So, the happy news is I dropped my RX off at the body shop last week to get the damage repaired from my rear-ending by the uninsured minivan. (See my thread from last month.)
Anyay, I go in this morning to pick her up (she looks good as new. New bumper cover, exhaut valances, paint etc.) but the guys are looking a little nervous.
Turns out, on Friday when they started it up to drive it across the shop to the wash bay, the guy stalled it, and they haven't been able to get the car started since.

SOOO... roll out the flooded-start process. 5 minutes of cranking later, the shop fills up with white smoke, and I drive the car out for a little rip around the industrial park to burn off the fuel and oil.
After a couple minutes, I hit the onramp to run down the highway that circles the park. Rolled onto it in first coming up the ramp... around 6000rpm the Check Engine Light (CEL) started blinking and the car was struggling and stumbling, then around 7000rpm it did a little cough and zinged to redline. Kept on it until about 160km/h.. held that for as long as I could, then dropped back and did a few more WOT rollons to about 140 or so... on the 3rd or 4th roll-on the CEL cleared and I headed back to the shop to finish the paper work. Got back about 10 minutes after I left, and there was still a white smoking hanging in the air of this very-large and well ventelated body shop.

Cliff's Notes: Picked RX-8 up from bodyshop today, and found out they had flooded the engine. Got it started, smoked them out, and then did a high-ish speed rip down the highway to get the fuel out and clear the CEL (check engine light)

 

Congrats on getting it back, poor baby ( the car that is ):D . Mine is in the garage till the end of winter



MAdjoker

P/S wich one of the flooding procedure did you use...

 

Yeah, mine will probably go away within the next week. I just wanted to get the body work done before it went away so the paint had a few months to cure....

I ended up combining a couple of the procedures... matted the gas and cranked it for a few minutes (not straight, of course) then pull the fuel fuse, then matted the gas and went for a couple more minutes.... she fired up of the gas in the system, then we slapped the fuse back in when the car caught...

 

Oh, and be very suspicious of the service people at City Mazda in Halifax (and possibly other dealerships.)
Even though the flooded-start process is in the fricken owners manual for the car, and has existed for every RX-7... what did the service guy at this dealership recommend when the body shop called them to ask about starting the car?

"Tow it up to speed in 2nd gear and then bump start it..."
WTF? Incompetent idiots...

 

Cant believe what i just read... holy S?&$%&?

 

Grats on getting it back... must be a relief!

 

MadJoker: Yeah, I was kinda stunned when the go from the bodyshop told me that. Thankfully it is a highend shop that specialized in higher-end cars and work, so they were bright enough not to do it. He was kinda laughing when he told me what they said.

Literatii: Yeah, feel a ton better! Still waiting for one of the black-plastic exhaust surrounds, so she's not perfect yet, but close. I'll just slap that in some time over the winter while she is tucked away.

 

great to hear your 8 is back on the road. My brothers friend hit the front of mine, and now I need to repair that

 

Hearing that the body shop started your car to move it a few feet and then shut if off reminded me of advice Mazda put in the neat little "Quick Tips" booklet they gave me on delivery, but not in the regular manual. Under "Short trip driving procedure, they mentioned just that kind of situation (car wash or parking lot start-stop) and said don't shut the engine after moving, but idle for five minutes and then hold it at 3,000 for 10 seconds before shutting off. I mentioned this to my body shop manager when it was in there, and he nodded agreeably, but I doubt that it was done.
The booklet added: "Tip: warming up engine improves engine life."

 

Mitch: Yeah, I've been religious about the "short trip" procedure since I got the car. Guess the word didn't make it to all the staff at the body shop however.

Pete: Thanks... and I feel your pain... nothing like a new car requiring bodywork.