A good customer of mine brought in his 2005 RX8 to be smoged and then get an oil change. I did the smog and we left it in the garage overnight so we could do the oil change in the morning. We moved it from the smog bay to the oil change bay and locked up. The next morning when we came back, the car wont start. Checked and found no spark at the plugs. Battery is fine. Tried jumping it and nothing. Very wierd. Car ran great during the smog check. Doesn't have any aftermarket alarm or anything, just the factory keyless entry. Any idea on what to do? We've had this car all week and can't figure it out, we're one step from having it towed to the dealer and eating the cost of repair.

 

is the engine turning over?

 

Yes it is....

I actually have an update from my original post... I towed it to the dealer and they called me just now and said one of my coils is bad and that I need to replace the spark plugs and wires. They also said there is too much gas near the plugs. I'm gonna tow it back and replace those things but I have a wierd feeling that wasn't the problem. But I have no choice now.

 

it was flooded. Happens all the time, if you have an older engine or a weak ignition
Get new plugs/ coils from mazmart.com.

 

Probably flooded.
plugs might be so wet that no spark can get through.

that's what happened to my 8

 

Grr... I wish that thread I made got stickied

 

Sounds like you flooded it when you moved it and didn't let it warm up all the way. Even if one of the coils was bad it would still be able to run if the other 3 were working.

There's a de-flood procedure in the manual.


If you're too lazy to look here it is in a nutshell, this is from memory so it may not be exactly as the manual states.

Press the gas pedal to the floor and crank it for like 7 seconds, then let it rest for about 10 seconds, repeat this about 5 times. What this does is shut off the fuel pump during cranking so it can push out all the extra fuel and dry things out a bit. After you've done this try to start it like normal. Don't shut it off till it gets to operating temperature from now on.

If that doesn't work, do the pedal to the floor procedure again but don't try to start it like normal. Let it sit overnight instead then when you get back the next morning try to start it.

 

if it's a manual, the best way to get it going is a push/pull start