kloewerm

Hey guys so I'm sure most of you have seen this time and time again, but I am completely stuck on what to do right now. I have an 06 rx8 that was bought used about a year ago. I decided to store it for winter so I put in some Sta-bil. I start it up once a week or so just to keep it going and everything charged up. I went down a couple days ago to start it, and all I get is the engine cranking, but no fire. The day before I moved it in and out of the shop (unheated) and let it sit for probably 5 min at a time. I have tried removing the ECU fuse trick and cranking it. I have done as it says in the manual to depress the gas pedal- no luck. I even tried today, taking out plugs and putting oil in to try and lubricate the seals- no luck. When I removed the spark plugs two were wet and the other two were darker with burnt fuel/oil on them. Do I need to just purchase plugs or can someone point me in the right direction of what else to try. THANKS!

StealthTL

iTrader: (1)

The removal of the ECU fuse is probably what flooded it - there is no need to remove any fuses. The old trick is to remove the FUEL PUMP relay - (blue, at front right of the fuse box) but the pedal-to-the-floor technique works better, even with no fuel pump running the injectors will still send enough fuel to flood your car.

It is flooded and needs to be cleaned out - cranking for about twenty total seconds (preferably with a boost battery hooked up) with the plugs all out.

Then either new plugs or use a propane torch to dry/burn the oil off the old ones.

Plugs back in and crank without touching the gas pedal - if it fires, you should gently gas it to keep it running - no pumping the pedal.

If it won't fire up like that, it could be that the Stabil didn't work and the old gas is wetting rather than burning, a tow-start may be required.

kloewerm

Thanks ill give that a try. You don't think plugs would be an issue then? It only has about 34K miles on it. I only tried the ECU fuse removal after searching causes of it not firing.

ken-x8

If it's just gas, would putting the plugs in an oven work in this situation?

On damp winter days a failed start of a conventional engine can wind up with a water/gas slurry on the plugs. The fix is to take the plugs out, put them in an oven til dry, then put the warm plugs back in. I've done that a couple of times and it worked like a charm. Just wondering if that would be of value for a flooded rotary.

Ken

kloewerm

Okay so I went out today and removed plugs, fired the car without them in for 20 seconds, and a bit of gas came out. I heated up the plugs and cleaned them off, installed them and tried. Nothing again. Back in August my ignition coils went out when I was driving out of town and had to leave my car at a mazda dealership over the weekend and they replaced those.

Since then I had an engine warning light come on so we hooked it up to a diagnostic tool. It said something about a possible o2 sensor clogged. I ran some fuel injector cleaner and the light disappeared after a few days. Would any of this have to do with my problems? I am at a loss right now. All I can think of is to replace the plugs, test the wires for spark, or pull start it.