It was a pretty nasty winter here on the island, so I covered up the RX-8 and drove my Jeep Wrangler for a few months(I pretty much need the 4 wheel drive just to get out of my awful driveway). Well, the time has come for me to leave the island, so I needed to get the RX-8 ready for shipment. I go out to start it up and it won't start up

For starters, it's a 2004 manual. I had been starting it up every week or so and then slacked off pretty bad for a while when the snow got really bad and now it would appear I'm paying for it. The battery was obviously drained because the doors wouldn't even open up keyless. So, I tried jumping it, I tried using a booster, I tried charging the battery back up. No dice, the battery was obviously dead. So, I replace the battery, now it's *trying* to start up like a champ, but it just won't turn-over and get going. I've tried the emergency starting procedures a few times with no luck. Thinking I flooded it I let it sit for a few weeks and came back and tried again to no avail.

My shipment time is coming up VERY quickly, so I'm going to probably just have her towed to a mechanic(unfortunately there are no Mazda dealerships on the island). I'm just curious beforehand if there's something else I should try, someone who's had a similar experience, or if someone knows if I may have done some serious damage just from what I've described.

 

get it towed to nearest dealer. I had the same issue but was able to get mine started and drove it down to the dear. They replaced battery, sparkplugs and starter per TSB. Print it out and take it with you...

http://www.finishlineperformance.com...4-05-1448e.pdf

Good luck, but this should take care of it...

 

...so a tow to a dealer isn't an option... I'd call around to whatever mechanics are out there, see if anybody has any experience with rotaries, and follow the link above and get the de-flooding procedure from finishlineperformance.

If you can't find a mechanic who can handle the gig, aren't there options for shipping a car that's not running? Probably pricy though...

And I doubt you've done permanent damage to the car. I bet it will be good as new once it's deflooded.

Sounds like a major pain... good luck to you.