<p>My son has a 04 the dealer he bought it from flooded it, got it started, he picked it up, it drove like crap for 40 miles or so. It runs good, power steering went out. Drove it to a Mazda dealer, they replaced some coils for the check engine light, now won't start, trying to sell us new engine due to low compression. What to do? Thanks.

 

I would start by reading the new owners thread, it will give you a better understanding of the car. That said, if the Mazda dealer did a compression test and you have results (printed) that show low compression then the engine needs to be replaced/rebuilt.

 

I understand about the compression but it ran when we took it in now it doesn't. Does this engine lose compression after flooding? If it does, then they should know how to restart it. That's my problem. I will take your advice and read the new owners thread. Thanks. Btw this car has only 60,000miles on it

 

Hard to say if it was running good before you took it in but if you have compression test results then it is what is is. If you don't believe that dealer than your only other choice would be to watch them do the test or have another dealer do it.

But low compression is generally a loss of compression over time and then one day it just passes the threshold of the point where it will no longer start or starts stalling. Generally unless you have a lot of experience with RX-8's you may not even notice a loss of power due to low compression. My first engine died with 22,000 on it, second lasted 74,000, and the last one from Mazda lasted 27,000 or so. So 60,000 miles would not be rare for a failure.

 

A flooded engine will have low compression.

 

Get the car back from them, squirt a little bit of ATF into each rotor housing via a spark plug hole (the top ones work best), that will restore the oil film that the flooding washed away.

After you get some normal driving on it, take it back to see if it still fails a normal compression test without having been stripped of oil.

 

I use MMO because it's a little less harsh, but same difference.

 

update: dealer did the oil trick, car now runs (he said smooth) catcon plugged up will pick it up tomorrow and go directly to muffler shop. btw does anybody out there know of a good rotary tech in the Kansas city area? thanks for all the replies.

 

I have no personal experience with them, but London Motorworks was recommended to me once.

 

Any catalyst you buy that's not stock won't last. Don't waste your money.

 

The stock cat doesn't last either, If you want one that lasts a long time you have to pay for it (HSJ) and fabrication. If not then this one is worth the price.