danthevan

Hello, I am new to the forums but I am in desperate need of help.

I recently purchased my 2004 Mazda RX8 from craigslist like 3 days ago (Yes I know i made a mistake) anyways, the mistake has been made and now I have to deal with it. Basically I drove the car home from deltona which was like an hour drive, where I purchased it and it drove perfectly fine. Anyways, I got home and left the car in my drive way. The next day when I went to pull it out to take it to get an oil chance, I noticed there was a puddle where the car was. Turns out there was an 8 inch crack in the radiator. I replaced the radiator (through pep boys) and now my engine doesnt even seem to crank. Before I replaced the radiator my car was running fine, and now it wont crank and i here a little hissing sound coming from the right of the hood when i put the key in the ignition. Also I think there is coolant leaking from the engine. Can someone help me, let me know whats wrong if they have any idea.

Its an automatic with 91,000 miles, if that helps. Thank you.

danthevan

Could the engine be flooded?

HiFlite999

iTrader: (2)

First, this is not an engine tuning problem; the post should be in "troubleshooting".

By "I replaced the radiator" do you mean that you did the work or someone else did?

Putting the key in the ignition with the door closed should do absolutely nothing. What happened when you turned to to "on"? What happened when you turned it to "start"?

Mostly likely though, the radiator was leaking as you drove that hour. Running with low coolant for even a few minutes will fatally warp the engine, opening the coolant seals or worse.

StealthTL

iTrader: (1)

Moved and re-titled.

danthevan

Pep boys replaced the radiator for me in order to do a pressure test. I didnt understand entirely what they said but they tried telling me i need a new motor and it was going to cost me almost 5,000 dollars. When i turned the car to on, i heard a soft buzzing sound, and when i turn the car to start i hear the ignition trying to crank, but it just fails. Like the engine wont start, it gets really close but wont completely start. I drove my car to pep boys fine, and now i get it back and it wont even start.

Can you let me know what it could be? Could it be the spark plugs, maybe a flood? Or is pep boys acurate when they say I'm going to need a brand new motor.

HiFlite999

iTrader: (2)

The buzzing sound is the fuel pump = normal. The ignition doesn't crank the car, the starter does. If the engine goes round and round but doesn't fire, pull the spark plugs and inspect. Odds are they will be wet and smell of coolant. If so, and I suspect it is, then your engine is toast. A rebuilt with labor will be at least $3k. If it smells of fuel only, then it might be flooded, so look up the de-flood procedure and try that. If that doesn't work, have a compression test done by the Mazda dealer who has the equipment to test a rotary. (A standard compression test may detect a catastrophicly failed engine though). Pep Boys is not the best place to get such work done for a rotary by the way.

Bladecutter

Pep boys is not the most reliable source for automotive repair needs.

First off, you have had the car for 3 days.
Lets get some common issues explained to you, so you can try to make more educated decisions at this point in time.

Lets start with this very apt thread:

https://www.rx8club.com/rx-8-discuss...t-here-202454/

Read the whole thing.

Then, answer the following questions:

How old are the spark plugs, ignition coils, and spark plug wires?
If you don't have an answer for that, you need to replace all of them, right now.
Go to Advance Auto Parts, and buy all the parts you need there. Look around the internet for coupon codes that will decrease the cost of the parts. I bought all of them a couple months back for well under $180, but I broke my order into a couple of parts to decrease the overall cost, yet still get free shipping.

Next up, you might need to replace your starter/battery with more powerful units.
A faster spinning starter increases compression slightly when cranking, which helps reduce no-start situations, and flooding of the engine.

Third, you might as well take your car in for a compression test at a Mazda dealer.
Since your car is an '04, you no longer have the extended engine warranty in effect. Had you done some research before you bought an RX-8, you might have avoided this car if you could have read about all the issues it has.

Read the above thread.
Make some informed choices.
Replace some parts.
Test the compression.
And good luck.

BC.