Hey guys:

I have a 2004 RX-8... 22k miles. Took the car for a spin and when I got back to my place, I turned the car off, and then all of a sudden smoke started coming out from the passenger side of the hood. I smelled burned oil and opened the hood but couldn't find any oil anywhere.

Some background info -- I just experienced my first (and hopefully last) flooded engine four days ago. Couldn't get the engine to start using the deflood procedure so I had to have it towed to Mazda -- great thing is that they fixed it for free even though they said it was not under warranty since it was due to driver error -- whoops.

I am going to take the RX-8 into the dealership Tuesday but if you guys have any suggestions, that would be great. I've learned a lot of great things and fixes on this car and would like to have some suggestions to help them fic this problem ASAP.

Thanks for any help,
-sjm

 

Guess: One procedure for starting a no-start car is to add a few cc's of oil through the vacuum ports for each rotor/chamber. (See page 7-8 of the "Engine Cranks No Start" service bulletin at the link below for more information and pictures.) The ports are on the passenger side of the engine and look like 2 little tubes, dare I say nipples, sticking out of the intake manifold. If the tech used that approach to getting your car started, he may have spilled a little oil on the engine and what you see is that dribble burning off. I suspect that if care is not taken when detaching the hoses from the vacuum ports, it would be very easy to spill a little oil. Or worse yet, he may not have replaced the plugs on the ports after doing that procedure.

Take a flash light and see if you can see any spilled oil and while you're at it verify that the port plugs are in place.

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