I have an '04 8 and today morning like around 8am when I went to the car to start it it just cranked. I smelled like if it was fludded so I held the gas down and re-tried and nothing still.
The car has 32,000 miles. Most likely it's the plugs bbut I was wondering if anyone else went thru the same problem. Also, how often does the spark plugs need to be changed. Thankx.

 

your flooded it took me damn near 30 min to get it unflooded
but your best bet is get mazda to come get it and do the flooding tsb you will get new plugs, new starter, and new battery for FREE!!!! i wanna do it but i can't not have my car cept on a saturday

 

but if you need to unflood keep doind it the mazda way just be battery conscious cause mine died while trying so now i got a optima

 

the dealer gave me a rental when they did mine not sure why they did cause I've never flooded the car. oh well.

 

This only happened to me once, but it took 3 or 4 trys:

1. floor it
2. turn it over for 8-10sec
3. let off the gas
4. try to start it

If I remember right after the 2nd time around it almost started, if you have to maybe try steps 1-3 twice and then do 4 once....it's worth a shot. And if it starts up the exhaust will be smoking for a little while. Good luck.

 

mazda sent me a defect letter saying that 04+ 8's need to be brought in to change the starter because the car "MIGHT" not start in cold weather. I never brought it in.... but i was in the mountains where the weather was 20 degrees and it started fine....