My Rx8 has been having starting issues and I am most certain it is spark-plugs and the old start. It starts slow when its hot(Its not bad compression, I ruled that out)
Now the weird thing is
When she is warmed up and I turn her off to get gas or something and I turn her back on after 5-6 mins It takes forever to start. But check this, my friend and I were doing some driving and what not but at one time I stalled. Here I am thinking great, it'll take forever to turn over, but no. She fired right up.

Why is it when I turn her off regularly she takes forever to turn on.
If I stall her, she fires right up.

More details:

I usually start her in neutral but when she stalled I started her in 1st gear. Can that make a difference?

I'd love if she could start like this all the time lol

 

How did you rule out compression? What were your results?

When's the last time the plugs were changed?

When's the last time the coils were changed?

When's the last time the wires were changed?

How many miles do you have?



What gear you have it in doesn't matter when you start it.

 

Last time coils, wires, and sparks were changed i haw no clue. I pulled the coils and they look fresh. Car was flooded, so im guessing sparks are drenched in fuel?
It has 89k miles on first engine

 

if it was ignition related it would probably be giving you a misfire code and CEL. if it's not, it is probably compression related..

 

what part of the country you live in??

 

thing is, when its taking its time to turn over the CEL is flashing. From my knowledge, flashing CEL=misfire and if i put 2 and 2 together the misfire is keeping my car from turning. I believe after a nice passionate ride even if I stall or turn the car off then it should turn on right away but if I turn it on, let it warm up then turn it off then try to turn it on it takes a long time to turn over.

My results for compression were around high 7 and low 8

 

the reason i ask your location is that if you are in a hot climate *(like me in miami) you could be experiencing "vapor lock"....

just saying...

 

If you do not know when the ignition parts were last replaced then doing so would be a good place to start. The coils can often "look" okay and be bad. If your car has flooded then that would be a good place to start. As much as people like to go on about rotaries and flooding, this car is very good about not doing it unless there is an underlying issue. Find out what starter you have as well.

 

I agree with Mr_Pieper.

G-ReX and I just did a fresh ignition install yesterday on my car. I wasn't having issues but I bought used and also didn't have any clue when the last time the ignition was changed so I aired on the side of caution and just did it. Now I have a spare set for backup. From what you explained, sounds like you need new coils, wires, & plugs. Easy job and you can get the full setup on eBay for around $250. Check out my DIY album here on the forum.

Anthony

 

if the CEL is flashing and then stays solid after starting then you probably have worn plugs that are fouled, bad ignition wires or a faulty coil. you may even have a slew of any combination of the above, which is why many people just replace everything as a set.

when i run into the problem first run the code to find out which rotor is misfiring which will point you to where in the ignition the problem lies.

then i move on to testing the ignition with a timing light while cranking, test all 4 plugs and figure out which are not sparking, trailing plugs are lazy and take 2-3 seconds before they actually begin firing.

you can use the above method to troubleshoot and replace only the faulty components if you want to only address the issues as they arise instead of spending $300+ on a full ignition set.

the 2 leading ignition circuits are the most problematic and cause the most grief with random starting and stalling issues.