Unfortunely yes....but bought w/in past year and noticed problems, have warranty, tried to get them to fix, got run around.....so started researching...when we bought, just over 30k miles, told everything was just done, those of you who have changed your own plugs, noids, all of that....know they arent easy to reach...so since car started at first click of key when bought, no reason to think otherwise, figure had another 20k miles to go before needed major tune up.....well she wasnt flooded until she was at shop and they flooded her out, (was told by the honest guy) i yank her out to go to another garage, all they replace is O2 wires, cuz i told them they were hanging and i wanted replaced, they did nothing else, i did plugs, noids, wires, oil n all that....she was starting just fine...well kept her up for winter and now acting like flooded again! whats next??

 

was told rx8s hate cold weather....MI here....yet friend of ours has his out everyday of winter....and this winter got to be colder than last .....

 

Great thread and site. Loads of info!

 

I just unflooded mines today car sat for three months and tow truck driver turned my car on for a sec and turned it off fixed the problem by removing the fuel pump fuse and fuel relay switch

 

This is the standard method of recovery, but can still take a lot of turning over.

 

Just spent 680.00 new spark plugs etc and 40 tow to get it started.. 2 days later it died again, and took 30 min to get it started. They now say I may need a new starter, and suggested I had a dead spot in the starter. Owned it 3 months, grrrrrrr. They want another 800. It's a 2004.

 

Start is under $400, easily replaced. Plugs are $80, coils are $140 or less, wires are $60 or less, plugs wires and coils can be had for $190 shipped... (US prices). Please don't keep letting the dealer rape you on costs

 

So for all those having repeated flooding, or think they got a lemon. Just make sure EVERYTHING in the ignition and charging systems is in PEAK operating condition. In my case the ignition system was pretty much all new. The only thing left was the battery and the "chia pet" growing on the negative battery terminal. Even though the battery checked out fine i was still having trouble starting. So i replaced it and put a new terminal on as well. The car starts PERFECT now! I bought my 8 about 6 months ago and I am still getting to know her. One thing I have learned is the rotary is a fickle creature and small things can have a big effect. Even sub par fuel can have a big effect on your 8s drive-ability. An RX8 is not for the normal person haha, it's fore someone that LOVES to dode over there car and constantly fiddle with it. It's a beautiful car with a great price to performance ratio. However with anything there are trade offs and one of ours as RX8 owners is a fickle all be it amazing engine.

 

Okay, I've recently bought an 04 RX-8 with 138k on her. I was told that she may not have her original motor installed but is there any way to know for sure? Also, I believe the apex seals may be shot (low compression) She'll start to crank but won't turn over and will even backfire loudly. I've had the car de-carbed, plugs/coils/wires changed today and still the issue remains. The battery is fine and the Cat has been taken out but not replaced. I live in Tallahassee, FL and the local Mazda here doesn't seem to know much about rotaries. Is there something I'm overlooking? How much would getting the motor swapped or even rebuilt cost? I doubt it has a warranty. Any tips/advise on what to do next would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

 

make sure you have the updated starter. if your low on compression a rebuild is in your future, pm paul at mazmart. as far as the engine you can call mazda with your vin and if the engine was replaced by them there will be a record of it. also the remans have a blue tag on the front of the engine below the alternator iirc

 

Thank you very much. I'll be sure to give Mazda a call and look into Paul and this Mazmart. How does one check to see if their starter is bad though?

 

you can take the starter out and have it bench tested. my local napa will do it for free. if its starting the starter probably isnt bad but theres a newer more powerful starter that will reduce cranking time

 

I recently just had this done to my 2004, and had a 2006 faster starter put it. Took forever to get the service engine light to go off, and get all the settings on the computer to accept it, but it WORKED. No mor
e cranking when starting.

 

luckily, I have not experienced engine flooding so far. It is a 2005 RX8 GT. I however have experienced the failed coil just about 6 months ago, the dealer replaced 2 of the 4 coils, plugs and wires under warranty which Mazda extended specifically for this issue. I had to pony up the cost for the other 2 coils which didn't fail technically but were recommended replacing. Then last week my car failed smog check and I brought the car in to the dealership to replace the failed CAT under the 8 year/80K miles emission warranty. The dealer recommended to replace the starter since I experienced long crank time. Now the car has the updated starter and I've never started any car as quickly as my RX8 ever. This updated starter is awesome. It costed me a good $520 (with labor) though.
So my car is going to cross the 8 year mark in <1 month and will have 60K miles pretty soon. I hope the engine will hold up for a long period. Based on the tech's testing during this visit, the compression is fine at the moment.

