Starting problem. Engine Dies after starting
 

Hi all, First time post… long time lurker… sorry for the long post

As the title implies my RX-8 dies about 3 seconds after ignition. Here is the story…

I got my 2006 Shinka edition (confirmed Shinka) used with 69,000 miles on it back in July of this year. The previous owner had it since 06 and I am the second owner. From what I understand the previous owner blew his engine at 58,000 miles because on the carfax report it said “short block replaced”. A call to the dealership reviled that this was a fact, and that the engine was in fact replaced due to compression loss (spoke with the mechanic who did the repair). The car was running just fine last night with no issues on start or shutdown. I woke up this morning to go out for a little drive and started it up and something did not seem right after ignition, I’m no expert but I felt like the engine was not making the correct sound. Three seconds later it dies and turns off after I took my foot off the clutch. I check to make sure I was not in gear and attempted to start it again. I turned the key and the engine cranked fine (no warning lights during cranking) and the engine started so I tried to give it a few revs and it just died again. This time before the engine shut off the “check oil” light and the “engine coolant” light came on. I checked both fluid levels and they were ok.

Quick call to my friend and our discussion lead to thinking it was the fuel pump and no fuel was getting injected to the engine or the battery was dead. I was almost sure I had not flooded my engine because the car ran fine last night and its last runtime was about 25-30 minutes before I turned it off again. He let me borrow his ECM reader, fuel PSI tester, and a fuse tester. After 30 minutes of work here is what I came up with.

1. Every fuse checked out good and was functioning
2. No error codes could be found on the ECM reader
3. I was unable to locate an opening under the hood to use the PSI tester for the fuel pump
4. Tested the battery with a jumper connected to it and the voltage on the battery was good
5. Attempted to start the car while jumped still saw the engine die after 3 seconds.

After all of this I thought that maybe if the fuel pump was still working that all of this troubleshooting would have flooded my engine. I attempted the de-flood procedure where you take out the fuel pump fuse and crank while on a jumper a few times then try and start the engine. I basically did what was in this video (minus a few attempts for fear of killing my ignition)


At this point I ran out of daylight and have no place to work at night. If anyone has any ideas on things that I should do/try before having it towed to a Mazda dealer please let me know.
The list of things I have tried/attempted are as follows:

1. Deflood Procedure
2. Jump the battery
3. Check battery voltage
4. Check for error codes
5. Check for bad fuses
6. Check oil levels
7. Check engine coolant levels

Once again... I am very sorry for such a long post, but I tried to be thorough in explaining what has happened/what I have done. Any and all help would be great.

Thanks

I see no mention of when the last time the coils / plugs / wires have been replaced. How old are they?

Second, I would highly recommend getting the fuel system pressure tested--getting a real number will help rule out a failed fuel pump.

A poorly functioning throttle body is another candidate, although a rarity on this car. Get a helper to push the gas pedal down while you examine the throttle body with the intake accordion off. Verify it is opening / closing all the way.

Sorry about that. plugs, coils, and wires were replaced by the dealership I got it from on 6/10/2013 according to the documents that I was given by the dealership prior to buying the vehicle.

I know a guy who has a hydraulic lift in his garage and I will get a solid fuel system pressure number tomorrow after i get off work.

I have no idea how to do an inspection on the throttle body... let me search the forums and see of there is a previous post on that for more information (opens up Google)

Thanks for the quick reply... more info to follow

Problem solved!
 

*UPDATE* *SOLVED*

After jacking the car up we inspected the fuel system pressure and all was fine and the pump worked. Also a check on the throttle body reviled that it was functioning correctly. After consulting with the Workshop manual in chapter 5 on page 31

http://www.rotaryheads.com/PDF/RX8/2...Problem%20.pdf

We got to the section on inspecting the Air intake and system ports when we discovered that the Air flow sensor was heavily caked in black crap. After blowing a little compressed air onto it my 8 started with no problems. I drove down to the auto store with my buddy following to get some cleaner and wile in the parking lot cleaning the sensor we decided to pull the air filter and take a look… OH….DEAR….LORD… it was covered in black crap, had no oil on each side, and a pile of crap was found under it.

In the end I cleaned the Air flow sensor, cleaned the air filter, and re-oiled the air filter. AND BOOM!

The engine seems to run a lot smoother and it idles better. I took it out on some back roads and I seemed to have more acceleration and power as well for some reason. I am still learning about these cars, but I would like to point out this possible solution to anyone who might be in my place in the future as well.
Thanks for the input tpb7463