Im guessing if I swap it out, I should get better one. Any suggestions???? Websites I should check out?

THANKS TO THE GUYS THAT REPLIED ALREADY! You guys Rock!! : )

 

there are no cylinders in this car...its a rotary motor, its not like you got water in the a cylinder motor and your trying to crank it over without the spakrs plugs in it...i think i saw somewhere on here a port where you can put windshield washer fluid into to clean out the rotors and help with de-flooding...I am new to the RX8 too so im not 100 percent on that... Search

 

yeah its in the diy section called deflood in under 5 mins try that it should work!

 

OOPS! My bad. Rotary = no cylinders / no pistons..
Ok... I'm still learning... bear with me.

THANKS

 

wow. fail.

 

You have a warranty. Get a new cat from the dealer.

What was your last drive before you flooded? You shut it off cold?

 

Yeah, I was washing it.... obviously didn't warm it up enough before I put it back in the garage. Well, at least it looks good as it sits there flippin me off.

The Power-Train Warranty I have is through a Nissan dealer I bought it from, not from Mazda / Mazda dealer.... I dont know if its covered plus I Have a $200 Deductable. This warranty **** confuses me. I always get screwed when I take **** back to the dealer.

 

You still have the factory warranty from Mazda, no matter where you bought it. Take it to the Mazda dealer. The cat is covered for like 8 yrs, 80k miles. Try the regional forums here for a dealer recommendation to avoid getting screwed.

Please don't take it back to the Nissan dealer! They're not going to know anything about the rotary, and they don't have Mazda underwriting the warranty so they have no incentive to get any real work done.

 

gotta love these PA girls

 

Probably just flooded. I made the same mistake of moving the car into the garage. Went out for a 3 day trip, came back and wouldn't start. Just got the car a couple weeks prior. Took me like 45 minutes to get the thing started.

My suggestion is to jumper your battery to another running car and do the deflooding procedure (clutch pedal down, gas pedal down, 10 second intervals) like 10 times in a row (when you're cranking your car for an extended period of time it'll take a toll on a sitting battery). Try starting the car after that. If still no luck I would do the deflooding procedure as described above again and when you try and start it push down on the pedal slightly and keep doing it until it sounds like its going to start/eventually starts. It will probably be smokey and hopefully you don't fry your starter. Finally, don't move the car short distances like you did, I learned my lesson with that now you probably have too!

Good luck.
Michael

 

1st off check the battery its probably too old. Replace it. 2nd get some friends to push start it or put the hook on and tow it to start. hook in trunk.

Probably needs a tune which is plugs. replace the plugs and clean MAF.

After that report how she is running.

 

Well.. we replaced the spark plugs... squirted some windshield washer fluid in maint ports with a syringe, hooked her up to a batt charger and after a few tries, she finally started up.

wheeeew!!! Thanks everyone for all the help.

I just learned about a $100 lesson on why not to shut the car off COLD!

 

Never shut the car off when cold!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Congrats on the new ride!

 

Yeah the deflooding can be a bitch, you just have to have patience and a good battery.