zenrx8

iTrader: (4)

With all respect, I think you'd find you would be [/I]less[/i] likely to flood. If you take the time to read back through this thread, you'll see that cars that are over three years old with the same battery, plugs, and wires are the one that the problem begins to show up and have the greatest difficulty getting restarted. There is a proven problem with arcing damage to the coils (pull one off a three year old car and you can see a round circle in the bottom surface where the coil arcs through to the mount due to overheating and time); pull the stock RX8 plug and compare it to an NGK plug; there is no comparison between the cheap stock components and the new ones. Finally, you have to agree that a hot, hot battery helps when the plugs are wet.

I'm not beating anyone over the head here with the exception if Mazda. It's almost as if they designed the Perfect Storm of cheap ignition components to cause this flooding problem. The Renesis motor is no low maintenance compared to a piston motor, especially when it come to plugs, wire, coils, and batteries. Changing plugs yearly, coils every two to three years, and the battery as a load test (not a voltage test) indicates is not an "excessive reaction", it apparently just a fact of operation of this motor. I don't wish you any bad luck, VT, but if you ignore the ignition components, you will flood again; the question at that point will be if you can get it restarted because you kept up with the maintenance, or have to have a tow to Mazda. Warranty or not, that usually isn't on anyone's schedule.

suz6964

thanks to everyone for the reply - all good advise, yep changed the coils, battery etc..... when the car was still under warranty - plugs changed last service to high performance ones, came out of warranty a while ago Just got a call from the Mazda tech, told me that Mazda Aust. said they would pay for 50% of parts and labour for the starter and cause they are doing that I get to pay a 1/3 of the retial price so it getting fixed! yippee and only costing $280.00 which I'm pretty happy about.
I agree that the older RX8's have a lot of problems and it's normal that they learn from mistakes.. it just sucks that we are paying for them and Mazda know this too - so you just have to nagg and whin to your Mazda tech until they do something about it.. one for the girls

VT_RX8

OK, good historical perspective. I'm a recent joiner and certainly haven't taken the time to wade through the literally hundreds of responses to this thread over the years. What I do know is that despite my car being an '05, it only has 10K on it. Coils, plugs, etc. are not that affected by age, but use. If these statistics regarding arched coils and weak plugs were stated in terms of mileage it would be far more helpful. The bottom line here is that the problem starts with loss of compression, not conventional flooding. After reading your response (zenrx), it is understood that it all matters. If you want to take your best shot at not flooding, replace the plugs, coils, get a high capacity battery and hot starter (is there an aftermarket starter?). Given the 5 year bumper to bumper warranty, cost of replacement parts, etc., it's hard to spend the money on those parts. Hard to imagine my car would have started so easily just rolling it down the hill and popping the clutch if the plugs, wires and coils needed replacing. I'm inclined to tkae my chances for now, but have a hard time picturing my car on a flat bed. Might be time to rethink it.

zenrx8

iTrader: (4)

The '8 is one of those things you buy only to find out that it doesn't behave like similar items, i.e. piston driven conventional motors. It's a bitch, no doubt; but on the other hand, I don't get the feeling from any other car that this one gives me, including up to a 350ZX (one of which I left in a roll-on on the interstate the other night.)

For that, I'll change a few plugs and coils every couple of years.

Hang in there, bro.

FoxRacer600RR

WTF WTF WTF WTF ok im so pissed i didnt read but the first page but damnit i moved my car out of the garage this morning and let it set (takin trash out had to move it ) when to start it 6 hours latter and nothing ..nothing at all i called mazda nad they tel me its a 700 dollar fix they have to drain the engine and replace the plugs im about to torch he 8 does any body wanna save it

suz6964

Call NRMA get a tow and clutch start it

viking65

i Flooded mine because the battery went dead,
you can take out the fuel fuse this drains the fuel out it should start if your battery is good lol.

FoxRacer600RR

ok guys i paid 76 dolars for some new plugs and used a syringe to put 30cc's of oil in each cylinder hole cranked it and it started right up ..needless to say it smoked like a freight train down the road for a min...shewww this one scared me tho i used Bulletin No: 01-015/08 from mazda and it realy helped

woan

My engine flooded last month while in the care of the airport valet parking. I had it towed to my local Mazda dealer and they performed the change the plugs, decarbonization procedure and asked for $480.

I printed a copy of the TSB linked earlier in this thread which I believe was reissued on 10/24/2008 which showed it was covered under the extended engine warranty of 8 yrs/100,000 miles and the dealer ended up not charging anything, so I think Mazda has just stepped up and just blanket covered flooding repairs.

pdxrx8

woan,

can you link that TSB here ? My car is in dealership now with the flooding issue and they are asking for 700$+ I foudn the TSB page but there is lot of stuff in there and I am not sure exactly which one talks about this. My car is at 56k so it is under extended warranty now

msrecant

http://www.finishlineperformance.com...5-08-1883f.pdf

See page 14.

woan

Yes this is the one that got me off the hook for the flooding charge.

Skyraidr43

I learned from my 86 RX-7, I warm my 8 even if I just pull it out of the garage and have had no problem. I clean it out every other day with an 8500 RPM brief run.
I went as far as installing a switch to turn off the fuel pump on the 7 many years ago and have not used it after the warm up thing.

msrecant

If this is your first deflood, you should have a good case to get your money back.

I would go back to the dealer with a printed copy of the TSB and politely ask for my money back since it clearly states deflooding is covered until 8 years/100K miles. If they don't give you a full refund I would then call the MNAO 800 number and ask how you can get your money back.

This is not a "recall" issue. A service bulletin simply tells the dealer how to handle correcting a problem that has come up. A TSB is suposed to be done for free while that part of the car is still under warranty.

woan

I wouldn't even think it matters if it has happened before. I would definitely appeal to MNAO for a refund regardless, as the TSB indicates that the dealer can get reimbursed by warranty claim from Mazda.

GaMEChld

All I have to say about flooding is pull-start ftw

pdxrx8

Thanks for the link.. WIll check with my dealer tomm and update on how it goes.. I tried talking to the dealership several times and they kept denying the warranty thing. Not sure how much haggling I will have to do again... Also do you guys know about when the road side assistance expires ?? It used to cover my tows before and dealership was trying to charge that to me as well.. Thanks for the help again guys.

woan

I think you are out of luck with roadside assistance. Mine expired before the original warranty and I was lucky that I also had AAA (discount on storage locally paid for first year of membership).

My roadside assistance was renewed when I picked up an extended warranty before Mazda extended the 2004 engine warranty to 8yrs/100,000 miles because I was so afraid of the rotary repair bills.

suz6964

well very lucky for all of you that Mazda North America extended the warranty - but what about us in Australia - no extension yet
head in the wall

rhjames

No - when you've cranked until smoke is coming off the starter motor over half an hour, you know you have the problem.

rhjames

Perhaps we need to work together on this. I'm in Sydney, where are you?