Well I did it. It was hard work but this is how I managed it. Saturday arvo: backed car out of garage, 4m. Washed car, drove back in, 4m. Sunday, decided I'd polish it. Car too close to front wall, tried to push it back, but brakes had rusted onto rotors and couldn't push it. Started motor, drove back 1m. Decided we'd go out to lunch; cranked car, won't start. Tried flooded motor routine in instruction book. Didn't work, scared of flattening battery. Rang Mazda roadside assist. Long story short: flooded motor routine does work, but you need a hefty battery pack with jumper leads to let you crank long enough to get it to kick over.

I think you need a good run to burn all the oily crap out of the motor, as the first start after lunch (5km away) was a bit dodgy. We did a couple of circuits of Mt Coutha to get the cobwebs out, and it seems fine.

Moral to story: You can probably get away with one or two very short start/stops, but three was pushing things.

The mechanic from Mondial said it would make him think twice about getting an RX-8. I thought, it's an RX-8 get over it. If that's its only quirk, I can live with it.

 

Wouldn't have happened in a BMW....!

 

How long do we have Roadside Assist for, anyway? Take them long to get there, labrat?

 

First Queensland flood I've heard of. Hymee's even tried to deliberately flood his and failed.

If I have to do a short run like that I do two things. I wait for the coolant gauge to move just a little (it starts moving when coolant is about 55 degrees C) and then I rev the engine to 3000 RPM for 10 seconds and switch off while it's still revving. So far I've been able to successfully do extremely short trips without a flood.

Gomez - Roadside assist is free for the warranty period (i.e. 3 years). After that you can extend it and pay for it. I posted elsewhere that I'll be switching to RACQ - when I flattened my battery recently I waited close to an hour and a half for someone to cross from Ipswich (west) to the north side in peak hour - they only had 4 guys covering Brisbane and all other 3 were busy.

 

labrat - what are you doing Sunday?... want to have a good go at clearing the cobwebs out on a cruise with a few other RX-8 nuts?

 

Well my car was getting fixed at the panel beater because some dude in a rental dinted my rear bumber, the panel beater managed to flood it. That was on the original ECU flash, the panel beater had to get it towed to the dealer to get it fixed.

The story I was told was they moved it to the workshop, lefted it overnight and wouldn't start the next day. So I guess on the original ECU, if you start/stop quickly and then leave it for a while it will flood.

 

Thanks. I've occasionally wondered how long I'll have to cool my heels waiting for someone to bring me a spare wheel should I ever hole a tyre beyond goop capabilities. I'll put a good book in the glovebox .

 

It took about 40 minutes for the guy to get there. Apparently the mechanic's company is franchised by Mondial who do all sorts of prestige cars. The mechanics have to attend regular briefings put on by the car companies on their own little peculiar problems - and every make they cover has them. The most frequent call out is for Audi convertibles , where the roof often sticks half way - very embarrassing if you're showing off to a new girl friend.

 

Especially if it is her top that gets stuck halfway off. How frustrating. :p

 

Commiserations Labrat.

At least it didn't take too long to get sorted out.

My guess is that it needs to stop when cold, but also to stop at a sort of "worst case" point in the engine's cycle. i.e. a combination of where the rotors stop, and exactly what the computer is doing with the fuel at the time. Otherwise you'd think that it would be easier to replicate deliberately.

When it happened to me it was one stop only, and an immediate attempt at restart. Like you, the handbook method didn't work, even though I also jumpered up to my wife's car and tried for a bit longer.

Good to know that if I'd used a heftier battery pack, and hung in for longer it should have cleared. However, I'm not planning on repeating the experience, so I now warm up for a little longer.

 

Well, labrat -- seems you've become a guinea pig (sorry....couldn't resist )

Do you know what flash you have? Even Mazda dealer service techs talk about 'the software download that solves the flooding problem in a few early cars' (I'm just quoting what I heard one say)

 

I did get the flash update, but I don't think that did anything for me stupidly tempting fate. Didn't bother me too much, but my wife was a bit miffed at having her Sunday lunch outing delayed. She now has a superior attitude, as her Mini fires up instantaneously.

 

My car flooded after having been flashed with the flood fixing flash. Mazda techos are pretty dumb when they explain they can fix the flood by updating the flash only to be told that it has the latest flash

 

Hey Labrat, you're not alone!! I did the same thing last Monday...washed car started it and moved it into garage. Next morning it wouldn't kick over. Mondial Assist called and they had to haul it to Mazda. Got a call that car wouldn't be ready for a day as Mazda have instructed dealer to change plugs and something else as well. I will let you all know when I get it back tomorrow. The mechanics said never to move car a short distance or turn it on then off again after very short period. They said to take a run around the block before you park it tin garage.

Bloody nuisance!!

 

so how do you know it's flooded? mine has been hard to start (3 or so attempts) but it always starts eventualy.

so what do you guys do? hold the key on and keep winding it over, short bursts of cranking or a mix of both?

 

Do you mean it wouldn't crank, or it wouldn't fire?

Cheers,
Hymee.

 

OK Boyz, finally got the 8 back after Mazda ha d it for 3 days waiting for parts at Mazda Australia's say so. Apparently they have been getting a lot of feedback from guys who are finding that their car is taking a few goes to fire up. Afetr I flooded my car they were instructed by Maz Oz to fit "modified engine starter,battery and spark plugs" WTF!!

It took 3 days to get these parts in much to my inconvenience. Anyway, the car now fires up quicker than before. All fixed under warranty of course.

Maybe you guys should check with your service dept next time you have a service.....

 

Changing those 3 things is the latest fix for flooded cars in the States. The new battery has a greater CCA capacity, the modded starter has a different reduction ratio and spins faster, and the new plugs are less likely to foul.

 

I reversed mine out of the garage yesterday so I could move some stuff, I've been working from home this last week so haven't really driven it much - except up to the shops a couple of times.

A few hours later I went to start the rx8 and drive it back in, and the thing won't turn over. First time this has ever happened in 46000 kays. :-(

I guess I'm going to have to call roadside assist (do they actually help you if the car is in your driveway?) to get the car started. Do you think I should also contact Mazda for a replacement battery? Or is this likely to be a once off due to my lack of thrashing it every day?

Also, how can I tell the difference between a flooded RX8 and one with a flat battery? From other car experience, it seems more flat than flooded.

 

Yes, Mondial/Mazda assist does help. On my car the guy used a starter pack, and we kept at it until it fired. I would advise writing down the details of the incident and giving it to the service manager at your Mazda dealer. This is what I did, and I'm booked in for the replacement of the parts under warranty next week. You will probably have to take your car in for inspection, as I suspect that the warranty manager at the dealers has to give the OK before the wheels can be set in motion.

I suspect that the flooding problem is becoming more apparent as the original battery ages.

 

thanks, so you think it is flooding related?

 

I'm pretty sure in the owners manual there is a procedure for clearing a flooded engine. I don't have the manual on me, but from memory, you are supposed to crank the engine for 10 seconds with the accellerator floored, and then crank normally. It should start. Flooring the accelerator cuts the fuel pump.

Anecdotally, I have heard that this does work, although sometimes it takes a couple of goes.

Good luck!

 

tried that. now all the engine lights are on, and the car just clicks when I try to turn it over ...

 

never worked for me. all mazda assist did was to tow the car to a dealership to get it started. one wonders what the flood fixing flash actually does if cars are still flooding.

 

I suspect it was a partial fix, and the holes are starting to appear as original batteries age. The hardware/software fix is Mazda's acknowledgement that this is the case.