No spark tested but yes the engine is turning you can see the main crank pulley rotate when I try and start I’m actually in the process of trying to deflood right know. Removed both lower plugs and ESS is unplugged I also cleaned the ESS as well in this whole process

 

Just did a round of deflooding still dosent seem like it wants to spark would there be any other component that controls the spark

 

As far as I know. The ess tells the ecu when to shoot off a coil. The coil then fires the corresponding spark plug. Also the trailing plugs usually dont fire on startup. So are you checking the leading plug for spark?

 

This is true^ a faulty ESS will cause no spark. If the computer doesn't know where the engine position is it won't fire.

 

I have also replaced the ESS as well soo stumped as to why It refuses to start

 

Aftermarket or OEM? A scanner with some live data values would be very useful here. Is the wiring and connectors all clean and in good shape?

 

OEM coils and yes all the connections are clean and in good condition. What scanner tool would you recommend in this situation. I’m a bit low on funds now after all the parts that I’ve had to replace to insure that I had eliminated any faults i.e coils, battery, starter, plugs and plug wires. And the ESS is also OEM as well

 

Autel makes some decent quality lower end scan tools. An off the shelf scanner won't have all the capabilities I would want to diagnose this issue but at the very least Live data. If you have an engine speed signal on the scanner when cranking then you know the ESS is working and sending its signal back to PCM. Also make sure the reluctor wheel the ESS reads off of is clean and the sensor isn't dirty.

 

Yes the reluctor wheel and ESS are both clean I made sure of that. I had read that that could also cause issues so I cleaned them both before I dropped the engine in.

 

Have you cleaned the maf sensor and it's connector?
You said you tried a pull start. Did you put it in gear and keep pulling it letting the engine spin for a good distance. And make sure the key is on lol let it spin until it starts.

 

The connector yes the MAF no

 

There is maf sensor cleaner. Give it a good blasting let it dry and try it.

 

My 2004 rx8 randomly stopped starting. The night before I had it running solid and parked it in my garage. All of sudden it wouldn’t start. The battery connection is solid as I cleaned the terminals and replaced the battery. Still won’t start. Any ideas?

 

Did you check the fuses?

 

Is it cranking but just won't start?

 

I'm having an issue that is similar to several of you: Crank no start on cold, and crank hard start on hot. However for my particular issue, I have not found a solution on this thread, or else where.

I had a failing fuel pump, which was replaced. I thought this would fix two symptoms 1. Engine would die under heavier load (up hill driving) and 2. The engine would crank and not start easily cold, but much easier hot.

In the end the fuel pump only fixed the first problem. The engine cranking issue remains. No recent changes to the car. The car has high powered coils, cleaned MAF sensor, new air box, higher power starter, new battery and trickle charged to max weekly (The battery is very strong, as it doesn't drop under 11 Volts during crank) , new fuel pump, no CAT, no CEL... other then CAT... and new spark plugs (5 months old).

One other thing, the starter turns over pretty fast. So it's not slow. The crank speed is there. It feels like... there's not enough gas??

The engine still has about 90% power from when it was new. No sudden drop offs in power that I've noticed. Still runs well, after starting.

Here is the strange thing.... so I'm trying to start the car (cold) and my friend at work says "Try lightly touching the gas peddle when you crank, it's maybe something similar to V-Tech hondas when they get old"... and I was like "What the heck, why not" I was desperate to get the car started... and I tried it = VROOOOM! turns on. "That doesn't even make sense!?" The engine gets flooded with gas at cold crank, so why is asking for more gas, going to make it work better?

Once the engine is running, Oh things are great as usual. No complaints.

So... I'm thinking maybe the fuel injectors are clogged (too much premix???) but I run chevron and fuel injector cleaner at near empty for about 7 days now. Is it likely to be fuel injectors?
What are the symptoms of failing fuel injectors? what do I look for? if that's the problem, how do I clean them?

Because the engine starts pretty well on hot starts, I'm thinking this is less to do with lower compression numbers (Yes, compression is mid range - I have a tester) - there is still life in there. So it seems it's not the engine compression per say.

Could it be the starter ground?..... but then, the starter would be running slower, and its running just fine, if it was faster, I don't think that would make any difference. It's just marginally slower than it used to be, and a whole heck of a lot faster than my old series 1 starter. I'm inclined to thing it's not the starter.

