Mine flooded again today. 2nd time is 38k and yes both times it was because I pulled it out of the garage to wash it and put it away without warming it up (I did the 3k though). The difference today was I now have a 600+ca battery and was able to get it going using the flood procedure (took almost 10 minutes). There was no hope with the stock battery as it was dead last time after the 3rd attempt. The lesson here, if it's cold out and you're not going to take the time to warm it up properly, leave it dirty.

I'll try this again.
What year is the car? Has it ever had the plugs replaced? What flash is it on?

2004, 10k on plugs replaced after 1st flood, "R" Flash

Facts IRT my last flood:
2004 6 speed, 22K miles, regular services, plugs replaced and battery replaced after first flood at 12k. Ambient temp 30 degrees, drove the car the night before for about 1 hour, returned home put it in the garage. Next day, hop in at 6 am to go to the gym and it would not start. Like some have said before, it is not a quirk it is a defect. I love the car but if I can not depend on it to start each and every time I get into it............

Definitely not a "short trip" issue. Bummer! I can understand you being ticked.

Have you gotten the car back? What was the service department's diagnosis?

pusher this flood happened after a new battery? which battery did you get?

Agreed. There's something more wrong with RX8Pusher's car than what's "wrong" with my car.

Too many excuses
 

Whew! Read almost every post and I am disheartened. Owned my RX8 for two years plus with about 20K miles and during this time I've been through the horsepower issue and buy back, disappointing mileage, all of the recalls and other issues and now flooding concerns. I am very careful about warm ups and haven't had a problem although it is annoying to have all of these special rituals for a car!

The question I have to ask myself is am I making too many excuses for this car because I bought it and I won't admit it's seriously flawed and also doesn't stack up against the competition performance wise? At the time I purchased it I wanted a coupe sports car and this was what appeared to be a good buy but the appeal has worn off as I become more aware of its shortcomings and of competitive cars that may have cost more but delivered on the sports car promised. I am beginning to believe I was penny wise but pound foolish in buying this car.

The RX8's performance isn't good enough to compensate for the worries about oil consumption, flooding etc.. As I've said there are other cars that do not have these shortcomings that easily match or exceed the RX8's performance so why the rotary? I think Ford/Mazda may be seriously reassessing their committment.

It's a real drag to have these kinds of concerns about a car that promises to deliver fun and performance. I think I just need to steel myself to the fact that a high performance sports car will cost 45K or more.

i have no rituals and have never had this issue. many others as well

I didn't buy the car because of a sports-car promise, so I guess that's why I'm very happy still. I don't think I'll flood my car very often, having been through it once, and I can take both my sons around town in style; couldn't do that in a 'vette or S2000, and saved much money in that way.

I'm afraid it's the fuel consumption that is going to kill the rotary, slowly but surely -- about $800 per year extra from what I'd probably have gotten otherwise ($1500 over the Prius my wife wanted), adding to the cost each and every year. I'm glad I got one before they're gone, though... Zoom Zoom.

I hope this thread doesn't turn into a trash can for those who have decided to throw in the towel.
Statistically, there will be those who decide that the RX-8 is not the car for them. The "flooding issue" will support their decision to do so.
I have owned two brand new cars that have given me less concerns than this one - a Celica and an Accord. Whoopee! The flawed head casting in the Accord pissed me off pretty bad though. The Toyota shop had a mentality problem too. Come to think of it, they all (including Fiat and Dodge) had that problem...
This car is by far the most technologically advanced car that I have ever owned and it is doing quite well so far considering, IMHO. The "oil issue" is not an issue at all, my consumption is so minimal, it's simply not an issue at all. The recalls and reflashes and things like the oil pan replacement are no biggie and are also a good thing in that Mazda is continually improving this car, even after they sold it. Commendable, if you ask me.

As for the flooding issue... I have enough experience that I know that a flooded engine - rotary or piston - is a lousy situation. The rotary pros convinced me a long time ago that a flooded rotary is a whole lot worse. They said time and time again that it floods because it was shut down cold. Don't shut it down cold. I have never shut mine down cold and so far, I have never flooded mine. It still has the original plugs, battery and starter. I agree though that Mazda should be trying to totally eliminate this problem. I would think twice before putting myself in a situation where failure of this car to start would put me in a life threatening situation. I would first choose a car with a piston engine for that purpose. I guess. I still think that we have enough input here to conclude that flooding is caused by shutting it down cold though. If it floods anyway, there is probably something else abnormal going on with the car or the operator. This isn't quite rocket science, and it won't flood just because you don't like the car, or just because the car doesn't like you. Figure out what happened in your particular sitzenlehbehn, and deal with it.
I have still no "situations" with my RX-8. In one word, "sweet".

Car has flooded 3 times in 18months - each time after trying to restart after moving car a short distance on drive. Absolutely no help from Dealer ( Jennings of Middlesbrough UK). I had no info or advice on need for warm up and engine revving .
Engine set up checked and new plugs fitted on second failure.
Contacted MAZDA UK Technical Director and new starter motor and plugs fitted last week. He assures me that this solves the problem.

Hopefully, you will also start letting the car warm up after a short trip.

Hahahahahhaa
 

Mine is flooded like a MOFO right now. Had to pull plugs and still working on it ;-)

And yet they are so popular as hobbyist airplane engines... :suspect:

Well, mine flooded for the second time since August. I agree with an earlier post that I will not turn this into an -8 bash, but it is very disappointing to me that I know have to "wonder" if my car will start. I shouldn't think about that when I am getting ready to turn the key. But, enough of that. Have any of you heard about this?

