Help!!!!
 

hav 2005 rx8 so far replaced battery and spark plugs in last yr. now won't start again. wasn't flooded, battery turning over. do other people have trouble not starting? what could be wrong, like to know options before putting in shop. after all a woman is sometimes taken advantage of, yes, it happens :hahano:

please describe exactly what happens when it "won't start" . does it attempt to turn over? do you hear a clicking noise? what lights show up on the guage cluster? do other things work (headlights, interior/door lights, radio, etc.)??

wrong forum by the way...there is a "troubleshooting" forum for these kinds of posts; a good area to search too.

How many miles are on it and what other maintenance has been done?

The battery is trying to start it. Lights everything works. it is in shop again, " not dealer" says it has flooded and pulled plugs 5 times to fix and still not starting. Duhh of course it flooded each time, still not found core problem to it not starting. Heard computer could be cause and part of it is still under warranty. Hoping for some advice of what I can check myself. Mechanic wants to replace plugs again, says that is the problem. I may be a woman BUT I know platinum plugs are good for more than 6 mo. on ANY car. Any advice? Except take to dealer and paying big bucks?

are the spark plugs arcing?

Didn't ask about arcing, assumed he knew how and did this. will ask when he calls me again if not, having it pulled to dealer, just hate the cost.

I'd look at coils, ECU, throttle body. Plugs aren't the root cause - if that's your mechanic's go-to solution...find a new mechanic.

I gave him until today to find root cause. Plugs was his solution, told him no. look at coil and computer, what is ECU and throttle body? Like to know things myself even if I send to dealer today to be fixed. Thought I would save some money, not worth it to let shade tree mec. work on it. Never again

ecu= computer . throttle body is what opens or closes to allow more or less air into the engine when you move the gas pedal

any one here from jackson Tn?

Duhh, should have known that. Mec. called, has car running, found no root cause not to start. says these cars just do this sometimes. Don't see why. going to get it and take to dealer. Any boby else just have car not start for no reason? charged nearly $200 to tell me nothing wrong with it

If the car was flooded they do sometimes take a while to start up. Flooding usually occurs with weak ignition, or turning the car off before it is warmed up.

My 8 has been flooded twice since I've owned it from starting up cold, moving it and turning it back off before it warmed up. The first time, I followed the restart procedure and had it going again within 5 minutes. The 2nd time happened about a year later (about a month or so ago) and it took several hours of trying different things and keeping the battery juiced up and/or jumped enough to get it started. Now, a few weaks later I found out the ignition coils needed replacing along with new plugs and wires. Car has 51k on it and apparently this is supposed to be done every 30k miles. Seller had excellent records on the car - none of which included replacing these parts - maybe the plugs but not the coils. That's probably how it got flooded so easily and then was so hard to get restarted.

How many miles are on your car and has it ever had a full tune-up (plugs, coils, wires)? If not, even if it's currently running, go ahead and change them. Mine ran fine for a couple of weeks after getting it running again and then ran like crap that last couple of weeks. Also, based on my dealer experience this past week (see my post in this forum), do it yourself or find someone else that can other than a dealer. It will cost you and doesn't have to!

The last three startups have been rough for me, I think I may need a new ignition soon too. Sucks, but that's what BHR is here for =D

Sounds like its time for you to get a BHR ignition system. My 04 only has 50,000 miles and out of the ignition coils, 2 didnt work and one was highly corroded. My car would start but took three seconds of cranking it over. I wish I had the BHR but could only afford the OEMs' for now (about $45 each). Now my car starts under a second of crank and feels brand new. The stock ignition coils are garbage and notorious for failing. Its sad to say but when it comes to Rotarys', mechanics make themselves look dumb and charge too much because their fixing the wrong things before they find the real problem. I bought a new starter that was most likely unecessary. It took three different visits to the shop before finding the issue. Thats what makes these forums a must read before getting a SALESMANs' opinion.

Has to be weak ignition. Wasn't flooded when I tried to start, was afterwards. Tried holding accellerator down and turning engine over, wouldn.t work.

That was the same thing mine was doing. It may not have been flooded but it wouldn't start and got flooded and with the weak ignition it took forever to get restarted and took some help from some jumper cables to keep the power up to get it started. If you are at or past a 30k mile interval since the last time the ignition coils were changed, change them. The difference afterwards in power and startup is amazing. I went back and checked my records last night and mine had never been changed in 51k miles. 2 plugs were changed as part of a recall procedure and that's it.

52,000 miles. Have platinum plugs less than 6 mo. Mechanic didn't replace wires or coils. Where can I find info on how to do this myself? Little old to do this myself :sad: Have son I can teach.

Exactly!! I will change ignition coils when I get car back from mec. Need help with procedure.

Thanks to everyone that has helped:o:

So you and I are about the same mileage with the same year model. There are DIY's in the DIY forum for all of this stuff. Coils look very easy to do - just have to remove breather assembly to get to them. Wires shouldn't be hard either. But, worse case, get a mechanic to do it that's not at a dealer.

Thats the reason I tried retired Mazda mec. instead of shop. He didn't know what was wrong. Just got it started and charged $180. Soooo even shadetree mecs will rip you off. Know I will try to fix myself. Love the people and info I have found in this forum. How is BHR different from OEMs? Thanks

Where is DIY forum? New to the forums

DIY = Do It Yourself forum....it's on the first page of this website when you get on....scroll down and look under "Series 1 Tech & Performance" title and you'll see it

https://www.rx8club.com/series-i-do-yourself-forum-73/

Thanks I will try this.