Does anyone have any thoughts??
Thanks!!

 

What are the high powered coils? Pushing gas pedal some on cold start is interesting data point.

I see this in a Google search:

Let's Diagnose: Why Car Won't Start Unless I Give It Gas? Unlike other hard starting problems related to car battery, this trouble indicates that either the mixture of air and fuel is not igniting or the engine is receiving an insufficient amount of air and fuel for combustion.

Can you get any runtime diagnostics?

You could pull the spark plugs before (clean them) then right after an unsuccessful start and check for fuel. That might help eliminate or point to fueling as an issue.

 

Sounds like your air/fuel mixture is running too lean on cold start. By pressing the throttle you are adding more fuel to the mixture which is why it is starting more easily. I would guess running lean has to do with the CEL for the missing CAT.

 

I am using Trex Coils. Pretty happy with them.
I'll run a deep dive diagnostic next time I drive her.

I wonder where the fuel rail / fuel injectors are.... because there is a smell of gas in the cabin everytime I drive, wondering if I'm getting a leak somewhere. When I look afterwards, there is not smell or wetness in the engine. Weird....

 

The no CAT CEL doesn't appear until after I start the engine. And I thought that in "Limp" mode the engine would default to using more gas than normal?
When I clear that CEL the engine feels more powerful, and I get a lot less popping in the exhaust.

 

Smell of gas in the cabin might point to your recently replaced fuel pump. Worth a shot to look this over again

 

I have finally located the smell of the gas fumes. It's coming from my vents when I have the fan on.. I assume the air intake for the cabin fan, comes from the windshield wiper area outside the window, just behind the hood?

Smelling the engine, I can definitely smell gas fumes from the engine, near the oil filter.

Pretty convinced what's happening is the fuel rail / fuel injectors have gotten fouled over time and rather than delivering all the fuel, its leaking under the extra pressure, and that explains why the last fuel pump died, and why the hard starts on cold, and better starts on warm (while engine is still warm).

The next thing.... is.... where the heck is the fuel injector? how do I get to it? can it be manually cleaned? or can I use fuel additive to do that job for me?

Suggestions? - I'm sure a LOT of other folks are going through this problem, and maybe this solution will help more people down the road, then just me.

 

The injectors are under the upper intake. Not to hard to get to them. Your better off getting them cleaned by someone with an injector cleaner.

 

I've learned a little bit more that will be help other people experiencing the same problem. Rather than cranking the engine on and on and on, trying to get it to start. Try pressing the gas pedal to the floor at the start of the crank, for 2 seconds, then completely release the gas pedal.. and then touch the gas pedal about 5% down. The engine fires up pretty quickly.

Something about those ranges syncs up the firing... I believe full depression opens the air access to 100%, then pressing the pedal by 5% does something else... not sure, but that part is critical - the engine fires up much much easier.

Also people around my vehicle have all noticed my car smells like rich rich gas fumes... hmmm... perhaps what I thought was gas starvation... might be too much fuel and not enough air?

Spark plugs and coils are solid... so... if it's too much gas per air measurement ..... then.... maybe my MAF is not working? but then wouldn't it always be not working well? because when the car is running she RUNS REALLY WELL. No symptoms at all.... well... RPMs over 7K are not as powerful as they once where (90%), but only in second gear and up, first gear is totally fine (100%). Or it seems so.

 

previously bought a Mazda RX-8 2005 shikina edition 115k miles. though it was a nice car and was into cars and wanted to get myself into car culture. bought the car only to find out that the original owner was Hella sketchy and crazy. i have replaced the spark plugs ignition wires and coils. with my other friend that has a mazda RX-8 did this because it was throwing a misfire code. few months later its December car has sat in the garage for about a month without a start up. wont start now. replaced it with a 2006 rx-8 starter. sounded better start up when i did this. then tested the battery and AutoZone said it was dead and a bad battery. weird though because it had a 1/22 sticker on it. could of not been from that time though because of the sketchy owner. replaced battery and it still wont start. have tried starting it many times. one time today i was feathering the gas and it shot on and puffed huge amounts of smoke out the exhaust and then immediately died on me. wondering what people recommend i do?