Aight im flooded!!
 

Noooooooo my own stupid mistake.I went out to move the car about 5 feet.I had no shoes on just planned on moving it letting it sit a couple mins and shut er down.OOOps foot slips off clutch and i stall it right after start up.I see a flat bed in my future.

I thought the flooding only happens when you move your car MULTIPLE times over a short period of time? At least that's what some other poster said.... :( Sorry to hear that. I live in an apartment complex with one of those dual parking spots (front & back) so people routinely move cars for short distance all day long, it would be a disaster to park a RX-8 in there. Flooding is covered under warranty and free towing though, right?

btw: if you valate park the RX-8, make sure you tell the guys not to move the car frequently.

Yea i believe so hmm the infinity sure looks good.Kicking myself in the ass that my blue skyline g35c isnt outside.Love the 8 dont love the problems.

i almost flooded mine today. i moved it 2 times but let it warm up both times. when i went to start it the 3rd time it didnt start on the first try then sputtered and started on the 2nd.

What are you guys talking about?

I'm curious because yesterday I was teaching my wife to drive a manual and she must have stalled and jerked and jumped that car 50+ times in an hour.

Am I in trouble now?

Probably not - the car was warm. The flooding appears to happen only if the engine is shut down when it's cold. Like when you move the car out of the garage and stop immediately on your driveway. Even then it is not necessarily gets immediately flooded.
On the other hand, yes, you will probably get some problems if you let your wife trash your clutch and tranny because she stalls and jerks the engine 50+ times :p

50+ times? i would have walked away after about 10 times. :)

Why tow the car? Why not just use the emergency start procedure described in the manual? You'll get some smoke, but I was under the impression that it was no big deal.

Follow my instructions from this thread

It details what I did to avoid a flatbed, etc.

Try it without the fuse trick (ie. follow the bits that talk about flooring the gas while starting etc.). If all fails, follow my instructions, they work.

some people dont know about the emergency start procedure i guess? also if i ever flood it and i get it to start im either changing my oil or going to the dealer to have them do it because this might dlute the oil a little too much to my liking.

How does flooding the combustion chamber dillute your oil?

read this thread.

https://www.rx8club.com/showthread.p...ighlight=flood

Guys im not new to the rotary.Been trying everything for 2 days now im done.How do i feel cranking a new car 1000 times out front of my house all hours of the day.Sorry not me.i gave it maybe 100 cranks with fuse pulled yesterday still didnt turn over.I think a plug is fouled.

Well I was a nay sayer but Tuesday morning, it was about 35F when I went to start my 8 at about 0620 in the morning. As I backed out of the driveway it died.

I did not think anything about it but when I went to restart, it only sputtered. I immediately used the emergency start steps and it fired up in a cloud of smoke. Drove to work with no problems...

Of interest, once at work, I called my wife to warn her and even after telling her to watch out, she stalled it and could not start the vehicle. She made several attempts to start it but DID NOT follow the emergency steps. When I got home that evening, I tried to start it but could not get it going.

We called a tow truck and had it taken to the dealer. The dealer just called and said that they cleaned the plugs and everything is fine. Since we have 5200 on her 8, we had an oil change done at the same time.

I will be watching to see if the problem happens again on either vehicle.

If you can't get it started then you should try pushing it and popping the clutch. If that doesn't work then pull it behind another car and pop it. It should start pretty quickly. ANY rotary engine will start this way even a dead one as long as it isn't seized.

I don't care what Mazda or the manual says, every time you get in the car, floor it and hold while you crank the engine over. After a couple of revolutions take your foot off the gas while the engine is still spinning. It will always start. There is no need for so many people to have so many flooding issues. The real problem is that most people that do have flooding issues don't know how to get around it yet. I am the only person that can start my 1st gen RX-7 because I know how temperamental it is. Everyone else floods it. Just learn your car and learn what to do. Please don't ever take your car by flatbed to a dealership just because it is flooded. They'll just give you some bs about how the ecu had to be cleared or how the plugs were dirty. Learn how to start it and you'll be fine.

Disclaimer: This was not intended in any way to be a personal attack against anyone.

Still... with all the computer controls, I still have a hard time believing Mazda cannot exorcise this behavior...

Hey guys...yet to have a flooding issue. But, on a couple of time the car was slow to turn over.

What do you think?

from the car or from the wife?;)

I'm trying to see if flooding is a fluke, prone to certain cars or certain drivers. Please go here to vote in my new poll, Who Has Flooded More Than Once.

Thanks.

People are misusing statistics. Mostly when you screw up, the car won't flood even if you do everything wrong. But it might. And if you keep doing stuff wrong (namely, shutting down cold) then you odds of flooding keep stacking up. It could happen your first time, your 10th, or never at all. But don't push you luck; don't shut down cold.

Since my dealer didn't even know about the new oil pan/sensor fix, I called Mazda Customer Service to ask and log a complaint about the oil light problem, flooding-CEL (i.e. won't start), hard starting, random misfires-CEL, excessive heat around cup holders. They said I could go to another dealer for the oil pan fix and mention that there is a TSB, but I was also told that Mazda was working on a fix for flooding. You should call Mazda if you have any type of unresolved problem else they'll never know to fix it. In the short term, Mazda is telling people to warm up their car to avoid flooding, although if you live in a large city, it might be illegal to let your car idle just to warm up due to smog concerns.

Just to recap my flooding experience ...
I flooded my car once really bad on the first try! First time I've ever started and then stopped my car (to Zaino it) and sure enough it flooded. Recently my RX-8 has also been hard to start, even though I've taken relatively long trips. It might be related to the flooding problem. People are well meaning but please don't tell me (or others) to read the user manual about how to start a flooded engine because that procedure doesn't work well. I ended up with a slightly modified procedure. Follow the user manual but only for 5 second intervals. Keep doing this (for an hour for me) with long breaks to let the starter cool down. If you ever hear it start to fire, keep cranking for another 10-15 seconds if necessary. Once it starts, call the fire department and tell them your RX-8 is not really on fire. Tell them the smoke will clear in 15 minutes. ;o)

Oh cool, so if you do that push the car and put to 2nd gear and pop the clutch technique it will get a flooded car started? that's cool to know.

Is the 8 really that able to flood? I flooded my 7 once in my 7 months of ownership, and I often don't wait to warm it up.

Even when I do flood, it usually starts after running the starter for about 30 seconds.

thats so weird.. my 7 never did that...
Hmm.. maybe that is why when u go test drive rx8, salesman drove it first b4 u do.. ;)

I noticed that too, when i went for a test drive. The Sales Person drove it a bit then it was my turn. I was wonder why he drove it first.