Deflooding just went horribly wrong
 

Short version because im short on time. 04 auto RX8 75k miles daily driver. flooded this morning because of sub zero temperatures the last few days. Just out deflooding for 30 minutes making progress then I started a crank with the gas to the floor and i got 2 whirrs then a thud. engine stopped dead in its tracks. wtf. help asap please

Put it in neutral, e-brake on. Get a 19mm socket (or is it 21mm?) and a breaker bar or ratchet. Stick it on the crank nose bolt down in the center of the main pulley. Try rotating the engine in each direction. It may be difficult with the plugs in, but you should be able to rotate it completely in each direction. 6 "hard" points in the rotation = 1 full engine revolution, each one corresponding to the peak compression point of a face, 3 for each rotor.

If you can't rotate it at all, you have big problems. If you can rotate it in one direction but not the other, you have a problem, but it should be saveable. If you can rotate it freely, then it's something else, like the starter died abruptly.

The bigger problem possible is carbon lock. It can occur after a flood, basically the fuel wash breaking free a piece of carbon that wedges itself between a seal and the wall of the housing or iron. It's rare, but possible.

ok it went both ways. see if it will crank?

Yup, give it a shot.

Do you have jumper cables run to another car to avoid draining the battery down? Deflooding is rarely short enough to be able to deflood it on 1 battery charge and still start it at the end. You could easily sweep all the fuel out, then it refloods when your battery can't spin it fast enough any more.

ok its cranking again. and its almost started. i could kiss you right now. jeez thats weird tho

Unless you are female, I'll pass on that kiss.

Do you think subzero temps caused it to flood, or is there maybe another issue?

There is always "another issue" :)

The subzero temps could have weakened his battery, but that is otherwise the only real connection to the temps. Otherwise it's the same list as always, battery, starter, coils, plugs, wires, compression. One of them has to fail/weaken to cause a flood.

The only other issue I'm having right now is low power and a shuddering under 3500-4k rpms. This was my first flood issue right after a -20 night and a -13 night so I'm guessing it was because of the cold. I didn't try to start it yesterday morning. I didn't end up getting it started probably because the plugs are too fouled. I don't feel like taking the plugs out in this cold to clean them off when i have a car to drive tomorrow.

New plugs with deflood procedure and I'm still not getting it to start. Bad gas?

You can't just change the plugs and expect it to work.

How long are you cranking? Count out 15 seconds or so per try with 15-20 seconds between tries.
If it starts, do not let off the gas. Keep it floored till it burns off completely. It may run a second or 2 a few times before it fires up.

If possible, make a video of your attempts and post it. Those of us that have successfully deflooded can give pointers from there.

Maybe a weak battery?
Extreme cold will make a weak battery turn your starter slower, possibly re-flooding it. You should get it checked to eliminate that possibility.

I'll post a video tonight if I cant get it. my battery spent all day on trickle charge and I switched it to start when cranking last night. It didn't even want to kinda start after doing the same deflood method I tried the night before after cleaning the plugs. So I put new plugs in and did a deflood again and only got a few ignitions when starting fluid was introduced after the deflood procedure. Nothing enough to start it. I was doing 15 sec crank with 15 sec breaks in between for a minute wait a minute do it again wait a minute and try to start.

When I deflood my motor the first time, it took me 3 hours, cuz' i wasn't sure what to do.
(hooked up a car to keep battery alive of course)
Second time took me 30min, this time I had much clear idea what and how to do it.

If everything checks out fine, it still gonna take sometime to deflood the car, fyi.

save yourself a lot of time and push or pull start it .

Op got an auto...

oh yeah

newb

You can charge a weak battery all you want, it's still a weak battery.
I suggested you get it checked to be sure. If it is, you're wasting time.

I would but sadly don't have another car or a multimeter with a DC amp probe :(

:p::lol2:

How to pull start an auto. I don't recommend it, just posting for fun

Auto pull start

Haha - that is classic !

^ Good luck with that. :lol: