bascho

I just bought by '05 Shinka two months ago.....and not only does Mazda supply a special owners manual supplement regarding the cold start issue, but the salesman brought up the fact of this condition several times. Anyone who purchased the 8 must have made peace with the cold start defect and loved the car anyway. It's a small price to pay to own such a unique automobile. If you are not willing to comply with this very reasonable condition, then sell your 8 and go buy a lower maintainence vehicle.

ECHO1

that because he had it for less than a year and flooded it twice, then posted that it sucks...

bascho

Same here. Michigan winters are no joke....I haven't had any problems starting so far this year. I have even started the car cold, driven to the gas station at the corner (less than 1 min trip, engine still cold), filled the tank and then restarted the car (cold) without any problems. I always rev the engine prior to shut-off....perhaps that is the key.

drumsmith

Guys:

I'm not here to whine, but I am disappointed. Add me to the list of Christmas day flooders...I have started my 8 and moved it short distances and cut it off plenty of times, and this is the first flood. Mine's an '03 build, and has 33k miles on it, so it's odd to have this problem for the first time. Luckily, the Mazda dealership in town opened up Monday and one tech came in, and he and I worked on the car for half a day to get it going. New Batt, starter, plugs installed under warranty.

My real question is this...has anyone else had the "fill the engine with transmission fluid" fix done to re-establish engine compression? Seems awful odd to me, and the engine still sounds different now, even though I drove it back home (280+ miles). Heck, the dealer did it, and said that's what they do to all the flooding 8's (which my tow driver comically referred to as his "money-maker").

icyur2

Although some response have been kind of mean, lets put things into perspective:

1 - When you bought the car, were you not TOLD by the salesman/woman/customer service agent how to turn off the car?

2 - If not, did you not receive a DVD about what to do with a ROTARY engine?

3 - Moving the car for short distances, whether it is warm or not, REQUIRES you rev it up to 4k, then turn off the ignition

4 - For regular trip, I normally wait 2 minutes for car to "warm up" (usually needs 4 min.), then go about normal drive, and turn off engine without having to rev it.

Basically, for users out there that are not familiar with rotary engine (I'm no expert), I've read that if you drive SHORT trip, to rev the engine to 4k, then turn ignition off. Otherwise, you can either wait till engine warm up, or as stated above, wait for 2 min., then go for a drive! Stop blaming the car for your problem, because it is the USER that is in control of the car, not the other way around!!

QBallz

The RX8 is Darwin at it's best! If you can't follow simple steps the car won't let you keep driving it.

sharward

I have never flooded a car. I know the proper procedure for shutting off the RX-8. However, I admit to shutting the RX-8 down while cold on a few occasions -- not because I didn't think it was important to follow the proper procedure, but because I forgot to. When that happens I usually panic and immediately restart the engine -- which has been successful each time (thank goodness) -- and then (usually) let it idle until the temperature gauge is off the "C" before finally shutting it down. I'm not sure if this "panic restart" is a good idea or not, but so far I haven't regretted it.

For 20 years I've driven cars that do not require any special shutdown procedures. It's a hard habit to start.

I'm not whining (really!)... I just wanted to share some perspective and suggest that many who flood may not be "ignoring" the shutdown procedure, but rather, are "forgetting" the shutdown procedure. There's a difference between stupidity and absentmindedness.

Sephiroth

well said


Sometimes i wish mazda could financially justify marketing a rotary only to those who've owned rotaries before. Then we could avoid all this complaining bs.

khtm

Oh man...that's classic. That post should be a sticky unto itself.

"Mazda RX-8...weeding out stupid people since 2004"

bascho

F the sticky....that should be printed on t-shirts.

khtm

How about:

"The rotary engine...confusing idiots since 1967"

Deslock

There are five flooding cases:

1. no one told you about the cold-engine shutdown procedure (you have every right to complain about this one)
2. someone else flooded your car (may be their fault, may be yours)
3. you forgot the procedure (it's your fault, but you get sympathy)
4. you ignored the procedure (it's your fault and you deserve contempt if you blame car)
5. car flooded despite following the procedure (doesn't happen anymore often than with piston engines, so it's a non-issue)

Sign me up for a darwin rotary t-shirt

ultradave

Well, it does happen. I've moved mine in the driveway a number of times and before shutting it off cold, revved it to 3000 RPM for several seconds (5-10) and been able to start next time - no problem. Twice though after driving 25 minutes home from work, I've been unable to start up the next morning. First time - flooded. Flooded start procedure won't work - towed to dealer. Second time, last week, same 25 minute drive the night before - wouldn't start the next morning and the weak battery probably caused it to flood. Towed to dealer again. New battery with more power. This is only twice in 16 months so it's just a bit annoying now but not a big deal.