 

this just happened to me as well. car was warmed up to operating temp. went to the gas station shut it off ( did not do the rev up before shut down) filled up gas. went to start it and just crank with nothing. waited about 10-15 min. cranked it for about 10 seconds finally hiccuped and started. it seems like the starter is not turning fast enough. does anyone know if later gens of 8s have better starters?

 

I flooded mine yesterday after shutting it off cold but I managed to let the engine starts after few cranks and depressing the gas pedal and take it for a spin and seems fine now....my question is do I have to change the plugs, coils etc? Just had a tune up 2 weeks ago replaced everything from coils, plugs airfilter etc.

 

this issue has been reported hundreds, myabe thousands of times in this form, and even so, so I'll still give you my two cents. First, you don't have to run the car for 5 mins before shutting, but you do have to run it for a few mins before shutting off. You have to make sure the idle has dropped and you can do this by observing the rpms etc.

This is due to the uniqueness of the engine. You can go to utube and search out the vid of the engine. But anyhow, if you flood the engine, you can do several things to recover youself without having to tow the car to the dealer to have the plugs pulled to unflood the car. First, when starting the car after the flood after the first attempt, only on the second attempt you can hold your foot to the floor on the gas pedal, and it's very likely that the car will blow out the excess fuel and start with a great deal of smoke and noise. If that doesn't work. Stop, because all you will do is wear down your battery and your starter. The next think you should do is open the hood, go to the fuse box, and remove the fuse to the fuel pump, you'll find it, it's the second one near the front, just follow the guide on the box. So, removve the fuse, then go start the car as you would normally. This should get you started. Once started, let it run for about 30 seconds, and then reinsert the fuse. Hope this works for you. It has worked for me on 3 occassions. BTW, I got the tip from a forum member. Best wishes to you and good driving the RX8.

 

you should be fine, but I would recommend you run your car harder than you would normally think you should be driving. The RX loves it. I mean take it up past 5k in 2nd and keep it there while you are driving in the mid speed ranges like between 20 to 55, 60 etc. The car loves to be run in the high rpms, as you can tell by the fact that it redlines after 9K. I say this little tip because the service manager pulled me aside two years ago and told me if I wanted to keep my car in tip top shape I should run it harder. Well, low and behold, I did that, the car likes it, as it keeps it sharper, more responsive, and it is more fun to drive. Gas mileage might drop 1 to 3 mpg's, but you likely didn't buy the car worrying about fuel costs, right? Enjoy the best car on the road!

 

My experience is that it must be cold temperature and just back out of garage or run extremely short time.

Now that my engine is at end of life 114,000 miles. It happens many more times even after running hot.
The best way to get it started: remove fuel pump fuse, crank until clear, than put fuse back in and start.

Usually can start by just having faith on first crank, keep cranking until starts.

When engine is at end of life, problem occurs when hot.
Helps if when you do following before shut down: rev engine for about 5sec at 6,000 and then turn key off while reving.

Paul C

 

I agree, except I've never done this when the engine is at running temperature, but always when it's below this temperature. I sold the car at about 160,000 km, rather than risk having to get a new engine, and reliability problems.

 

I had it happen once in 2 years of use. I followed what seemed to be a logical solution and it started and cleared itself out in about 2 minutes. I own a 2006 with 95k in Ontario, Can.

 

Flooded last Saturday night. Moved the RX8 so the wife could get her car out of the garage. Spent half the day Sunday trying to start by following the flooded start protocols. I finally got pissed and rolled it down the hill. Popped the clutch and off I went.

 

Floods are caused by a weak component somewhere.
Ignition, battery, starter, etc.
I've moved mine many times without incident.
I don't worry about it warming up, don't rev it before shut down, or any other mythical procedure that somehow prevents flooding.
Just like any other car I've ever had.
2 floods in over 4 years, a bad coil right after I bought it, and recently from a weak battery.

 

0 floods in over 13 years. Never shut down cold. Never. Flooding isn't a mystery. It's a known problem with rotaries, and it's just as real as your ability to routinely rev it up to 9k. If you want to learn why it's a problem with rotaries, it's explained here somewhere. Go look. The rotary engine is a very special animal. Learn to live with its issues as much as its benefits.

 

This has probably been covered in a few previous posts. But the RX8 needs to be run hard, and it is what keeps the engine in top shape. I finally got rid of my 2004 in 2015. Had original engine, and 232,000 miles on it. BTW, I had a 1988 RX7 which went for 325,000 and original clutch. So I can't wait to get my hands on the 2020 RX9. But about the flooding, best tip I ever heard was to remove the fuse under the hood for the fuel pump/injector, then start the car. Once running for a few mins, reinstall the fuse. Hang in there !