timisw

Alrighty Then...

After so much praise and admiration, my RX8 with 16K miles on it decided that it didnt want to start this morning! Battery seems fine... Fuel at 1/2 tank... turn the ignition and doesnt sound like its firing. Not sure if its hungry for spark or drink.

Did call the roadside assistance 800 number and they said they will have a tow truck here within the hour. Doesnt really help me to get to work, but they were polite and ready to go.

Anyone else experience a non starting RX8 that has battery power, but when it turns over it doesnt start?

Frustrated...

Mr M

Yikes! That sounds like winter 2003 over again!! I thought we got over all those hard start problems...

Yes, last year there were lots of complaints about hard starting, for various reasons. One was flooding (actually, the main one was flooding). It shoudn't happen on a cold engine, but because the rotary has to run so rich when the engine is cold there were problems with too much fuel entering the engine, flooding it, washing the oil film off the rotor housings, resulting in no compression, resulting in no start!

If your vehicle has already had all the PCM updates, it is possible that plugs or coils may be suspect. Let us know what the dealer finds. Sorry about the inconvenience.

Helge's RX8

I had the same problem this 3 days ago. I had pulled my car in to the garage from the outside the night before - classic short trip with a cold engine scenario. The following day it wouldn't start. The dealer cleaned the plugs and got it started. They said it's the same flooding problem that still isn't fixed. Read all the posts about the 'M' flash.

I feel like I'm rolling the dice every time I drive somewhere. One of the most basic requirements of a car is starting. I haven't had a car that wouldn't start since my 1971 Buick. This is totally unacceptable for any new car let alone a $30K car.

Can we envoke the lemon law if we have to have our car towed in for this problem 3 times?

cozmzm

Mine flooded this weekend also. The '8 is presently at Mazda service. I too think this is a serious problem that is unacceptable. Seems Mazda will be eating a lot of service money till this is fixed (or can it be?).

Mr M

Are you guys all following the instructions in the owners manual about how to avoid flooding, and how to de-flood once you have flooded? Were you aware the rotary needs to be treated differently to prevent flooding? (Something all of our regular contributors have gotten used to, no short trips, rev the engine up before switching off etc. etc...)

93rdcurrent

Been there, done that. Yeah mine didn't start about 2 months ago. Went into the dealer and was told that it flooded. My wife moved it out of the garage but insists that she rev'd the car for 10 seconds at 3,500 rpms. She follows the procedure all the time so I take her word on it. Make sure they put in the hotter spark plugs for you and give you the latest PCM flash if it did flood.

D'anconia

Mine hasn't flooded but if it does i'll probably try what joestewart did.

https://www.rx8club.com/canada-forum-35/starting-flooded-rx-8-a-46133/

cozmzm

I do remember pulling the car out of the garage and then driving it back in a couple of days before it flooded. Maybe that is what caused it.

I have my car back now. The dealer didn't have to replace the spark plugs, they were able to get it running and they also re-flashed "to the latest program" - what the work order stated. I bought the car used, so I have no idea what flash level it was flashed to previously.

On one hand I can see that I might have done something that I shouldn't have (not letting the car warm up before shutting it off again). On the other hand, this is a modern car and it flooded pretty easily. Yes, I can follow some simple procedures to help prevent this from happening in the future and Mazda has provide me some steps to help start a flooded car, but in my opinion these policies and procedures don’t do much for the average car driver (for example those who just expect the car to work like any other car). I suspect they’ll be a lot of flooded RX8s as the car sells more.

I love my car, and I hope Mazda can come up with a foolproof way to deal with this problem.

TCHPET2

I had the same problem with car not starting (8K miles), after being in garage all night. They towed it and replaced the spark plugs. They said the plugs were fouled. This is the second time they have replaced the plugs. The first time was after first PCM update, before I even got the car, while it was on the dealer lot (less than 7 miles on it). Until they get the PCM right on these things, I am thinking they will be doing my plugs about every 10K miles.

DrRockin99

First hard freeze here last night , this morning it was hard to start , but it just took a little longer to fire up then normal . Always kepted in the garage , always bring it up to 3000 rpms and kill it . I drove to work , everything was fine , actually got colder in the day with the wind chill around 10 degrees ...no problems start for lunch or coming home

philodox

It has been in the low 30's the last week or so here. I haven't had any probs with my 8. No problems turning over at all. Of course, I probably could attribute that to using Royal Purple synthetic oil instead of dino oil.

9100RPM

Drive the mongrel hard..if it breaks use your warranty.

