Idle for Safety Precaution?
 

My dealer told me that on cold starts (such as moving the car out of the garage into the driveway), that I should let the engine idle for 5 minutes before shutting the car off.

But how about if on my way to work, I stop and get gas, then start the car again and drive 30 seconds down the road to work. Do I have to leave the car idling again? Or is it mainly when the engine is literally cold?

When you cold start it and turn it off right away, the engine might flood. You gotta let it warm up a bit before shutting down. My (former) FD was in a body shop and the had to move it around. They turn the car on, move it, shut it off. It got flooded.
You wouldn't have any problems after the car is warmed up like while driving to work and stopping for gas.

As far as the RX-8, this 5 min thing is urban legend. I have no problems w/flooding in a month of ownership, and I'm sure as hell not running the car 5 min to move 20 ft out of my garage!

This is a car... not a fragile mechanical device needing extraordinary car and feeding... otherwise Mazda would have serious problems selling these to the unwashed masses.

Spoken by someone who's never had to un-flood a motor before...:)

The good thing is right now the engines and all the engine control systems are nice and new. Worn engines, leaky fuel injectors, slow starters, etc. can and will contribute to flooding.

Mazda's got it outlined in the owner's manual clear as day. It's really not a big deal - heck, go drive the car around the block if you just need to move the car to the driveway - that will warm it up a bit and you'll be much better.

It's really not a big deal. There are just different rules for rotary engines than piston engines.

Dale

Could you please help me, I can't find anything like that, at least under the "Starting and Driving" section?

It's near the front. It recommends starting the car, moving it, letting it idle until it comes up to "normal temp" which it specifies as needle in the center of the gauge, then revving to 3,000 rpm for 10 seconds, then shutting down.

Hey, don't kill the messenger. ;)

they mostly fixed the flooding problems in 89 with the cosmo, but its still possible, just unlikely

mike

I said please, what should I do, get down on my knees first? I'm just asking you to back up what you say. I still can't find anything like that 'near the front' of the manual or anywhere else, for that matter.

I've got the manual in front of me, can you pretty please specify a page? If I doing something wrong, I'd like to know.

Thank you.

Spin 9k -- don't remember if it is in the manual or not -- but I remember seeing it in the little quick tips booklet.

It has been so warm that my car is usually up to temp as soon as I start it. I have driven around the block on a couple of occasions when I just wanted to back out and wash the car. Have also just put in neutral and coasted in to the driveway a few times to avoid starting. My old first gen would definitely flood if not warmed-up a bit (of course it would also backfire like you wouldn't believe in the winter if I left the manual choke out too long -- man I loved that car :D )

I don't think it is a big deal with the 8 -- just a CYA pre-caution.

BTW - it is not just rotaries -- our Volvo will do the same thing -- have flooded it twice on short starts.

Well, it doesn't seem to be in the manual, but it *is* in the Quick Tips document, under Short Trips Driving Procedure. Says to move the car, let the car idle for 5 minutes, raise the RPMs to 3000, then shut off.

Cold flooding probably won't become an issue until the car has many more miles on it. But, it's a good habit to get in to.

Dale

Are we talking RX-8 or RX-7? I never got, to the best of my knowledge, a 'Quick Driving Tips" w/my RX-8. Where did you get yours? :confused:

I seemed to recall the "let idle 5 minutes" was part of the break-in instructions, no?

For what its worth:

'85 GSL. I don't think I ever flooded it, not once.
'87 Turbo II. This one used to flood every now and then, even
when I drove somewhere, shut it off and then tried to start it
up to about 10 minutes later.
'93 base model. This one has never flooded, even when I had leaky injectors, a bad wiring harness and god knows what else.

Personally, unless something is wrong, I don't think its a big concern. I know I've never followed these rules with any of the above cars. Is it MORE likely to flood if you don't do this stuff? Probably. Is it LIKELY? Not in my opinion, based on my personal experience.

jds

man we dont got time for this warming up shit. u guys have any idea how unpractical that would be?

Should have been in the little package of stuff that came with your owners manual...maybe your dealer forgot to give it to you? It's just got basic information on how to work controls, lock the doors, etc, etc.

Amazing, live and learn.... now where's my dealers number.. that son of a witch... only told me to never exceed 9000 rpm for extended periods!!! :D