First time flooded - My fault
 

After over 20,000 miles of almost completely trouble free enjoyment, I made the mistake of moving the car out of the garage to do some spring cleaning. Wasn't thinking properly and moved it about 20 feet and shut it off.

My last car, a Volvo 850 Turbo had the same issue. The Volvo guys called it the "Lawnmower" syndrome.... because you'd move the car to get the lawnmower out of the garage and it wouldn't crank back up.

After trying the Crank/No Start process, and smacking myself firmly in the forehead, I called road side assistance. The truck was there in less than 45 minutes and the guy did a great job of loading my car properly.

Live and learn... or in this case, live and try to remember not to be an idiot next time.

BTW - Don't want to start another "this car is garbage.... I shouldn't pay this much for a car that floods.... blah, blah, blah" thread. You buy a sports car with an unconventional engine, you learn to be a bit unconventional.

It's nice to see that you have a good attitude about the whole thing. Sorry to hear that it happened.

That's amazing since I do that all the time and never had it flood. Outside temperature does not seem to matter. I do that in the summer and winter. What grade and type of gas do you burn? Maybe that has something to do with it.

Don't be too hard on yourself. I can see myself doing that somewhere down the road. Do you have the OEM battery or the upgraded replacement? If they still have your car, make sure they replace the OEM battery with the recommended, Interstate replacement battery with 640CCA. (Tell them you've been having problems starting the car recently. Like slow cranking.) And of course the spark plugs should be replaced, which is SOP.

Keep your eyes and ears open for possible cat problems in the future due to the flood. Strange noises eminating from that vicinity or a CEL will alert you to such a problem, so don't hesitate to take the car back to the dealer should you get either of those clues. Cat failure due to flooding is not uncommon based on the postings on the forum.

Still have the original battery, but called them this morning regarding the upgrade. They didn't give me any flak.

The funny part is that I have always been cautious about this, since my previous two cars (actually both Volvos) were prone to this as well.

I guess this in my penance for always feeling a bit smug when I read all the flooding threads. ;) Of course, the GREAT news is that I just finished all my suspension work on the TOY ('91 BMW 318iS)... lowered about 1.5", Koni adjustables, new rotors/pads, SS brake lines, new front control arms and bushings, the list goes on. Not track ready yet, but gave me a good excuse to drive it for a little while.

Good, the upgraded battery makes a big difference in cranking speed. I went ahead and purchased one myself just in case I have a similar case of brain fade in the future. :)

I'm jealous. I'm toying with the idea of picking up a 2nd gen RX-7 for a project car to be set up for autocross. However, I haven't convinced my wife (yet) that it would be a good idea to have 3 vehicles with a 2-car garage. Not to mention the money sink such a project could become.

BTW, it's "nice" to know that other cars, particularly a Volvo and a piston-engine car, can have the flooding problem for the same reason as the RX-8. Kind of puts this "issue" in perspective. The proper perspective methinks. :)

I've had a couple scares already and its only been about 2 weeks :tard: Twice I have backed out of a driveway only to turn it off instantly, THEN remembering not to do it. Still haven't had it flood though ;)

A friend of mine (die hard Corvette guy) just bought a 2nd Gen RX-7 to get track ready. I've only seen pics thus far, but the body looks pretty good.

I feel your pain on the 3 cars/2 car garage issue. Getting remarried this year, and will have to start parking the Toy in the driveway (properly covered, of course ;) ). It's either that, or start the 3rd garage-bay project I've been dreaming about.

And on another note, you're right about keeping things in perspective. I quit posting much (still browse occasionally) when all the flooding and MPG threads were the rage. Glad to see things have calmed down around here. Every fun car has it's idiosyncracies.

which flash do you have?

i had a 97 sentra (is that a fun car? ;) ) that flooded once when it was moved for a wash. and my dad had blazer that was prone to flooding if you weren't paying attention, and apparently its an issue with a4s. and none of these are even rotary engines <fake sarcasm>( :eek: )</fake>

Nice name! :D I've done the quick turn off once or 2x and have been fortunate enough to have it fire up immediately the next time. Now we're both jinxed.

At least the "M"

I don't understand how the engine could flood so easily just by moving it 20 feet and shutting it off.