When I picked up the car today and discussed the issue with dealer, they asked if I had received the DVD that explains this. i had not. They then told me what I had to do to prevent it and informed me that since I was notified of the preventive measure the warranty would NOT cover me in the future; I would be responsible for all towing, labor, and parts.

Have any of you heard of this? Is this actually possible? i am considering a letter to MazdaUSA since this reason alone would push me toward another vehicle AND manufactuer.

Jeff

If it helps at all, I agree fully with the warm up.

I have owned 3 Mazdas and IMO, they all run the same way when not warmed up before shutting down. The V6 KL03 can "cold flood" with the same symptoms as the Renesis.

As previously stated in this thread, spend a minute and warm the car up, get used to this and you'll have a reliable Mazda.

Yo, Ice Blue & CJW, can you let us know if the flooding was a result of the dreaded cold shutdown or not?

CJW, yeah, that gets brought up, then denied back 'n' forth a lot. Search. Last I recall, that issue was denied by MNAO, that they'll handle any flooding issue. Looks like you need to have a discussion with them. Then, get back to us with their answer - your turn.

As MEGAREDS noted, some dealers took the position this was a "user induced" problem back in late 2003 early 2004 but Mazda quickly backed off of that. I think this is the first post on this thread in a long time reporting a Mazda dealer saying that flooding is, once again, considered a non-warranty problem.

I would phone Mazda USA and request clarification. Neither the DVD, the current owner's guide nor the "Engine cranks but no start" TSB state that the owner is responsible for paying for a flood repair on a car under warranty. I think your dealer has overstated the current Mazda policy, probably because he is as sick of this issue as we are.

Racer X and msrecant,
Thanks for the info. I will do another search to see if I can find the info on the warranty items. I apologize for not doing that at the same time I searched the flooding issue.

I will get back as to what the dealer and MNAO say about honoring the warranty. I will "work" on ensuring I do not turn the engine off if it cold, but...I cannot promise anything. My '84 SAAB 900T used to say the same thing about allowing the engine oil to circulate before shutting down but I ran that thing into the ground with no problems like that.

Once again, i appreciate the feedback and will follow up as I find more info.

Jeff

Nice to be remembered. I wish I could find my letter (I believe I quoted it almost verbatim on one of these posts), but it did say what MSRECANT says it said. Mazda gave me written assurance that they would cover the repair and tow as often as it happened through the end of the warranty period. I took that as a generous position, since I had concluded that only materials and workmanship are covered by the literal terms of our warranties, and not any flaws in the car's design.

I strongly urge anyone who has been told otherwise by a dealer to contact Mazda NA and ask them to again clarify the "official position." No sane person would flood themselves on purpose; it's in Mazda's interest to keep this issue covered, at least as long as they want to sell rotary vehicles.

I'm a new owner of just over a week now and I can't find anything in the manual about shutting the car down. I was told by the dealer to let it rev @ 4000 for about 10 seconds and then turn the key. I was surprised though to not find anything in the manual about this. What does everybody else do? Do you do the same, or just rev it once pretty high before shutting it off? Also, do you do it everytime you take it out? For example, driving between stores in the same general areas (same lot even), do you still let it rev for 10 seconds? To date I haven't had any issues yet, though with a brand new car, I would hope I wouldn't either.

Only when the car's engine is cold is shutting down dangerous. My car warms up, even in the winter, after about 3 or 4 minutes of driving. If the engine temp needle is close to the center, you don't need to do anything special, and that should be the case 99% of the time. I know because my commute to the train station each morning is about 4 miles... it's never been a problem.

However, if you start the car, then move it only a very short distance, you are at risk of a flood. The better thing to do would be to drive the car a few blocks, get the temperature up, and then put the car where you want it and shut it down normally. If you don't want to drive the car, let it run where it sits until the engine temperature is "mid-line," then shut it down normally. Sometimes that may take 10 minutes on a cold day.

Some people have followed the procedure of reving the engine before shutting the car down, and then cutting the power as the needle drops from 3k or so on the the theory that the gas going into the chambers will be cut off while the chambers are still spinning, making the next start less likely to flood because there will be no gas from the previous time out. I think there is some official Mazda materials suggesting this, and I suppose it makes sense. I personally don't recommend it since it seems unnecessary; I've had no flooding problems since my first in Jan. '04, and that flood was classic: short move, engine cut off right away, cold rainy day, then the car sat for several hours.

One thing to keep in mind: if the car ever is hard to start, take it to the dealer to be checked out. A weak battery is death if the car even slightly floods -- the "deflood/pedal to the floor" procedure described in the manual designed to restart the car after a flooded engine will not work if the battery is weak.

It is not in the owner's manual. It is in the "Quick Tips" or the "Drivers's Guide" (depending on vehicle vintage), which is a separate small booklet that comes along with the owner's manual.

Check out https://www.rx8club.com/showpost.php...&postcount=954 for what to look for.

Amazingly enough, since the initial RX-8 deliveries to the US/Canada, Mazda has been pushing the same short-trip procedure. What changes are the listed consequences of not following the procedure which, to this day, still does NOT list "engine flooding" as a possible consequence.

MEGAREDS has nailed it in his above post. I have nothing to add, he said it all, and all correctly. Follow that advice and probably you too will enjoy a flooding-free RX-8 4 evar! Good job dude.