Rachlayyy8

so i went to gainesville for a day, drove my truck and come home and i go to get in my 8 this afternoon and it wont start...it sounds like it wants to and its trying but it just wont turn over...i love my 8 to death but its pissing me off soo bad right now... we just changed the plugs and wires, i got these beautiful new bright blue wires shes starting to look so much better then when i got her, and now she wont start....

could we have done something wrong with putting the wires/plugs in that would make it start one day but not the next? what can i do..im losing my mind with this car...

Old Rotor

If it wont turn over then it might be the battery is weak. How old is it?

Mazurfer

Okay................let's take it from the top.
Did it ever start after changing the wires and plugs?
I curious.........you went to G-ville, did someone possibly move your car and not let it warm up properly while you were gone and flood it?
Who changed them.......the wires and plugs?
I hope you/they know that the leading and trailing plugs are not the same.
Also............if not real familiar, you need to make sure that the plug wires are on good. One of the front ones likes to pop off if not on right. Of course i am assuming the right coils are going to the right plugs? You need a diagram to check.....I can oput on here. I know this is basic stuff and not trying to make anyone feel like an idiot, just trying to help.


Dave

Rachlayyy8

The engine turns over, it just wont start.

It started up just fine right after my boyfriend changed the plugs and wires. I drove it for a couple days, drove back and fourth from orlando, so it worked fine after the plug and wire change.

Ill check the wire to coil connections I guess...

04RX8man

u need to just make sure that the wires are on good on the plugs and coils if it started and ran fine i'm sure they on on the proper coils just sounds like it may be a loose connection!

auwen

Do you get a ton of smoke out of the exhaust when you try to turn it over or is there nothing? Another thing to look for is a heavy gas smell. If you're getting the smoke then at least you know you're getting a spark, the gas smell means you've flooded the engine. While I haven't had a problem with my 8 flooding my 7 used to do it all the time. The trick I have used in the past for flooding is to remove power from the fuel pump (the fuse is usually the best bet) so you don't further encourage the problem. Once this is done I would remove the trailing plug for each rotor and turn the car over for a bit. This should push the fuel out through the newly opened holes. After that just throw it all together and it should start fine. The other idea comes straight from the owner's manual. This is that if you have a problem starting the car push the gas to the floor and it should start right up (yes I know that this is the worst possible thing you could do on a piston engine but its in the manual and I've seen it work).

Let me know if this helps at all.

Rachlayyy8

thanks so much, ill try that tomorrow...i just hope its nothing major :/ and costly...


as far as the questions, no theres no smoke and i dont believe the smell of gas is strong... i just dont know what to do...my boyfriend plans on taking the wheel off tomorrow and taking the plugs back out to see if that helps...we tried the mashing the gas and trying to turn it over today and it wouldnt work...so i guess on to the next idea...ill post again tomorrow and we'll see how things go :] thanks for the ideas




my feelings right now about my car... :[

Mazurfer

I agree.........check those connections at the plugs for sure. I'll bet that a front one is loose or not on good.
While he's at it..........have him make sure the wires at the coils are tight and seated as well.

Let me know if ya want me to stop by real quick and I will. I'm beachside at near the end of the Eau Gallie Causeway, so I can't be that far away.

Mazurfer

auwen has the right method but only if you have or suspect it's flooded. If not, then see below what 04RXman said and myself below that. Since you drove it since the change, it is most likely a bad connection unless by trying it.....you have flooded it? Read the posts below.

Dave

Rachlayyy8

yea we are pretty sure its flooded...we took the plugs out like we were told and they smelled like gas and were damp..but heres the kicker we took the leading ones out and they had like 100 times more carbon build up then the old ones we just took out like a week ago...so after 200 miles or so they had more carbon build up then the old ones...crazy huh?


and we checked the coils they seem fine...but we were cheacking for a spark and what weve found is that we think the wires arnt good, even though i just brought them they are broken :[ so we took them back and got a new set so today we are going to try and put those new wires on and see if we can get it to start i mean we are going crazy with this car at the moment lol...

but ill post again here shortly and see what we have found...wish us luck :]

Rachlayyy8

Ok soooo update!!!


cars still not starting...the leading plugs have a really good spark but the trailing dont have anything at all... could it be anything else other then the coils???

like we have brand new plugs and wires and the only thing left we can think of is the coils....

anything else other then that?!?!?


and if it is the coils... what kind of price are we looking at here...
(this is getting old real quick

Rachlayyy8

so we just replaced the coils and still arent getting spark to the trailing plugs.... wtf!?