Once I went to a nice restaurant here in DC and had valet parking, and watched nervously out the window all night as the valets kept moving my car 10 feet at a time to make room for other cars in their lot. I must've seen them start/shut down 10 times! and, no flooding.

I guess the rotary gods are watching over me? why such disparities between RX-8's?

Flooding only happens when the engine is cold and you shut off right away.

If your engine is warm, you can start/stop it as many times as you want I believe. If you get the engine temp up to normal operating temperature, it takes a couple hours for it to go "cold" again. And even then for the next hour or two after the engine "cools", it warms up faster than normal.

So if you haven't driven your car for hours don't start it then stop it. If you have to then do the standard anti-flooding shut off (rev to 3K rpm and shut engine off while revving I think).

Valet parking!!!! 10 times!!!! OMG. I'm guessing you didn't really enjoy your meal. :D

Carolina8,

don't feel bad about the flooding, I am just waiting for it to happen to me, some close calls already! Btw, where in carolina are you located? I am in wilmington, nc. We may be virtual neighbors!

chris

Is this a dealer/factory replacement that you are referring to? (as in free) or is this just what people are buying as a replacement???

I have a question regarding the flooding: Can't you just leave it a while then start it again? My old Ford Ranchero would flood all the time (of course you had to pump the gas to start cars like that). If the mashing the pedal to the floor and holding technique didn't work you could always wait awhile and let the gas evaporate. Is this not possible with newer engines (fuel injection) or rotaries?

The plugs have to be replaced after flooding. Free under warranty. The battery issue is more related to ongoing "hard" starts... again, covered under warranty.

Not quite neighbors, but still neighborly. ;) I'm in Columbia, SC.

sorry to hear about the flood. Glad you are not a hater now :D

Here's my understanding which may not be entirely, technically correct.

In order for the rotary engine to adequately compress the A/F mixture and allow it to burn, the engine needs a coating of the sprayed-in oil on the chamber walls. The slight coating of oil remaining on the walls from the previous running of the engine provides the sealing at the apex seals necessary to achieve the required compression for the cold start. When the very rich A/F startup mixture is injected into the engine and the engine doesn't start promptly, the excess of fuel present in the chamber washes the oil off the chamber walls resulting in a loss of compression and a no-start condition.

As to your specific question, even if the fuel evaporates there is still going to be inadequate compression unless a small amount of oil is introduced into the chambers. Also, you could wait a long time for the fuel to evaporate since it is in a semi-closed container. One quick fix for a flooded rotary engine is to remove a spark plug to "pump" the fuel out of the chamber by cranking the engine and to then inject a few cc's of oil into the chambers to restore the necessary compression.

So I guess the short answer to your question is that it takes more that just letting the fuel evaporate to get a flooded rotary engine running.

There is a TSB on the replacement battery. If you are having hard-starting problems, you can tell the dealer and he MAY replace, under warranty, the OEM battery with the replacement battery. Some dealers will charge the OEM battery and if it checks out, they refuse to replace it. Others replace the OEM battery without a hassle.

Of course, you can purchase the replacement battery yourself, as I did, if you want to avoid a trip to the dealer. I was not having starting problems, but wanted to have the extra cranking power if I ever flooded the car. The replacement battery is the Interstate MTP-35 which has a CCA rating of 640. Cost is about $75USD as I recall.

EDIT: Link to the Interstate web site page for the replacement battery:
http://www.ibsa.com/estore/view_prod...A1D8E97K6&js=1

If that link doesn' t work for you, just go to www.ibsa.com and search for MTP-35.

porsche 944 for one. sure it old, but its a porsche, and no one would argue that a porsche wasn't a sports car (cayanne excluded).

and by you whining about 8.1 0-60 time, i can only guess that you have an Auto. It uses the low-output version of the renesis, and is about 2 seconds slower than the 6MT. Since you seem to care so much about 0-60 times, why did you go with the auto? And really, since you seem to care THAT much, why did you go with the 8 at all? You are obviously not happy with it. You must not have done any research on the car before you bought it. seems like you should have gone with a boy-racer car, that has a large turbo, and handles like ass.

Also, there's more to a sports car than 0-60 time. There's also handling and braking, two aspects at which the 8 excels at.