ErgoSum

I've had my 05 manual RX-8 for 3 months I was warming it up after doing an oil change, got called inside the house instinctively shut it off after a minute of running so nobody steals it. Whoops, flooded. Did the deflood process with that plugs in, almost got it started but my buddy recommended I just remove the plugs to save my starter. Still didn't start after removing the plugs 3 times, tested the plugs outside the car and got a spark on each. Bought new plugs anyway, still didn't start. Then I called my buddy who's a rotary tech to take a look at it, he tried but told me he thinks the starter isn't feeding enough amps to get it spinning fast enough. He told me to get a 2kw starter like the one I had before but it's impossible to find in Canada on short notice.

So the question I have is is there something other than my starter that could be causing the problem? And can I use an OEM 1.3kw starter in the meantime without worrying about reflooding the engine?

Thanks in advance! Cheers.

MiRe

I've never had a deflood procedure work with the plugs in. With them out I've done it but it was a process. Honestly my recommendation would be to throw a tow hook in and do a pull start. Leave it in neutral, have someone pull you to 10mph or so, and then toss it in second gear and slowly let the clutch out to force the engine over. It'll probably spew smoke for a bit but that should clear it out.

https://www.rx8club.com/rx-8-discuss...s-less-188752/

ErgoSum

Thanks for the reply. My car is stuck in neutral rn because I was about do a slave swap before it flooded. I ordered a new starter and I'm gonna do a bunch of work on it tomorrow. I'll do this as a last resort if nothing else works.

I'm gonna be honest I wish I didn't love this car as much as I do, would've made it alot easier to not be driving it every day. I'm gonna call it the curse of Mazda

MincVinyl

Well most people do change to the higher power starter. But the flooding is likely due to another issue. I'd suggest next time it floods smell the plugs to see what is actually causing the flooding.

Bad compression could lead to longer time starting (more time that fuel may be left unburnt) Imo anyone that plans on keeping their rx8 should own a compression tester or have a friend
Bad/slow oem starter may lead to longer time starting ^^ Most people upgrade like your friend said (my upgraded starter spins my engine at like 330rpm with a 720CCA battery)
Bad fuel injectors could lead to leaking excess fuel into the engine. (these are kind of a pain to get to, should be all 10mm to get to these though)
Bad coils could lead to a poor spark (many people upgrade to the LS coil kits)
Bad plugs obviously wont help (leading plugs do 90-95% of the work so if your issue lasts a really long time and you need to keep buying plugs your trailings might be fine to reuse until you figure out the real issue)

Assuming you are not having coolant issues, but might aswell include it that broken coolant seals could also be flooding the engine with coolant. (comes with pluming white smoke until warmup, and chemical/sweet smelling exhaust that burns the eyes/nostrils)
excessive premixing 2-cycle oil could also cause plugs to be fouled when paired with other issues listed above, leading to hard starts and inevitable flooding
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When everything goes right and the car runs how is the idle? Warm/cold? Shaking?

ErgoSum

Hey thanks for the reply. During the deflooding I did notice a white mist but I was told that was just fuel getting shot out, smelled like gas and didn't burn my nose. It's never flooded before and I'm sure it was just user error that caused it to flood. (also probably blew the starter by user error as well)

Car shakes like a mother on idle but it's got a lightweight flywheel and an oem counterweight. The rotary tech buddy I was talking about sold me the car, he did a compression test on it right before being sold and the numbers where solid. I put the new plugs away for the 50,000km swap and plan on running the current ones because they only have 5000km on them. I premix 360:1 on every second fill-up but haven't done it for a month at this point.

I found a 2kw starter that I'm gonna receive tomorrow night. Tomorrow I'm going to get the clutch functional so I can do a push start and also replace the vaccume lines because I was having issues with stalling on idle after beating on the engine.

Thanks again it always is nice to know there's such a pleasant and welcoming community around my favourite car.

MincVinyl

When it comes to plugs, i've gone through a set of plugs before within 800km. You'd be surprised how fast you can foul plugs with ignition/injection issues.

Those three vacuum elbows on the intake manifold are always a good thing to replace. They tend to get brittle and break on higher mileage cars.

Loki

iTrader: (1)

You should be looking at the battery and coils. The starter upgrade is a good idea but a healthy car should not have flooded like that. Hence, coils.
Deflooding can easy drain the battery resulting in slow starter speed (followed by not starting at all). charge it up and see if it starts more easily. The deflood procedure works, but it takes longer than you might think.

​​​​The car shouldn't shake at all. Motor mounts may need replacing. This is all rx8 basics, your rotary buddy should know this.

BigCajun

iTrader: (1)

l've never pulled plugs to deflood.
I've has beaucoup floods in my old LY with bad compression, and my first one in my latest WB recently from a bad battery.
When I've had a lot of trouble de-flooding, a weak battery was the culprit.
Even with a booster/charger, if the battery is at all weak it won't start.
4 batteries in 8 years, 3 on the LY, 1 on the WB.

If a battery is 3 years old or older, I'd replace it whether it tested good or not.
I had the parts store people tell me my battery tested good when I knew it wasn't.

MincVinyl

Pulling the plugs idnt necessary for a deflood, but it can help save your starter by not having to do as many cycles. It also gives you a chance to see what is on your plugs and to clean them off. But yeah you can deflood without removing the plugs, **** just ends up in your exhaust. I destroyed my original cat this way when I was deflooding and whatever was in my exhaust ignited. Was loud enough in my garage for my ears to ring for a good 10mins, the cops doing road work detail also came took a stroll over. Think we were trying starting fluid on a junk low compression engine to get it to turn over.

CaymanRotary

Wow. Thats pretty crazy, I've never heard of a backfire from deflooding but suppose it is possible if it was a really bad case. The 2kw starter is a great upgrade though. I feel every RX8 needs it.

BigCajun

iTrader: (1)

I've had a couple of backfires. Raw fuel gets dumped into the exhaust and ignites.
Good thing our mufflers are well built. Back in the day it was common for backfires to blow up mufflers.

MincVinyl

I was pretty much straight piped with some noname mufflers (if id even call them that), with a cat because my father was adamant about keeping it. So it was exceedingly loud.