Racer X-8

NO!

Slow Death

Succinct, Racer X....

Maybe there's some1 else out there with a slightly larger vocabulary!

Racer X-8

Hey, did I juat get cussed at?

No, uh, maybe there's another thread that discusses that issue....

msrecant

This is a myth. No where does Mazda recommend running the engine for 5 minutes before moving the car.

loco4rx8

I just got the TSB stuff done to my car. My car was out of warranty before the TSB came out, so I paid for it out of pocket. I have never flooded the car, but it was often very slow to start, and I have some big road trips planned for September. This was for peace of mind as much as anything else.

The new starter/battery combo is awesome! I cannot believe the difference. I was actually startled by how quickly the car started this morning. LOL

For those of you who are still under warranty and don't have these upgrades, please go get them. It's free, and you won't regret it.

I have one question: Does anyone know what the warranty is for the new spec battery? I forgot to ask the dealer...

RedSheDevil

Good question about the battery. I don't know.

Mind if I ask how much the work was?

Go48

Uhh, here's what Mazda says about warming up the car. You should have gotten one of these with the car if you purchased it new.

loco4rx8

It's not cheap. I don't have the work order/receipt with me, but it was somewhere around $750 for new battery/plugs/starter/labor. I really wish this TSB had come out earlier.

RedSheDevil

Damn, I bet if you actually HAD a flood, you could have argued your way into having it done under warranty. I guess since it was more of a precautionary measure, they probably won't like that too much. <shrug>

loco4rx8

Even though I was fully aware that I was going to have to pay for it and willing to do so, they still asked me a bunch of questions about why I wanted the service done. It was like they didn't want to do it. I told them it sometimes takes 7 or 8 seconds to start and scares me when it does it, and told them about my upcoming road trips, and they finally agreed it would be a good idea to do the work.

Slow Death

Thanks GO48. Most helpful. Will try the de-choke right now.

No Racer x-8. You didn't get cussed at! LoL

Sorry that the chances are that I'd never be on line when you guys are - I'm based in Sri Lanka. But let me tell you this is a life line! I'm a rotary 'newbie' in case you didn't guess that already...

I guess this ins't the right thread to join about my car's problem. Anyone knows which thread deals with uneven running while the engine's cold... ?

tominavl

Ok everyone, I've owned my '05 since December and followed all the advice from the forums and the manual, I even roll the car out of the garage to wash it to avoid this dreaded flooding issue. But yesterday after running the engine for an HOUR on a drive to a great hiking spot, I turned it off. When I returned to the car a few hours later - it wouldn't start! No kick, just crank, crank, crank. After hitchhiking 5 miles to the nearest phone (I was in a national forest - ne cell service) and another 4 hours waiting for a tow through roadside service (NOT impressed, Mazda), I was finally on the way to the dealer - Skyland Mazda in Asheville, NC. And today my service manager confirmed the worst - the engine flooded. And he blamed the fact that I have been running regular gas lately. So they are cleaning the spark plugs and I'm back to normal (?) WTF???

Anybody out there with a similar experience? This doesn't seem to fit any previous pattern. Can regular gas really be the culprit? I doubt it, but I'd love to hear from others.

RedSheDevil

if you've gone through the trouble of getting it there for a flood ... they better have replaced your plugs, starter and battery under the TSB.

tominavl

Sorry Red,

I should have mentioned that this was a post-June 2005 build. So it already had all those mods in it. The weird part is it happened when warm after a 1-hour journey.

RedSheDevil

ok, then that is just weird!

zoom44

sounds like your plugs were fouled. the fouling could be cause by incomplete combustion of low grade gas . poor spark = flood. but keep an eye on your battery as well. maybe have it tested. how many miles?

msrecant

If TOMINAVL has a late 2005 build, then the TSB upgrades do not apply. All TSB upgrades are in cars built after March 2005. The TSB is then just a deflood procedure which includes cleaning/replacing the plugs, among other steps.

msrecant

Zoom,

Do you really believe that using regular gas fouled the plugs?

tominavl

It has only 5K miles. And the battery was cranking engine just fine. So maybe my being cheap on gas is the issue? Then I'll stick to premium! In my experience, fouled plugs would have shown me early warning signs, like rough idle, poor acceleration, bad gas mileage etc. None of these symptoms were present. Well, tomorrow I'll be picking it up and maybe I'll learn more...I still love my ride!

zoom44

low quality gas is what i meant- there is a bigger chance you get low quality gas with low octane than there is with higher octane gas.

CERAMICSEAL

When flooded sometimes they will crank even quicker as the compression is compromised by the excessive fuel and it's effects. This still could be brought about by a weak battery, so have it checked. Is your car auto or manual? I get the strange impression that you don't drive it very hard. Fouled plugs are most likely the culprit. Are most of your trips rather short? If this is the case you may be following Mazda's guidelines but still guilty of some of the traits that encourage a flood (The car seldom ever getting to 'full' operating temperature). These are, of course, just suggestions.

MX6_2_RX8

I'm not sure that I buy that theory. Why does low octane = low quality?

One could argue that most people buy regular so it is fresher.
One could argue that low octane ignites easier/ earlier in the stroke and therefore more completely.
One could argue that the manual states that you can use 87-90 octane with a slight reduction in performance - and based on experience I would say very slight.

I would be interested to know if you drive it hard some times and if the plugs were carbon fouled or fuel/oil fouled.

MidLife8

My 2004 VR Auto had a flood no-start after 14000 miles despite never having tasted a drop of gasoline with octane below 93. No regular and no mid-grade. Always the best stuff. So I would suggest use of low octane gas was not the only thing that was done wrong. I use it in tiptronic mode almost exclusively and run the RPMs up frequently. I would say that having the car sit for a week in intense cold conditions, albeit inside an unheated garage, let the battery run down a bit and that more than anything else resulted in the flood no-start for me.

zoom44

low octane does not mean low quality. but you have a higher chance of poor quality with low octane simply because many of the producers use s formulations that dont have all the oterh good stuff they stick in the hi octane stuff.

1. whether its "fresh" or not bad gas is bad gas

2. http://www.faqs.org/faqs/autos/gasoline-faq/part3/
low octanes do not always burn more completly than their higher octane counterparts. in fact much if not most of the "good" gasoline in hi octane form burns more completly- not because of the octane but becasue of the rest of the formulation

3. one could argue that. and again its not the octane but the quality. and also remember that in some areas (california for instance) you cant count on 87 being 87.

i would liek to know how his plugs are as well
im not trying to suggest that the low grade was the one and only cause of his trouble- only that yes indeeed it could be a contributing factor.

zoom44

i know this isnt a knock thread but just wanted to get this out there as it talks abotu having an 87 not be an 87
.