why does RX8 have hard time hot starting with old starter??
 

hello,
i am driving 04, with old starter, n3h1
and i am having issue with hot starting.
it starts fine when it's cold, but it's just having hard time when it's hot.
what's the reason??
my dad is a PhD of material engineering, interested in car mechanics
i asked him to get me new updated starter but he thinks it's not the starter problem when i told him that i need a new starter after reading all the posts in the forum, telling him it needs more torque/power from the starter
but he is just not convinced.

what is the exact reason why rx8 is having hard time hot starting with old starter??

The new starter turns faster therefor makes more compression.

but why does it need more compression when it's hot??

Please give us the history on your car. The service it's had parts replaced. Did you do all four coils , wires and plugs? Type of driving it gets(long commutes, short trip), fuel used(reg or prem), ever flooded. Just any thing that you can add. Done any decarbon cleaning? This will help improve the compression.

Hard starting when hot may be a symptom of a blown side seal. That was what my car was diagnosed with when I had the same problem.

hopely its not a blown side seal.
i changed my coils/plugs/plug wire about 20k km before??
but even right after i changed to new coils/plugs/wire,
it still had problem hot starting.

remove k&n.

take to dealer.. say it is hard to start..

they will do a seafoam treatment and a compression test..

that will answer the question.. new motor likely in your future.

beers :beer:

^+1 ask me how I know lol sucks

my warranty ended long time ago.
will it be free or will i be charged??

Which warranty?
4/48 Original Warranty
5/60 Drivetrain Warranty
8/100 Engine Core Warrenty

They will charge you for a diagnosis, then rebate that charge if it is found to be under one of these warranties.

The engine core along with all the seals are warranted for 8 years / 100k miles now. The car is harder to start hot because the walls in the rotor chambers have expanded due to the heat, thus lowering the compression potential of the engine relative to it being cold.

... That's my understanding, at least. :D:

ah, i understand. thank you for your great answer!

Do what they say....they know the drill. Do we have flow charts on here some where?

Hi, just had this problem sorted after 6 months, £1500 and 5 visits to local mazda dealership. I own a 2005 rx8. Hopefully this helps as I had a nightmate:


I had the following done:
compression test
replaced spark plugs
and HT leads
full diagnostic

after all of this, still had warm start problem. Dealership sent diagnostic to Mazda UK (oem). They analysed and sent back that it was a faulty starter motor. Had to get it replaced, another £450....finally sorted. Starts first time....every time. There was a fault on all starter motors from 2004+ models. Check with Mazda and they will confirm.

Hope this helps!!!

You put in the Hot Start Spark Plugs? NGK RE6C-L Lead Position.

You are kidding right ;)

Those plugs are for stop and go city driving where the OEM 7's are too cool

Has bubkiss to do with hot starting :(


To the OP....the new starter might help your poor starts..unless your compression is getting poor. It often manifests itself in the beginning as running rough and hard to start when warm

I would do the seafoam thing..and drive the snot out of it for a few days and see if that helps...if it doesn't it would be worth taking it to a dealer for a compression test.

nothing personal, but that simply means your father does not know anything about Rotary.

you need faster speed to create more compression. because of the way Rotary seals.

i know that post is couple months old, just want to put my 0.02

I want to know what was the test result at what rpm. and was the engine fully warmed up(or hot?) before doing this test.

cuz a lot of dealerships failed to do the test correctly.

^Wouldn't this just delay what is most inevitably going to happen? I mean, if swoope's suggestion was acceptable with taking the car to the dealer with the complaints he stated, then seafoaming it yourself might just be a waste of time and money.

I'm experiencing what is essentially the same thing. I think I'm going to take swoope's advice and just get my new engine for my 2004 once my tranny is rebuilt!

Good luck with that :) It's not quite as easy as it sounds...get your receipts organized before you go in...and if you haven;t done the coils lately they will likely make you change them as well as the plugs and wires...

^Thanks. I didn't mean for it to sound like it was going to be easy. I've been researching and the suggestions on what to do here have been great. I've been trying to stack up my receipts and a new igntion system is on its way. Thanks for the suggestion.

Just to be sure. What do you consider a hard start? My car usually starts in .5 to 1 seconds but sometimes it takes 1 to 1.5 seconds to start hot or cold.

I am in the same boat as you are. Once my car gets to normal running temps and I turn my car off, I need to wait at least 25-30 minutes in order for my car to turn over. If I go out any sooner, It will try to turn over and eventually just stop (which after I tried once I don't try anymore to prevent damage). But I am in the middle of getting an upgraded starter and hopefully that will fix the problem. If not, I see a trip to a dealership for a compression test and a new engine if needed.

As for a hard start for me, it usually takes 2-3 seconds for my 8 to start when warm.

How did you make out with the new starter? It used to be a problem for me starting the car but now, it doesn't even start at ALL.... I wonder if I should really gamble and pay the $350 for the new starter to test this.

If ur engine is not flooded, all maintainence parts are uup to date and there us nothing wrong then its safe to aay ur engine is bad