New the the Mazda RX8 fam. could someone please explain what NOT to do when starting and shutting off the engine? I was told the car could flood and I'd be stuck. Any info would be appreciated.

 

NEVER use the gas pedal when starting your 8. It's old-school habit to "pump it a few times" prior to starting up a piston engine. Not so on a rotary.

Also....never shut it off cold. Even if you're only backing out of your garage to warsh her, let it run for a few minutes, then rev her up a couple times prior to shutting her down.

 

Good rule of thumb is to never shut off the car unless the temparature needle is at the middle of the gauge. That means its at operating temperature.

 

Someone wrote in another thread that the flooding problem is fixed by the N flash. Is that not correct?

 

i think it still happens, just not as much. and remember, flooding can happen to any car, rotory or piston.

also, the habit of pressing the gas pedal before starting was more of a practice on carbuerated cars, not necissarly old pistons. it was never a practice on efi cars.

also, the correct "try-this-first" method of deflooding a car is to hold the gas pedal down all the way then try cranking it. holding the gas pedal down while cranking cuts off the injectors so that no more fuel is being introduced into the engine while you are trying to "empty" out the flooded engine.

another thing that some people do is before shutting off the engine, they bring the rpms up, let off the gas and while the rpms are falling back down to idle, they turn the engine off. reason being after letting off the gas, the fuel injectors don't inject any fuel and the engine spinning forces any remaining fuel out. (is this the same thing as dfco?) remember, don't rev it over ~3k rpm if the engine is not at normal operating temp.

 

Thanks for the info. Just picked up an vel. red 04 GT loaded w/4000 mi on it. Never had so much fun driving before. Just concerned about the flooding issue which I've been reading about on this site. Good info. thanks again.
Cheers.

 

There is also a gauge to let you know the car is properly warmed up and its safe to shut off.