Hey my last sports car was a Triumph, so this is still 100x better. :-)

Dave

RotaryGoober

Grow Up. ...This is a real problem. ...Just because you have figured out how to avoid it doesn't mean that it isn't a problem. A tech I spoke with had 5 floods waiting for him when he opened after the cold snap last week. It's really quite juvenile that some poor bastard vents about his 30k car that won't start and morons come out of the woodwork piling on that he's uneducated and at fault. Give me a break. ..Grow up

RotaryGoober

Can you imagine if this was a Lexus automobile and there was a flooding problem with say.. an RX duh 300? How would the dealership approach the issue?? *..You are at fault because you didn't warm up your car and rev it to 3k and then return to idle and then shut it down?* ...What do you think the reply from that customer would be? .. Look at this from outside the fishbowl instead of inside... such a closed mind...

Sephiroth

Really can't, toyota hasn't a clue about what is fun to drive. Never have. All they know is $$$.

People read their damn manuals = flooding is a non-issue. It's really not a problem with the latest flashes.

RotaryGoober

Tell the 5 folks that were waiting outside Rick Case Mazda that it's a non-issue.. ...Actually my question was.. *what would the Lexus customer say to having to warm up the engine, then rev it up for a few seconds to prevent his new vehicle from flooding* ?? Do you actually think that someone who buys a luxury car is willing.. hell.. I answered my own question. .. It doesn't matter if Toyota doesn't make *fun* cars to drive.. I just hope that the sales for this month aren't lower than last.. What was it?? 880 something.. and you tell me that flooding is a non-issue.. It's a major cause for poor sales. ..Look.. we all want this vehicle to continue. Mazda needs to step up and treat their customers the way a high line brand would treat theirs. It's not the customers fault for the quirks of this engine. Owners should be given the red carpet treatment as they bought the flasgship of the Mazda line. ...It's time for Mazda to step up.. and for the goobers.. Grow Up...

sharward

Hopefully the flashes have addressed the majority of the problem.

I don't think anyone is denying that there is a flaw in the design that is to blame for the "flooding proneness."I think in the case of the RX-8 and its flooding issues, it's a combination of B and C.

Some people have the opinion that this flaw is so severe that it warrants the car to be unbuyable or unkeepable, and they are entitled to that opinion.

Others have the opinion that this flaw is an inconvenience, usually minor in that the workaround must be dutifully exercised, and that it falls into a category of "quirkiness" that hardly matters in the grand scheme of things, and they too are entitled to that opinion.

I think the contempt being expressed to those of the former opinion by those of the latter opinion is in direct proportion to the passion in which the former opinion is expressed. In other words, the more one considers the flaw to be unacceptable, the more the other considers the complainer to be an idiot.

Mac vs. PC (Windows). Linux vs. Windows. Ford trucks vs. Chevy trucks. Now it's RX-8 vs. all the other cars without this quirk.

The whole thing (both sides) is rather tiresome actually.

DarkBrew

Yet the thread intrigued you enough to respond!

therm8

If it's an issue, it's a self imposed one. The cars rarely just flood without provocation. Rotary engines have a natural tendency to be more likely to flood than a piston engine. It's the nature of the beast. It's due to design. A limited amount of research, prior to purchasing one, would reveal this. Newer, more capable engine control greatly overcomes this tendency, however.

People bitching that their car flooded because they didn't follow simple instructions will get no sympathy from me, ever. Particularly when they blame Mazda for it. What's so bloody hard about reving the engine to 3k for 10 seconds before shutting it off cold, or just spending 5 minutes driving around. The laziness of human beings never ceases to amaze me.

Sephiroth

1. Comparing Lexus to Mazda is stupid. Mazda is not marketing the RX-8 to be a luxury car. Better yet, go buy your lexus and jerk off to the great service.

2. Flooding is nothing new with rotaries. My old 7 will flood if i make it. It doesn't flood because i don't let it, and even if it does, i know what to do about it. I don't get on forums and start bitching about flooding. People can do the same if they read their manual.

3. If you feel flooding is somehow a way of mazda mistreating you, you need to sell your car and end yourself.

4. Last i heard the RX-8 is performing according to mazda's expectations sales-wise.

ECHO1

this coming from RotaryGoober somehow strikes me as amusing. i've never owned a rotary prior to the rx-8, and in the 2+ years i've owned it, i've/it's never flooded.

khtm

Sigh.

The problem is that North Americans are getting lazier and lazier. We drive more A/T than anyone else, because we HAVE to be able to talk on our cell phone, eat a Big Mac, and yell at our kids all while driving. We're used to cars that start themselves, are voice activated, can find a restaurant for us, and even massage us while we drive.

Now when a car comes along that requires a little ATTENTION (see: reading the FRICKIN' MANUAL), and it doesn't operate like all other cars, simply by its design (see: ROTARY ENGINE), all the lazy North Americans freak out.

sharward

Yes, it did, to lend some perspective about the "sometimes we forget the procedure" aspect, and then again as what I hope(d?) was a voice of reason to diffuse some of the disrespect beiing shown here on both sides of the issue.