05 AT RX 8 flooded!!
 

PUt the car in the garage, changed the brakes, moved the car out, left it out for a day then went to start it today and no go.

I assumed it flooded due to me turning it on and moving it for 23 secs then turning it off. :banghead:

So i looked up flooded rx 8 on the good o forums, and found a tip. Take the 20a fuel pump fuse out and start the car repeatedly ( needed to recharge the battery a few times) then put the fuse back in and bam, car started. But..................blue smoke shot out the exaust for about 3 mins. I then took the car for a test drive on the freeway. At first the gears seem to stick, as i gunned it the car was in 4th then shot into 2nd(usually does not do that, hits 3rd) then as i exit and stopped at the light, the car went below the 1000 rpm mark and died. I turned it on no probs but i notice it would do it every other stop.

Cars acting weird guys, has anybody had this prob and did the prob go away after continuous driving?

It's OK, now you can get a new starter, plugs and a battery, for free....

Cat might be shot.

sure- your compression is shot because the flood washed the oil out PLUS your plugs are fouled so your not getting good ignition. your plugs need pulled and cleaned OR just replaced. then a nice drive will clear up the rest.

-or-

your texas based 4AT was on the verge of kicking the bucket and your romp to clear your flood broke your motor and you need a new one. dont let them change it due to low compression-since your compression is low due to the flooding- make sure they do the vacuum test.

???? a flooded rx 8 results in having to get a new engine? or CAT damge?

I really REALLY hope that all i have to do is clean the spark plugs.

take it to the dealer and let them sort it out

lol how many 8's have to flood before people realize to rev the engine for at least 5-10 seconds at around 3-4k rpm when its cold before shutting it off.

It's an 05 so that means you have warrenty , so just have mazda take care of it for you. Give them a call and have them pick it up or just drive it overtop them.

Mate, its been a rotary issue since they started fuel injecting them back with the 12A-turbo engine in 1982.

Its only an issue these days with the 1st-time rotary Mazda buyers who dont know the characteristics of the engine. No big deal once you know what you need to avoid.

Always, repeat. Always warm the engine from cold even if you are only going to move it from the garage to the driveway.

The engine runs a sort of "cold start" mode (my name 4it) for the 1st 20-40 seconds that dumps serious loads of fuel into the engine to allow for a stabilised combustion.

You can actually hear the EFI program change modes after the first 20-40 seconds, so always make sure you dont turn it off durig this period.

Personally, I allow 5+ minutes, give it a few revs & then its ok. Never had a problem in 10 years of injected rotaries in my garage.

As for your engines issues. Try an ECU reset procedure & then see what happens. Simple & worthy if it works

REgards

I have over 16yrs of rotary related experiance. Any rotary that floods is a direct result of weak compression from carbon build-up and plug fouling. Do the un-flooding proceedure stated in that DvD you got. Once you get the engine back running take it out on the road and drive the hell out of it. Also later this week, look for my carbon cleaning thread which will take care of your carbon problem.

A carbon free engine won't have any of the cold start shut down problems. I tried to flood my fd when it had 103k original miles last year. After it sat for 2 months without being driven in, I went out and started the car and shut it down after 10sec. 30 sec later I did it again. 30 sec later I did again. Over all I did 4 start-ups and 4 shut downs in less than 3 mins in 40degree weather. My engine fired up every time without flaw. Your engine is carbon infested!

Like T-von said, the plugs are fouled and not firing right.

You don't have to pull any fuses, if you keep the gas pedal floored as you try to start, the ECU knows you have flooded and cuts off the fuel flow completely.

S

HELP HELP HELP...I left my car sitting for about 5 days as I went out of town. When I got back last night it did not start. I found the deflooding procedures where I took the fuel pump out and tried the ignite it for 5 seconds and then let it rest for 10 seconds while hooked up with jumpers to someone's car. Eventually it started cranking and I got the car running again after putting the fuel pump fuse back in. I drove it fine to a friends house. The next morning however the car kept stalling everytime I put it in neutral to come to a stop; and at lunchtime I went to turn it on and same problem as the previous night where the engine isn't coming close to turning on. Last night I did take it for a long drive, drove the hell out of it. I need help, as I am currently stuck on my last hour of work and am trying to figure out what to do. Any suggestions would be appreciated...THanks

Sounds like something in your ignition is failing, and that is causing the flooding.

What is the history of the ignition maintenance? How long on coils, plugs, wires, how many miles on the engine, what year, any power loss recently, if so, does it seem like it's getting choked off or like it's sleepy. What kind of mileage are you getting.

As far as the ignition maintainance I got it with 5k miles on it, and is now at 34k. I havn't done anything that I recall to the ignition. it is an 05', no power loss, I'm getting around 15-17 mpg, and when I was driving to work it was idling really low when in neutral and i would describe it more as sleepy; although the engine shut off abruptly.

It's possible it's your MAF sensor, and it needs to be cleaned. When they just start getting dirty they can have trouble reading the right airflow down at idle, and can cause the ECU to stop adding gas.

However you are also at the top range of how long coils and plugs last. Generally coils and plugs last 20k to 30k, with 35k being just about as far as you can go without seeing issues except for a few rare lucky people (like zoom44, who got 50k out of his before a single problem) My first set started misfiring at 35,000.

So, it could be ignition or MAF. MAF cleaning is almost no cost, just get some MAF cleaner and carefully spray it down (follow instructions). The Coils and Plugs are more expensive, with the normal prices being around $30-40 per coil and $20 per plug. Buy from vendors here, not a dealer, unless your dealer quotes you in that range, which they probably won't. Dealers like to charge up to $85 per coil and $50 per plug, and if you have them do it, they often tack on several hundred for labor when changing each set is an easy 20 minute job.

The MAF cleaning won't hurt anything as long as you don't go touching it or banging it, etc... you can clean it hands free. The coil and plug change you need anyway at this point as regular maintenance, so you won't be wasting any money or parts if you do this. If you take care of all of this any you don't see a change, then you may have lost compression, but generally it isn't a sudden occurrance, and you would have needed to change all of that anyway for a new engine, since those parts are not included free of charge by the dealer under warranty.

Also, keep in mind that you could be dumping excess fuel down your exhaust since if the ignition is failing, not all the fuel is getting burnt, and that is accelerating your CAT's decay. Alot of CATs fail due to ignition failing and large amounts of fuel getting dumped down.

CATs are covered federally mandated warranty to 80k, so don't let a dealer rape you on this either.

Let us know.

help :(

thanks for your help, i'll use your advice :)