cool dyi....
never thought it would happen but it did...car flooded..argh... well i did this dyi which i thought was cool.. but car did not start after doing the dyi... its embarrasing when the whole neighborhood can hear you trying to start a newish car,the car itself almost did start once but i never caught it again...to lazy to dry whatever needs to be dried so i guess ill have it towed tommarrow...



ps.
how many times can i inject washer fluid before it does damage to the engine?

 

Hey I just unflooded my car yesterday using a form of you technique. I didn't want a semi-permanent version like yours is so what I did was make a T with the two hoses and just connected the third to the actual hose coming off the washer tank. I pumped it once and then set everything back to how it was. Given it took a few more cranks to get it to actually turn over but it worked still. If you want I can post a few pics of what I actually did if you don't understand but I think it would be a good way if someone wanted to do a similar approach.

 

Anyone ever try to use WD40 to deflood? If so, how did you use it?

 

Well it happened to me.

Dealer fixed rear taillight.

Left the dealership, went to BestBuy. About 2 mile drive.
After about 30 minutes left BB. Car started fine.

Drove about 15 or so miles and went to resturuant. Ate and tried to leave about 20 minutes later.
Car would not start. Cranked but no start.

Me being clueless, don't know what I did but car started.

Went to bike shop about 1 mile away.
After about 10 minutes left bike shop and car was hard to start again.

06 shinka mt

 

Yes please could you post some pictures,
Thanks

 

Just an FYI, I tried all these ideas (wiper fluid, motor oil) and nothing seemed to work. Then I had a friend tow me, and it started within 20 feet. I used 2nd gear. You can probably push it on an incline and get it going. Make sure you use the towing instructions in the manual!

 

Well I finally had this happen to me after 28k, I was backing out of the driveway and my foot slipped off the clutch and it went dead, then it would not start, so I just hook the washer hose to the ports holes listed in the first post and put 2 squirts into each port. Then got in the car, mashed the pedal to the floor and turned the switch. It took a minute but it finnaly started...It ran real rough for a min then I rev'ed it up and it finally cleared up and started running normally. Also the engine light came on during the rough running but went off after it smoothed out. So for me this worked. I am undecided if I am going to put a permanant fix in for this as the first post but I might! Good DIY!!

 

hey screamingrx8 by any chance can you post some pics of this? I'm not sure where you switch the washer fluid valve to the deflooding valve. Thanks

 

I will add some pics if I do this mod. But all I did was take the washer hose loose at the connection where it turns to go out of the engine compartment. Then hooked it to the port holes one at a time. If you look down between the washer fluid container and the engine you will see these two ports with caps on them.I put two squirts of washer fluid per port hole, then reconnected the washer hose back to the elbow connection. I looked at the pictures in the first post of this thread to find where I needed to look. You will have to add the valve if you want to be able to switch a valve from washer fluid to deflooding.

 

just had the car flood on me fr the first time after 57000km.

moved the car to wash it
washed it
wouldnt start

too dark to try anything now but ill try this tomorrow

 

i just got the new DVD from Mazda...all you have to do is fully depress the gas pedal and turn the ignition to start for 7 sec, remove your foot from the gas and turn off the ignition...wait 10 seconds and start the car regularly...should start right up.

Keith

 

How were u able to remove the rubber caps off the ports I have tried for 10 minutes. It doesn't budge

 

All I have to say is thank you very much, I flooded my car this morning and was about to turn it over to the dealer, and I figured I would give it a shot. After the third cycle, it started right up. You saved me a lot of money.

You need to get a flathead screwdriver and wedge it, because they're on there pretty good.

 

This is my new favorite way to de-flood an engine.
I just had my car flood (don't know why... last time it was running, it sat idle for 1/2 hour).
When trying other methods (like holding down the gas pedal or removing the fuel relay) failed, I started to think about this thread where washer fluid was injected into the maintenance ports on the intake manifold.

Getting to the maintenance ports was more difficult than I thought it would be.
I ended up removing the washer fluid reservoir and disconnected the ground cable from the intake manifold for more hand room .
Even then it was a tight squeeze, but I managed to get through (see first two pics below).
The caps were a bit tight, so I used pliers to turn it back and forth to work it off.

I used a 1/4" hose to connect the maintenance ports to the hose coming out of the washer fluid reservoir.
The washer fluid hose has an elbow connection to which I simply connected the extra hose to it.
I gave it a couple sprays in each port using the mist spray from within the car (same way you would spray the windshield).
Reinstalled everything and now it was time to try starting.

