Kylixz

My 2004 Rx-8 now has approximately 75,000 miles on it. Still runs great! However this morning I had a problem which I am a little worried about.

The car was sitting in the garage and had been sitting for about 4 days. I checked the oil. Looked good. Went to start the engine--it started and before I could think to shut it off it just sputtered out. I've tried a few times to start it, but its a no go. Even attempted the flooded start procedure but that was a no go as well. Anything else I should try? Any ideas as to what may be the problem? I hope my oil pump isn't bad and I just killed the engine... urgh.

Thanks much,
Steve

Old Rotor

Please give us some more info on your car, all we know is it has 75K on it. What mod's, service its had, plugs ,filters, TSB's, A/T or M/T....etc. All those things that might help us help you.

DarkBrew

"And before I could think to shut it off...."

Why? Please describe what was happening.

nycgps

iTrader: (1)

Coils & Plugs & Plug Wire.

VOODOO8

Maybe nothing more than condensation / bad gas that caused the car to stall on start-up. Gas problems can show up more in some areas than others, you don't say where your from so no idea if this is a more or less likely explanantion for your issue.

Also no way to make an educated guess but I would hypotesize that you may also have a flood condition on your hands now since you had an aborted ignition sequence.

Kylixz

Mods: None
Location: Maryland
Transmission: Manual
Have had all of the TSB's done to my knowledge.

I make a two hour trek at least every 2-3 months to get regular service done on the vehicle. (Which includes changing the oil even though I do it myself). So I try to keep the vehicle in good condition. I actually was about to take the vehicle in as it feels like the clutch might need to be adjusted/replaced. Haven't really worried about that yet though.

Anyway, when I started the engine it just sounded extremely rough. Not necessarily detonations or grinding, just running **** poorly. Started at about 3k rpm and puttered down to 0 in less than 5 seconds I would say.

I'm guessing it is the plugs compounded by the weather here. I had the usual "hot cocoa" on the dipstick when I checked the oil. So potentially condensation due to weather?

I've tried pulling the fuel pump fuse but obviously after trying to sweep out any fuel the battery is losing a little oomph. My next attempt this weekend will be to pull the plugs and examine them and determine if they need to be cleaned/replaced.


I need to look at the last time I had the plugs changed but I'm guessing it was at least 15,000 miles ago.

Also, I forgot this--which I smacked my own forehead about. I started it up 4 days ago (after driving it) as I thought I would be driving. I shut it off just as the temp/water temp gauge started to creep along thinking that would be plenty warm. Guess not!

Anyone else have any input or solutions? After recalling this I'm guess it was a psuedo flood which has fouled the plugs.

Kylixz

Just pulled a plug to check them... guessing THIS is the cause of my woes:





New plugs or clean?

DarkBrew

The photos are a bit blurry but the colour doesn't look bad... I've seen worse.
Do you have a battery charger? Have you checked the coils? What did the other plugs look like?
See my plug pictures here

Kylixz

I'm charging the battery as I write this and will try to start the car in the morning. I cleaned the plugs pretty thoroughly and replaced the properly with thread protector. I tried cranking the engine a bit... but the battery needs to be charged really. Still no go. Haven't checked the coils yet. That will be on tomorrow's agenda. The other plugs were similar, although the leading plugs seemed to be in slightly better condition.

Thanks for the pictures! They're great! Ideally I should get new plugs--but I thought perhaps cleaning them would resolve the issue and then I could limp to the dealership. Hope the problem is just flooding/coils/plugs!!!

Thanks guys,
Steve

nycgps

iTrader: (1)

Are you sure ?

his pics are burry but Black is not really a good sign compare to your brown-ish ...

he should just replace his plugs .... Leading plugs are like 10 bux each and trailing are about 20 bux a pop shipped .... hmm

60-ish bucks will buy u another 20-30 K of worry-free rotarying ~~~ Come on, hit the online buy button already !

DarkBrew

I'm sure he'll buy the new plugs anyway. I was confining my remarks to troubleshooting the no-start condition; The plugs didn't look bad enough to cause it.
BTW, I bought my plugs, coils and wires as preventive maintenance...

dannobre

iTrader: (3)

The plugs don't look wet...they would be shiney black...and stink like gas

you might want to look around....

Kylixz

I charged the battery for a long while and after holding the pedal down and cranking it several times, I let the pedal up and cranked it. The engine did a little "blub blub" and tried to turn over on its own but failed. After that back to no start.

Anyone have an recommendations for other steps to take? I've heard there are ports on the engine which you can inject washer fluid into?


Also, I am going to get new plugs, wires, and coils. Mazsport a good place to go?

Thanks again,
Steve

DarkBrew

I think that you can inject some oil into the plug holes with a syringe to de-flood. Grab the de-flood tsb bulliten from finishlineperformance.com
My parts came from finishlineperformance.com and racingbeat.com but some members suggest cheaper alternatives

dannobre

iTrader: (3)

Push it Pull it...tow it's damn ***.......it'll start :