Well, it finally happened. After reading about the flooding issue in many posts I wondered what all the fuss was about. I mean we have four cars and the drive is only wide enough for two so usually one is parked behind another wanting to reverse off - this means that the car HAS been started and moved only slightly to let the other out and switched off again - no problems until now. The car has 3800 miles on it now and on Monday when I went to start it there was nothing - constant turning over but no firing. The last time it had been driven was the Thursday before, on a fairly long drive so it was warmed up, and it hadn't been touched since.
Called out Mazda assistance who came 5 hrs later and they got it started by taking out the fuel pump fuse and turning it over A LOT to make sure no fuel was left in I suppose or something like that. Once it started to sound as if it was trying to start the fuel pump fuse was put back in and after several attempts to start it it did actually fire up - clouds of smoke everywhere, you'd have thought someone had stuck a smoke bomb up it's a$$!
The technician reckons that there is a fix for the flooding problem that has recently been shipped to all dealers. I'm going to give them a call today and find out if it's true and if so get it booked in. Will let you know what they say.

 

What PCM flash do you have?

 

I had a similar experience. Yesterday, dropped off my son at soccer practice. We live 3 minutes away from the field. Got into the car, drove into the park and shut off the engine with temp guage barely having moved.....AAARRRGGGHHH!

After the son's soccer practice was over, got into the car, cranked it and motor started right away.....PHEW!

I hate having to think about flooding every time!

 

I know how you feel. Mine has flooded twice. You can't help think that huge clouds of smoke cannot be good. The second time mine flooded, the parking brake had stuck and the car stalled when I went to back up. It then flooded badly, the battery died, and I had to take another car to work. I now have the "M flash" which seems to have helped the starting dramatically. I won't know until it gets cold again, whether the problem is permanently solved.

If they can fix the AC so it doesn't cycle hot/cold I'll be very happy. They are waiting for a part to come in to fix it, but it's been 3 weeks and no word. Sometimes I which I had stuck with my boring, but dependable, 12 year old Saturn.

 

Flooding is always on my mind but there have been many times I have shut the engine off after just starting it and I've had no problerms (knock on wood).

In fact this morning I went to back my car out of the garage and as soon as I started the car, my 6 yr old son promptly turned it off (don't ask). I was like ... oh sh*t it's gonna flood but to my surprise it started right up with no problems at all. After backing out of the garage I shut the car down again and 40 minutes later when I left for work it fired right up again !!!

My car hasn't been flashed yet and it has almost 1900 miles on it.

 

Called the dealer yesterday and they didn't seem to know anything about an upgrade to help sort the flooding issue. They did say that there was a recent upgrade to help with fuel economy, and that if I take it in next Monday they'll be able to run some diagnostics to see what upgrades it needs and apply any that are yet to be done. I must say I'm surprised that they couldn't tell what level it was at already though!
I have no idea how to tell what PCM flash is in there - maybe I'll do a search - sounds like a good idea.

 

Congrats on the flood! :D Hope it wasn't too inconvenient. And you can try to turn the key to the on position and hit the brake pedal 20 times in 8 sec. The oil pressure guage should drop quickly and go back up to normal if you have the "L" or "M" flash.