RX8 Sluggish After Engine Flood
 

Hi,
I've had my RX8 for about 2 weeks now and am loving it!! However yesterday my dad moved it and turned it off without letting it warm up and the engine flooded -_-

We managed to finally get it started by bump starting it through towing with another car!

I've driven about 50 miles in it today but I can't help feeling it's lost power since the engine flood! Maybe I'm just imagining it but it just doesn't feel as pokey as it did before!

Could there be any explanation to this? Can I check anything that may have been damaged from the flood?

Thanks,
Jake

You could have fouled the plugs. Any flashing check engine light?

thanks for the reply, nothing on the dash, everything seems normal, would it be worth taking a look at the plugs?

Well if the plugs were fouled then you would likely get a misfire code or at least a flashing CEL while accelerating hard. But the fact that it flooded indicates that the car wasn't very healthy to begin with.

When is the last time it had a full tune up (plugs, wires, coils, etc)? A history of the car would help.

hmm ok, Car is an 09 plate 50k miles. It had a mazda service just under a year ago with full service history. Replaced all oil ect, new spark plugs where fitted just under 7k miles ago although can't find anything on the coils so maybe that'll be worth checking over.

It's odd that the power loss would only be after the engine was flooded though, I thought it is a common thing when the engine was turned off cold? It had also been sitting for 3 days after.

Yeah at 50k if the coils have not bee replaced that it is probably a good idea to check the coils and check that the cat is function a correctly. You can do that with a laser thermometer.

Thanks, will take a look tomorrow and report back! Checking the cat is a good idea, it was smelling rather hot today coming from underneath the car and oily from the exhausts.

Turns out one of the leads had blown off the spark plug! Checked the plugs and coils everything else is ok and it's back to running like a beast! :worship:

The 'common thing' aspect of flooding is that most owners (*edit*, that may be an exaggeration, I should say a lot) don't maintain their 8s properly, and the dealerships aren't much better.
The coils are a notorious weak spot for them, and it was never considered routine maintenance by the service departments.
A properly maintained 8 shouldn't ever flood.
It is discouraged to turn off cold engines, but really, that should apply to every car.
I have only flooded mine twice, after I first bought it and it had a faulty coil, and recently when my 3 yr old battery was failing.
I never worry about shutting it off cold in regard to flooding.

I purchased 2005 rx8 in 01-2015 and today is 1st day it ran right(03-31-2016). It has 87k miles on 3rd motor renesis.. Several thousand dollars to let dealer diagnose poor performance, changed plugs twice recent new coils and wires and plugs and still running poorly - still misfiring. Dealer told me 3 of 4 coils were misfiring. Check engine light, Radiator high temp light. Next they wanted me to replace radiator overflow bottle/sensor and they might break my radiator in process so I would have to pay for new radiator also.

Instead, I personally checked the plug wires to insure they were properly connected to plugs, 3 out of 4 wires were not connected properly, I snapped the wires onto the plugs and vroom. Then I snapped on the dealer. Waiting on attorney to call me back. They have always maint the car and I am only 2nd owner. no telling how many mechanics make this critical mistake. I am partly to blame as the inventor of imssparkmaster.com. But I am disabled so I did not plan on working on my car myself. I have owned many cars and 9 rx-7's. No offense, but I am 59 and have seldom ever found a mechanic that can change plugs and wires correctly.
I was able to reach plug wires from top and had to push very hard to get plug wires to go onto the spark plugs. My plug wires were connected correctly to the coils on top. I also replaced both o2 sensors today.

Check your spark plugs and spark plug wires connections first thing.
Make good use of this spark plug gauge tool CT3421 Van Car Spark Plug & Coil HT Leads Ignition Indicator Testing Tester Tool | eBay