The first crank attempt didn't get it going, but I noticed the engine sounded "better" like it was really trying to start.
After the 3rd attempt the engine started, but stalled within a couple seconds.
It started again during the 4th attempt so I gave it slight gas to keep it going (around 2k RPM).
After roughly 5 seconds I removed my foot from the accelerator pedal and let it idle for roughly 15 minutes (while I did work around the yard).
3rd pic below shows the white smoke, but it was way worse when it first started up.

Now don't crank more than 10 seconds (I've gone a little longer when I felt it was close to starting).
It will sound rough at first, don't let that scare you.
Once you hear it going, give it slight gas so it doesn't stall (around 2k RPM).

It works because of the alcohol and soap content.
Hope this helps anyone else who gets desperate.

 

Exactly.

In my case = never

But big points for ingenuity none the less.

 

I believe this is because washer fluid is composed of alcohol, which is a strong solvent, that dissipates the gasoline in the housing extremely quickly.

 

Holy crap! You could have at least gone somewhere

But seriously, seeing all those dead leaves -- be aware that a hot catalytic converter contacting dead vegetation is a fire hazard. Be safe!


It restores compression by re-enabling a seal between the housing and the rotor. People have used a variety of liquids for this purpose. Water,automatic transmission fluid, motor oil, etc..

 

Unfortunately I have my insurance lowered to comprehensive coverage since winter is approaching.
I wanted to keep it running for awhile to ensure it would be "safe" to turn it back off.
Now when my BHR coils arrive, I might have to "sneak" around the block a few times.

Thank goodness I don't have a cat!
But I get what you're saying... thanks!

Awesome... thanks for the input.

 

It took me a few times but this actually worked! Thanks, this saved me a lot of mula!

 

this is awesome info.... just got mine flooded this morning and i don't know what to do... tried the floored pedal and fuse thingy... didn't work...

then this is my last resort, i said it to myself if this still doesn't work imma call the dealer and get it towed but holla it works but had to combine the fuse method and this and then it works!!!!

THANK YOU VERY MUCH!!!!

 

guess ill try this in the morning, dealer method didn't work, removed and cleaned plugs, no luck.... this is my last attempt before buying new plugs.

 

My 8 got flooded. I didi the depress gas pedal and did not work. So I did the maintain port method. Did not work on the first time. cuz my battery was low. So I jumped with another car and done the spread again. frist crank did not start. Second crank feel it rev up to 1000 rpm so I hurry gentely give gas to work with the rev flow. Let it go up to 4000 rpm. Keep it there for about 2 min till the engine temp gets normal. Lots white smake came out and idle stay normal. This is a great DIY. I have turbo kit on my car with 4 550cc injectors. My plugs easy to get wet when cold start. So happy got it started. My my chinese new year a happy new year!

 

Glad you got it running fd3s777.
I usually do the gas pedal first to remove excessive gas, then go straight to the washer fluid.
I no longer bother with any other methods since this has worked for me so well... twice this past December on two different 8s.

 

After almost two years of semi-problem free ownership I finally flooded it. I followed the DIY but instead of setting up a T set I just attached the washer fluid hose to each nipple and did two sprits. I then tried to start the car. I pushed the accelerator to the floor and cranked it, and I forgot that that was the non fuel mode (i think?). So then I tried starting it without having the accelerator to the floor and it almost turned over. But then the car lights were super dim and it seemed like the battery was almost dead. So I jumped the car, and it started finally. It blew out a LOT of smoke for almost 10-15 minutes, but finally I was able to rev the car normally and it was pretty much back to normal. Should I have the plugs changed or does it matter?

 

Once you pump the washer fluid in, you don't want to hold the accelerator.
You're right... that was for the "non-fuel mode".

When performing this on other RX8s, I do the same thing.
Just disconnect the washer fluid hose at the 90 degree elbow and pump a couple squirts in.
I am in the process of routing another hose to the maintenance ports for a permanent installation.
I wanted to use a solenoid so I can change the flow from within the car (oh yeah, pure laziness), but a 3-way 12VDC directional solenoid would cost $130.
With that said, I'm just going to use a 3-way diverting valve.

Far as replacing the plugs... I wouldn't worry too much about it.
I've been on the same plugs after a flood for several months.
Though, if you haven't replaced them in a while, now would be a good time to consider.