Treat it too soft and it will become soft. Remember the best way to tune a Porsche is to flog it! 9100RPM

DrRockin99

Diseto , just always WARM it up before shutting it off ! it was 25 degrees with a wind chill of 5 degrees and after she warmed up for the day , zero problem start . This morning it just took a extra few cranks to fire up . no biggie , had worst starting cars in the cold !

catinaround69

The National Highway Traffic Saftey Administration addresses some of the same issues!!

http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/cars/problems/complain/

Do a search of complaints on RX-8's

You will notice many many are of the vehicle flooding and failing to start.

Go48

Thanks for the link. Very interesting to surf around and read the various submissions by the car owners.

However, you will note that the complaints date before the M flash release date. Which is not to say that some still don't have this problem, but the fact that there are no such complaints since the M flash release suggests to me that the problem is less prevalant today. And BTW, the NHTSA is probably not addressing the issue and probably won't unless they believe it is clearly a safety issue. They are merely serving as a place for owners to vent their complaints.

timisw

Well... Diagnosis...

I drove the car 3 days prior on a 20 minute trip.

I parked on Thanksgiving outside in 40F weather at night.

Monday morning I tried turning it over and it never even fired once. It must of flooded immediately!

Dealership states its because of the M Flash. He has a potential recall on the M Flash and Cold Weather causing flooding. He may be right because I didnt have the M Flash put in until I was in Augusta, GA this last Spring and prior to that I was stationed in PA and it was parked outside in -10F and I had no problems starting it.

I am sure Mazda will come out with something, but DAMN... I do count on this car to start every morning whether its bright and sunny or colder. Guess it is a good excuse to keep the wife's car out of the garage! ~smiling~

When I picked it up from Mazda this morning, they stated that their order for fixing a flooded RX8 is the following

1) Turn engine over with gas pressed fully until it starts (I swear he did this for like 120 seconds straight... I was cringing for the poor starter that had to be melting).

2) Put oil into the PCV valve and retry procedure 1

3) Pull Fuse #22 and try to start (they stated that this NEVER works)

4) Take out the bottom two spark plugs and let the gas drain and repeat 2

5) Replace spark plugs.

Going to have to look for that PCV Valve and see if that is ever an option. Mechanic said that usually fixes it. In my case it took step 4. Still frustrating since I know I didnt just start it and stop it and that it only sat in 35 to 40 degree weather for 3 days.

Helge's RX8

I totally agree with your point about it should work like any other car!

Mr M

O
Combustion chamber of reciprocal engine


<============>
Combustion chamber of rotary engine


As well as many other mechanical differences.


The rotary engine is NOT a reciprocal engine. It never will be. Mazda is trying to make it less likely to flood, but for the moment the fact stands that it needs to be babied a bit. :p This should be no inconvenience to you, it just means you have to change your driving habits a bit. Many owners have, and are enjoying their RX-8s to the max! You can too, if you give the engine a rev before shutting it off... :D

I am curious that the dealer suspects the M flash. I wonder if this was one of those rare cases that no flash, no matter how lean it made the mixture, would have prevented. Strange...

Helge's RX8

If all it takes is to rev the engine before shutting it off, them I'm happy. However, I'm quite skeptical that this is 100% fool proof. I suspect that you'll still have the problem if you start a cold car and then pull it into the garage, rev the engine, then shut it off. My guess is that you'll have to drive the car around the block several times to get the engine to warm up before shutting it off. That is more than a little inconvenience to me. I hope I'm wrong and you're right about the rev before shutting off "fix". Time will tell.

MyRxBad

iTrader: (1)

http://www.finishlineperformance.com...1-04-1273d.pdf

DrRockin99

It was 17 degrees here this morning , no starting problems at all

timisw

I was thinking the same thing. Just seemed strange. I have had colder mornings here with no problem. I live far enough away from anything that its always at least a 10 mile trip anywhere. The dealer had some documentation on it, but I was in such a hurry to get to work that I didnt get a chance to read it. He said I would be getting it in the mail soon.

That flooding is a strange beast too... At least with pistons, you could here some of them fire and there would be some noise that it was trying. With my first experience, this thing was dead. From the sound of the engine turning, I had no clue whether it was electrical or fuel missing.

AF-RX8

I don't have any current flashes and I've been lucky enough to have the car start everytime even when I move it 10 feet when it's cold and then turn it off without letting it warm up though I always try to remember to rev it to 3500 rpm before shutting it off..

There is one thing I have noticed lately with my car and that is it will take like 10 cranks sometimes before it starts ... it's pretty scary when it happens but luckily (knock on wood) it's been starting