hard starts
 

I occasionally get hard starts, where it takes maybe 3-4 seconds to start.

The last time it happened there was a strong gasoline-like smell coming through the vent for maybe 20 seconds or so. I assume that was just excess unburned gas getting into the exhaust system, but it seemed strange that I'd smell it so much inside the car. Should I be concerned?

I don't have the L or M flash yet, but this just makes me want to do it sooner.

When was your car made? How frequent does this happen to you?

Mine was made in Dec 03, and in the two weeks I've had it, I've yet to have it take more than 1 sec to start up.

Mine was made mid-Jan. 2004.

The 3-4 second things has maybe happened 2 or 3 times in the 5 weeks or so that I've owned it. I'd say 60% of the time it starts up right away, and the rest of the time it takes 1-2 seconds.

Well it sounds like I may see the same problem in the coming weeks then.

I do have the M flash though.

I've had mine about 2 weeks, and so far I've had a 2 second start and about a 3 second start. It cranked long enough for me to think, "uh oh."

I'm going to take it in this week to get whatever flash is current, as I believe that fixes the problem.

Yea I think the M flash will help.

How hard do you drive the car? Might be worth the effort to drive it in the upper rpm ranges pereodically to make sure there's no buildup occuring on the spark plugs. By "upper rpm ranges" I'm talking about 6500-9000 rpms

Haha well I can only speak for myself of course, but I guarantee I'm hitting the entire RPM spectrum. ;)

Hard Start After Rain
 

I hadnt driven my RX8 for 3 days.

When I went to start it, it almost felt like the battery was dead. It had a really weak 4 second turn over and then started.

Once started, the traction control light went on (that it was off) and the loss of traction light was illuminated.

While the car was moving, I turned it off and then back on and it cleared out the traction control.

This was all 3 weeks ago, and no problems since... but still VERY strange.

Sound like the battery was low like you suspected, and it got low enough when you were cranking to reset the traction system.

I have had the car since the end of Feb. I've had 3 "hard starts" where ittook over 4 seconds to fire up. its was warm all three times so I don think it was a flood. The only common factors were
1. the car was parked at a slight uphill angle.
2. I sorta jumped in and turned it over without letting the fuel pump finish its cycle.
everytime it happened i was thinking"oh S#%&, heres my first flood."
the funny thing is when it started it was almost like it didnt have fuel quite the opposite of flood.
my questions are
1.is this a precursor to a flood, since I've had hard starts does it mean mine is more prone to flood?
2.could it just be because I just jumped in and turned the key quickly to start it without letting the fuel pump cycle.

otherwise, this is the most fun, most exciting car I've ever owned. I'm getting used to the attention, atleast once a week I have to stop and talk with someone about it in a parking lot. someone should post a list of answers to all of the frequently asked questions.