I'm driving a 2004 Rx8 Automatic and the car continually floods. Ive deflooded the car a number of times but lately it's been developing strange symptoms where the car floods when my engine shifts down gears to first. This has happened twice lately, and the process of deflooding is alot easier doing it when it interupts while the engine is running than when doing it off of a dry start.

The symptoms I've been noticing is that:

- When the car accelerates from 0 it often has difficulty picking up as quick as it used to.
-After driving extended periods of time, it creates a ticking sound from the front left end, that sounds like a metal piece dangling. There is no visible physical damage or pieces dragging however it sounds that way.

I have been changing my oil more than regularly, non synthetic.

Just wondering if anyone else has experienced problems like this, and if there is some preventative measures that can be taken before things get worse.

 

Highly unlikely to be flooding. Find a good rotary mechanic in your area and get them to diagnose the issue.

 

I'm looking into that more as a last resort because it could save me a pretty penny. I'll probably do that if I can't seem to diagnose it with the help of the friendly users on the forums here

 

Try to not drive it in this condition, what you're describing sounds a lot like engine failure. Is it difficult to start the engine when it's warm? When were the coils/spark plugs/wires last replaced? Are all the plug wires securely attached? Does your cat glow after a drive?

Depending on the answers to the above, you might want to have a compression test done (rotary-specific) to confirm your engine's condition, and take it from there.

Alternatively, the engine might still be OK, but your ignition can be failing or catalytic converter may be clogged, both of which lead to engine damage, which is why it's best not to drive it like this.

 

Thanks for the reply, I'l definitely look into a compression test on it. I don't have much difficulty with starting the car (Although i do rarely). I've owned the car for a year and a half and none of the above mentioned have been replaced by me.

Something else that I just thought of is that oftentimes if I rev my car up to 5000(ish) my cat does give a bit of a choking sound. I've been looking into replacing my entire exhaust system soon anyways, do you think there's a possibility that replacing the exhaust and helping the car breathe could fix all of these problems?

btw: The car is currently still bone stock.

 

Start with the basics:
Replace the plugs, coils, and wires (~$190ish in parts if you shop smartly, easy to change yourself)
Clean the MAF and the ESS
Reset the ECU

Then, if you still have trouble, start checking the cat and the engine compression.

Since you didn't mention any difficulty restarting it after it shuts off when dropping to an idle while driving, I'd bet that it's just that you didn't replace the ignition when it needed it. If you had trouble starting it when hot, then I'd point you at a compression test first.


As a side note:
Flooding can only happen when the engine is cranking over attempting to start, and can only happen if you have a weak starter, battery, failing ignition, or failing compression. So if it's shutting off as you drop to idle coming to a stop, it's not flooding. But the problem that is causing that could easily also cause the engine to flood when you try to restart it.

 

Great this is what I'l be doing in the near future. Il post updates as to how these modifications affect the symptoms.

 

what was the end result?