Deflooding an auto is a pain in the ass, you just have to make sure you have a good battery and starter and just be patient. It seems like it will never work and then all of the sudden it comes to life. If you had a manual you could just push start it easily. You can push start and auto I think but it's not really recommended.

Get her going
 

I didn't think it would take so long to get a car going, that has spark, fuel/air, and good compression. Who gives a sh!t if its a shinka, most shinkas I've run across are beat to hell and have more stickers than hp. About the starter, they're simple to fix too, read some DIY anywhere on the WORLD wide WEB and pull it, use that same carb cleaner/contact cleaner/acetone whatever the hell and clean the inner copper coils around the bendix drive. I did this for my mazda6s a little while back because the clutch wearing down caused a ton of debris and carbon build-up inside that would cause it to whine real loud after it sat for a bit. If you can walk to work 2 miles, take a day off, walk to a shade tree mechanic ask him to blast your plugs for 5 bucks and have HIM check the porcelain for cracks. An engine is just a big hunk of metal that needs a few things to get it firing, so figure it out and post some positive results so I can finally say GOOD JOB.
For now goodluck and driving your car 2 miles is horrible for everything, your seals, oil, anything rubber, never gets the chance to either get splashed with "hot viscous oil" or warm to soften the rubber ( leading to cold cracks ) and even if you run it for 10 minutes idling is bad, if you plan on parking it 5 minutes later. A civic to me would be a good choice :P Hell I drive a little nissan hardbody in bad weather and keep the 8 looking great :)

Thanks milk, I am going to take the starter to a parts store for testing, it sounds terribly weak and is likely my problem and I'll try to find a small mechanics shop that will check my plugs more effectively than just a spark test. I can't find any information spraying anything on or in the starter motor to fix it, so not sure what your talking about in that part.
And that makes perfect sense about the short distance, but I lived 20+ miles from work until recently, so the 8 only made a few weeks of trips to work. I'm in the market for a beat up vehicle right now and have wanted to get one for daily commute anyway.
Another thing that I've read on flooding threads is that the dealership changes the oil EVERY TIME they get a flooded 8 brought in. Didn't find any information relating to the oil having to be replaced to fix the issue though. Is this something that could be causing my problem or just one of those things that dealerships do to charge more money?

And you couldn't be more right 9k, deflooding this AT has been absolute hell

Keep in mind that the starter may be weak but it shouldn't matter much during hot starts.
I'm still on the original starter and it is extremely slow but starts my car every damn time even with my tiny 17lbs battery.
That's because as long as the compression is good and you have good coils the car will start.
If you're still on the original coils and wires that may be the real issue after you get the car properly deflooded. Engine compression is a pretty common issue on the first AT (4port) as well unfortunately.
Even if you don't plan to change the engine get the compression properly tested to know if it's time to start saving or not :)

I just spent the past 40 minutes reading about blasting spark plugs...every site/forum/thread/video that I read or watched said absolutely do not blast iridium plugs, most strongly suggested not attempting to clean them by wire brush either. I sprayed mine with ether and used a tooth brush.

:beerchug:UPDATE: It started last night. I cleaned the plugs, coils and put some dielectric grease in the wire boots, cranked it and cranked it using the pedal to the floor deflood. Figured I had nothing to lose, and after 5 battery charge cycles, it sprang to life and died immediately. Took another full battery charge after that and it started, I was able to get some rpm going before it died and it's running great. It smoked for about half an hour, took it for a drive and no problems at all. No check engine light, but I'm going to get the battery tested and ECU scanned just to be safe. Going to replace the wires and coils too. I cleaned off my starter and was going to have it tested, checked the part number, and it's a N3Z2. Mazda told me that my vin number did not have the TSB performed, so I suppose the previous owner replaced it himself or had an independent mechanic do it. Such a relief. Spent $0. So glad I didn't give in and get it towed to the dealer. A compression check and ECU flash will be coming in the near future though just in case.

I told you, you just have to be patient. Deflooding is a pain in the ass and can take forever but every time I have done it the factory method has worked. We had a local member who flooded her auto (only girls drive autos) in a parking garage with not outlets for a battery charger. It took almost a full day to finally get it started.

mechanic at mazda said he wouldn't recomend k&n air box filter ,as the K&N comes with a coat of oil all over it .he said it will harm your intake sensors. If going K&n go with the whole cold air system.

I am going throught the same problem but not flooding all I did was change plugs and replace them with new ngk ,now it is hard to start !! before with old burnt ngk plugs (and I do mean burnt the spark plugs were melted or eaten almost completly) the bad plugs it would fire up first time everytime !!! and yes plugs and wires were replaced in correct position

I didn't really want an AT, But it was down to the AT that I bought in immaculate condition, or a MT 04 with more miles and needed work for $2,000 more than the AT. How could I not get the "girl" 8? I paid $2,200 less than NADA trade in!!! I'm ok with it being AT for that deal.

planning on a k&n ram intake system eventually, but don't have the funds right now. After reading thousands of thread posts on this site, I've learned that IDGAF what most mazda "professionals" say about the 8. If the oil on a k&n box filter would damage the intake, wth wouldn't it do the same on every vehicle? Just sayin...

No.

No.

Yes.

:scratchhe

No.

no what?

The K\N ram air intake sucks (hot air). It's absolutely a no go for our cars.

So is there a good cold air intake for rx8 or best to stick with factory ?? And how are all these mazda rx8 being modified so much to race on speed channel super fast ?? BIG BUCKS I GUESS

Don't ever post again.

But then again why spend all that money trying to tune engine when you gotta buy new one at 100k miles if you make it that far??????/?/

I told you not to ever post again. Stop it.

Its a cheap car for the money and fun to drive , but no reliability ,I wish I would have known this before making payments 7 years that its going to fall apart piece by piece. and to top it off now the heater control unit is going out ,if i can't do it with this diy quick fix by soldering the panel ,It's gonna cost over 500$ just to get ac/heat again !!!!!!!

Priceless!

I told you to stop posting, that's an order.

I am a rx8 owner and a registered member here !!! I have not had one positive helpful replie from anyone here sinse I join this site , I will post as much and as often as I like as long as I own this car !!