Im one for knowing and noticing any sounds or feelings that my vehicles produce, i know hot starting issues generally relate to low compression on these engines, but what do you consider a poor hot starting time?
Ive noticed over the past couples of weeks on occasion that my car is taking slightly longer to turn over when warm, nothing drastic but the norm would be about two chirps of the starter motor so almost instant, however this has seemed to increase on occasion to four chirps of the starter before firing (3/4 seconds?) is this potentially an indication of my car becoming less healthy. i mean how did you guys first realise when your car was losing compression?
My next step will be a seafoam clean as compression testing for rotaries is even less common in the uk than in the states, but if needed i know of a place around 80 miles away.

Vehicle info
Miles; 45,000.
Coils, plugs and leads changed at 32,000 miles.
2004 model with all recalls as far as the mazda dealer tells me.

 

I'm experiencing the same thing with my 2005 Shinka with 42,000 miles. I try not to worry about it and just drive and red line the crap out of it.

 

Does not sound that worrying to me. Have you checked your battery, alternator, starter?

 

on a 100% healthy car the difference between a hot start and cold start is basically nothing, it should start the same either way.

however i'd say 2-4 rotations/chirps is totally within normal. so if it takes 4 sometimes, it takes 4 sometimes. if it takes 2, it takes 2

 

should have stated, the battery was replaced in January so pretty damn new. alernator and starter are '?' not been changed as far as im aware although if the starter was a crappy one would it not have died out already. im kinda waiting for this elongated start to happen when i start it cold then il be a little more at ease.

 

Seafoaming won't help you much. I wouldn't worry much about the chirp, had the OEM factory starter in my 2004 until last year when I had at least 143,000 miles. It lasted almost as long as my OEM engine before I had a MAZDA reman' 25,000 miles afterward.

 

Pre 2006 models came out with a weak starter. You should check on that (if you still have the original starter) as the upgraded starter spins faster and does make a difference.

 

check this video out (not mine)


Compare the cranking speed you hear in the video to your cranking speed. then you will know if your starter sounds up to spec

slow cranking out of spec starters im pretty sure will always take longer to start a warm engine, even on a healthy engine

 

My starter definitely sounds slower compared to that video. Looks likes it's time to look for a new one soon.

 

Thanks for the vid, the upgraded starter in this video does sound substantially faster than mine, mine cranks similar if not the same as the old starter + optimax battery.

Im just curious as to why all of a sudden say every 1 in 10 starts will take just that little bit longer. i have meticulously maintained this car, im running no cat as that can contribute to engine failure.

 

Could be many different things but I wouldn't worry about it so much but
here are a few things you can do for free which might help you

-Clean your ESS
-Clean your MAF

those are easy to clean and there are a lot of writeups on it

if you have not changed your coils, plugs and wires in a while then its probably a good idea to change them all at once, i purchased my plugs and wires from rockauto.com for $80, then I purchased 4 SMP coils from ebay for $99, definetly worth changing those and not worrying about ignition for at least another 10,000 miles.

 

Cleaned MAF a few months ago. plugs coils and leads were changed 13k ago including uprated leads, all the rest was oem. im just curious as to how the hot start problems first arise if anyone has noticed. is it a gradual difficulty to start? which would make sense seeing as compression is slowly getting worse. Or is it just one day BAM it wont start when hot.

Must give this ESS clean a go, is it actually worth it?

 

Yes cleaning the ESS is worth it, if it is dirty.

What leads did you upgrade to?

 

yep, its easy to clean, and the worst case is that you don't notice a difference. i did mine from the top, but i believe i had the airbox out, otherwise its easy to get from the bottom, its 1 10mm bolt.

you should also reset the NVRAM, with the 20 brake pedal stomp method.

 

Does anyone know if the starter is located in a particularly hot area on the rx8?
On some cars at least, heat shielding the starter helps the warm start time.

 

It's right under the driver side next to the (manual) transmission. My picture below is a view from the rear towards the front of the car with the starter removed:

 

Magnecor leads, either the ones int he link below (8mm) or the (8.5mm) i cant remember exactly.
Magnecor 8mm Ignition HT Leads Wires Cable Mazda RX-8 1308cc 2004 - Up (13B) | eBay

So you got to it from removing the airbox? but the guy below says its next to the transmission. :s

that hole thats revealing the flywheel is where the starter goes correct. where in relation to that should i be looking?

 

My picture refers to the guy asking (quoted below) where the starter is located, sorry if that confused you where the ESS is located. The ESS is magnetic and will attract dirt and grime (Series I engines do not have a shield protecting it from the elements as Series II engines do), it's easily cleaned with a rag without removing it, removal of the air box will allow you to access that area.
Here's where the ESS is located:

 

ESS is an acronym for eccentric shaft sensor, got it now i thought it was something completely separate. Thanks for the pic.