Stu

Hey all. I have had my 8 for a little over a year now & it has been towed either twice or three times to mazda now. It has gone to them for not starting 4-5 times. Once was a total electrical issue that self corrected, and I took it to them once it did start, & they did a diag. finding no prob.

Once was a flooding problem, and there are others that I need not go into here...

Anyways, last night I go out to my car that has been sitting since I returned from work two days prior, and parked it. I go to start it, but it is cranking 'oddly.'

I initially think, 'flooded?' but I do not understand how it can be flooded. I did not press the gas at all to start the car, and I am the only one that has driven it since last week.

Has anyone else had a flooding problem where they never touched the accelerator? I am waiting here now for the roadside service tow to come & get it, so I can go talk to another tech.

I love my car, but it has gotten to a point where I wonder if I just got a bad car (unlucky?), I am stupid (possible, but I have some very peculiar motorcycles that I never have problems with), or something strange is going on...


Thanks for any ideas/experiences of your own.

therm8

cranking oddly, doesn't sound like flooding, but you never know. have you had the battery checked, some have complained about the battery after not starting the car for a couple of days. Dunno, good luck, hope you find the problem.

edit:
I have 'flooded' the car without pushing the accelerator, back when I had the car for only a couple of months. But that was not being used to the long cranking time and my hand slipping off the key before it started. Recovered with the flooding procedure in the manual tho.

Mazmart

iTrader: (12)

You don't need to push the accelerator in order to flood. There are a lot of possibilities with your battery being one of the chief culprits. Have your dealer test it. Also do you know whether your car has had the 'M' flash performed? This helps prevent flooding. Do you know if they changed your sparkplugs on any of these occasions? If the car flooded badly enough or was not driven at full operating temps regularly enough (Really short trips in realatively cold weather), the plugs could be junk.
I've heard of some main fuse box problems on some of these, I hope thats not the case.
Don't give up hope as yet,
Paul.

Stu

Thanks for the replies therm8 & Mazmart... They just came & picked it up.

I am not sure if they checked the battery the last time (about a week ago) it was in or not. But if they did not, they probably should have, as I had my 15k mile service done then, and I bet the battery is included in one of the various inspections they are supposed to do.

I do not think they have put the M flash on yet, but I cannot remember the last one that the tech said they did.

I too, hope it is not the main fuse box Mazmart. And I always allow the temp gauge to get to the 12 o'clock position before I turn the car off, anytime. Fortunately, or unfortunately depending on how you look at it, the last time the car was driven was about 35miles, in pretty cold temps, but it was well into normal operating temps before it was shut off.

I hope this message doesnt seem like a 'no it isn't that, or that, or that' deal, as I didnt mean it as such, because I just don't know. I just tried to think about each possibility to set my own mind at ease, and that is the way the reply came out.

thanks again guys for the ideas. You are helping me keep a positive attitude about my once beloved little gokart of a car.

Mr M

Sorry to hear about your troubles.

How many times has your problem been diagnosed as 'flooding'?
If the cause of your no start problems was flooding, there are things the dealer can do (hotter plugs, PCM software update), and things that you can do (revving engine before shutting off, learn the dechoke procedure). Was the cause flooding?

If your dealer never gave you a straight answer on what the cause to each of these tow-ins was, then they are not providing a very good service. Maybe you need to consider changing workshops?

It would help if you let me know what the dealer said caused your previous problems and this one. I want to help, but I need a little more information.

Stu

sorry about the long delay in getting back. I have been out of town, so I had no way to get here.

They said it was flooding.

The thing is, once my car was flooded, and I knew it. I was visiting at my parents, and had my brother move my car out of the drive. He started it & I dont know what he did, but he flooded it as he got to the end of the driveway.

Before that (about 1000 miles on the car), the car just would not do anything, like a dead battery. There was no cranking, no lights, nothing. Then, about 30min go by, I get in & try again. It starts, but the DCS & TC lights stayed on throughout the drive, though I never turned them off. I drove straight to Mazda once I did get the car started. I pull into the service bay, and turn the car off. I then restart the car, with the tech watching... Nothing goes wrong. Lights go off, car starts perfectly.

They kept it for a day & said they ran a full diagnostic, finding nothing wrong.

I then had it do the crank, but no start deal again when I was getting in my car at work. They tow it, & say that the gas cap was not on all the way, thus causing the no start, due to a sensor. I guess anything is possible, but I hadn't gotten gas in 2 days, and had started/drove/parked/etc. at least 20 times throughout the 2 day period.

This last issue with the flooding diagnosis, I drove home from work on a Friday evening. I parked the car in the garage, and got out. It is about 25 miles from work to home, and the car was warmed before ever moving, then driven normally to my house.

So, I go to get in my car Monday night (the car had not been moved all weekend), and being a creature of habit, I sat in the seat, put 1 foot in the car. It was on the clutch, I then put the car in neutral, check the parking brake & start the car. My hand didn't slip off of the key, I didnt touch the gas pedal, nothing. It just instantly cranked wierd. It sounded as though the timing was severely off, according to several peoples accounts.

So, here I am. Car back,everything okay.

Again, sorry for the delay, & then a long post but I figured I should be detailed &
might as well tell you about several of the problems I have had.

Mr M

When a rotary is flooded, it loses compression, because the excess fuel washes away the oil film that helps the apex seals seal with the rotor housing. When a reciprocal (piston) engine's valve timing is incorrect, it can cause compression to leak past the valves, which are open when they shouldn't be. So the sound you heard probably was lack of compression. But why?

Reason one is flooding. Are you sure someone didn't move the car? Or drive it a short distance? Maybe you even moved it yourself, for example you got home, switched off the engine, opened the garage, then switched on the engine and put the car in the garage? This caused flooding on earlier build vehicles, but like I said above, there are countermeasures to cure this problem.

Another possible cause of flooding is a leaking fuel injector. A longshot, but possible.

The other possible reason for losing compression is sticking apex seals. If your engine is carboned up the seals could be sticking. The dealer should know how to de-coke and engine, if they don't they can call MNAO to be told. Unless you are experiencing a ticking noise, then I don't think your apex seals are broken.

The DSC lamp problem is something unrelated I think. Possible a poor battery connection? Impossible to tell, usually if the light comes on there will be troble codes that the dealer can use to pinpoint the cause. There is even a trouble code for low battery...

If you have the time and equipment, try removing the spark plugs yourself and having a look at them. If they are black, we can suspect carboning up.

If you have aftermarket parts on your vehicle (intake, exhaust) return everything to standard, make sure the dealer flashes your PCM with the latest (repaired) M flash, and try driving for a while.

Good luck!