My RX-8 has been sitting for the past month.
 

We've had remarkably shitty weather in the DC area lately, and now I'm on travel to CA for two weeks. Anything I need to know when I finally get the 8 dug out of the ice-dam surrounding it? Anything I need to do to start it safely?

charged battery

You get in the car and turn the key. Just like every other car.
The fallacy that this car is something special is wrong.
Just don't turn it off cold.

Well, what I was mainly concerned about was lubrication and fueling issues, like: should I full-throttle-crank it to get the seals lubed before firing it up, and/or should I let it sit in the ON position for a minute to let the fuel pump stir up any gunk that's settled out of the gas, or anything like that. I've never let a car sit this long before.

Shitty weather? I've been enjoying the snow. Never got to build a snowman or an igloo, but I've had a great time with my snow blower. And I've enjoyed seeing the local news teams drive themselves nuts obsessing over it.

Anyway, just start your 8 up. You might need to charge the battery, but first try it as is. Don't persist too long on a weak battery if it cranks slowly and does not catch right away.

My 8 will have been sitting in the garage for close to three weeks by the time I fire it up again. I'm just going to start it.

Yesterday I dug my '87 Accord out of its 3 foot covering of snow. It had been sitting for a couple of weeks. Cranked just fine, thanks to the power of its $50 Advance Auto Parts battery.

Ken

I guess everyone has different perspectives on the snow. I, for one, want to be able to drive the car I'm paying $380 a month for the privilege of driving past on the way to work. Since it's so new, I'm really trying to avoid driving it on salty and sandy roads.

As for snow removal, I have a little snowblower too, but when you have 31 townhouses on a 500-foot-long street, you quickly run out of places to put the stuff. After the snowstorm two weekends ago, my street looked like one of the off-road tracks they have at Land Rover dealerships. It was that bad. Nobody got in or out for two days until the earthmoving equipment showed up.

Mine's been sitting for 3.5 months now in its typical Winter hybernation (well, I did take it out one snow/sand/salt clear January weekend; fired right up). I do have a Battery Tender trickle charger and ultrasonic rodent deterrent under the hood. Full gas tank and all the other prep items.

I went on vacation for a month and left the RX8 to sit in the cold. Came back, cranked right up.

yes, just turn the key and go.

As long as you trust the battery, turn it on and make sure you don't turn it off until its warm.

I'm on the outskirts of Vienna, in a regular house neighborhood. Just before the round of snowfalls our homeowners association contracted with a commercial outfit to plow our street. We've had one good lane all along, which is way more than the adjacent neighborhoods had. We were in better shape than some of the main feeder roads within the town itself, too.

When I finally dug the Honda out of its snowy grave, what had been a clear dry lane was covered with nearly a foot of snow. I'm still waiting for the lynch mob. ;)

Keeping the 8 in the garage for a while longer (salt, DC driver risk, etc.) and will be following my own "Just start it" advice when the time comes.

Ken

I only drive mine once every couple of weeks or so. Sometimes go nearly a month without a drive. Has started every time, except few months ago when the original battery finally kicked the bucket (after almost 4 years).

So don't worry.

so you just shoveled it out into the street? That shit pisses me off.

i left mine sitting for about 2months i had some trouble starting it but my battery had died so just check the battery as long as its charged you should be able to as stated above just turn the key and be on driving the best car

No, I did not shovel it into the street.

I used my snow blower to blow it out into the street. The blower sprays a nice stream, which I kept re-aiming to achieve an even layer. Shoveling would leave rather uneven chunks.

Ken

I see lots of references around here to "check your battery" and "don't crank the starter too long", and so on. Does the RX-8 come with the weakest battery I've ever laid eyes on, or does it have a lot of parasitic drain, or is something else going on? I've done compression tests on my Passat which involved cranking the engine for 15 seconds per cylinder, and while I'm sure that drained the battery a bit, it was nowhere near enough to make it need a jump-start.

^ I'm still on my OEM Interstate battery close to 4 years now, so I wouldn't say it's weak or there are any unusual drains.

The 04's and early 05's did have a weaker Panasonic battery and slower revving starter, both of which were freely upgraded by TSB (now expired since that group is beyond the bumper-to-bumper warranty).

As another poster said, the 04, early 05's had weak batteries and starters that were changed on new models and for those that brought their affected models in to get fixed. Also batteries older than 4 years old, might be suspect.

I think we are all trying to avoid any chance of flooding the engine and then you'd really be in for more work to get it started.

That's exactly what I had in mind when I said to not persist cranking with a weak battery.

Ken

Good enough, thanks. It's an '09 with a battery to match, so it should be good as long as the lights come on when I open the door.