2004 Rx-8
 

I am having starting issues. This has been going on since early in my car ownership. Due to being out of town for sometimes a month-month and a half at a time, the car was sitting that duration for once, and sometimes twice a year. The first time this occurred, I took it to a Mazda dealership and the issue, I was told, was a clogged fuel filter, that came from using gas with ethanol, and then not starting it over that long period of time (this was about 4 years ago). This last year, after a one month hiatus last summer, I began having similar issues with my car. It is very difficult to start. I kept it going through the fall, but early January after a long weekend, I tried to start the car and it wouldn't start (I do live in Florida, so winter isn't really cold). I took it to a dealership, and they said they needed to replace the pugs, and "prime the engine" ($400). Now, I am not very car savy, so I believed them. Unfortunately, the car still wasn't starting right. It would give a delay on the start, and then after about 3-4 weeks, it began having significant starting issues after just a weekend of not driving it. I began driving on the weekend as well to keep the car going, but alas it did the same thing and wouldn't start. Each of these two times, the dealership is saying that the engine is somehow flooding, while I place no pressure or even a foot on the accelerator.
This time, the dealership said it is the coils, and replaced them (to the tune of 500$ more...they wanted to charge me $800, but I went off on them). It still wasn't starting right, but the "mazda tech" said that the car needed to adjust to the new coils.

Well, my problem is back. It started two weeks ago with a very rough start after just sitting for the weekend, but now it is "rough starting" after sitting for more than 15 hours. It also is a difficult start when "hot starting" the car. Each time it "rough starts" it will take between 3 and 7 seconds of turn-over to start the car, and now when it actually starts, it sits between 2500 and 3000 rpms while sounding like the engine is running at a very low rumble. Once it gets warmed up, it purrs and sounds beautiful with no skipping and no other issues.

Any thoughts?

hot starts are usually a sign of low compression. a weak battery or the older style smaller starter can cause flooding. the ignition is at most only good for 30k miles. poor ignition health also causes flooding. holding the gas pedal to the floor cuts fuel to the engine and acts as a deflooding tool

Step #1. Find a different stealership. They are just throwing your money at a problem they don't know how to fix. Seriously, what they have done is blatantly dishonest and incompetent.

Step #2. Have the compression checked. That is most likely the problem. Could also be an internal coolant leak. Both have happened to me.

Step #3. After you spend a small fortune having the engine rebuilt and or replaced outright, drive the car every day.

I'm sorry if that sounds harsh, but it's just the truth. My first engine began becoming hard to start after about 140k miles. Turned out to be an internal coolant leak that got progressively worse until it just turned into a steam engine. It would run fine IF you could get it started.

My second engine just bit the dust at 218k miles. Same exact hard starting issue when left to sit for only 2 days over the weekend, but this time was different. Having been lovingly cared for low these 11 years now, my beloved RX8 puked out an apex seal just last week.

Great car... with a highly specialized and finicky engine.

Thanks for the input guys. Just trying to get to an answer.