Rachlayyy8

Put in a new crank shaft posistion sensor in today...still not starting...im ordering new plugs again tomorrow because we are thinking that some how the plugs are messed up...this is pretttttty gayyyyy....still taking ideas if anyone has em....

staticlag

Ok I just read the whole thread.

Are you absolutely positive that you hooked up the plugs correctly? A correctly hooked up plug boot leaves only about 1/4 an inch exposed on the plug.

Have you tried going back to the factory wires?

Is the battery that you are using fully charged? Do you have it on a trickle charger right now?

Is there anyway that you could give me the voltage that the battery is at right now? Between 12.7-12.9 volts is fully charged.

alz0rz

iTrader: (41)

how are you verifying the spark?

RX8-Frontier

I know this sounds retarded, but...

Any engine needs 3 things to work. Fuel, Air, and Spark.

You got the spark, so you're good there.

Not likely something's blocking the air flow, so we'll assume that's fine..

So you're onto fuel. You've either got too much of it, or not enough.

Too much means you're flooded (could have made it worse when holding down the gas pedal & cranking... Future reference, fuel injected cars get WORSE with that technique; only use that on older carberated motors. Slap your boyfriend once for that one...). De-flood the engine.

Too little means something wrong with the fuel pump (most likely). You've got a lot of miles on that engine, so it's not surprising if the fuel pump has finally checked out. There's an "easy" check for this... Spray WD-40, starter fluid, or some other EXTREMELY combustible spray directly into the throttle body as someone turns the ignition. If it starts to catch like it wants to run, then you've got a fuel pump issue. Replace the fuel pump.

mikeschaefer

The RX-8's ECU is programmed to cut fuel when you hold the gas pedal to the floor while cranking.

RX8-Frontier

That's awesome. And as long as everything's working right, then the computer will fix stupid... But what happens if it's not?? A person should have to rely on the computer to keep them from doing something stupid; they should just not do the something stupid in the first place...

staticlag

Dude, its an electronic throttle, there is no option other than computer.

RX8-Frontier

Sure there is... keep your foot off the gas pedal... You actually have to try to screw this up... Doing absolutely nothing at all is the right way to go... So what's the big deal?

Not to mention, on any FI vehicle, the same holds true whether or not it's got a fancy computer to fix stupid... Just don't touch the gas pedal when you're starting up a car unless it's got a carberator and it may actually help. Why risk problems? That makes no sense.

mikeschaefer

I refrained from being a smartass on my first post and I think I can do it again.

When normally starting a fuel injected car (ie not touching the gas pedal) the computer injects fuel. If the motor is flooded you do not want this.

For quite some time now (not sure when it started, maybe when fuel injection came to rotaries) Mazda has programmed the computer to not inject fuel when the gas pedal is fully depressed during startup. They did that specifically because of the tendency for rotaries to flood.

Rachlayyy8

Thanks for the ideas guys ive tried holding the pedel down ive tried not holding ive tried deflooding it and nothing seems to help...i know you need 3 things to start a car, ive got all 3, spark, air and fule....just still isnt working, ive tried spraying starter into the throttal still didnt work...im at my wits end here..:[

cjkim

tried push starting?

tubingchamp

iTrader: (3)

I hear push starting usually works.. Get someone to push the car while you try to start it.

Brettus

iTrader: (2)

+1 on the push starting .
These engines need to be turned over fast to start . Once you flood them and drain the battery from lots of starting attempts you are making it less and less likely to start the more you try . Push starting will get it going for sure so long as there are no other issues.