Does This Sound Like Flooding?
 

Hey there. I have a problem starting my RX-8. I suspect it is a flooding issue, but while I'm capable of performing basic maintenance I'm not a seasoned mechanic and I'd like some other opinions.


I have a 2011 RX-8 R3. Around 25k miles. I have been keeping up with all of the normal maintenance (mostly oil at this point). Two days ago I started the car. It ran for 2-4 seconds and then basically stalled out. I tried to restart and it cranks but won't catch.


The last time I drove the car was just to move it out of the garage to put my other car in. I'm usually very good about watching the red line and waiting for the car to warm up before turning it off, so I suspect I did this time as well, but just because of the timing there is certainly the possibility that I had a brain lapse this time.


In any case, I thought it may have been a flooding issue. From some comments on the boards, I did the "floor the accelerator and start it several times" thing and didn't have any luck. I got a jump from my wife's car to see if a little more battery would help (I'm still on the OEM) and while the starter was noticeably faster it didn't actually get the car started up.


So, the first question I have for everyone is - does this sound like a flooding issue? I know that it is a common problem, but I wasn't sure what the symptoms would actually look like and I don't want to keep trying things to solve the completely wrong problem.


The next question of course is what to do about it. Based on some of the reading I've done in the past couple of days it looks like I should have changed coils at 20k, which I did not. Will that help at this point, or is that just something that might help for next time? What else should I do to get it started, and is there anything else I should change when I do?


Thanks much for the replies.

Is it cold where you live? It is easier to flood them like that with a lot of cold temp enrichment

I would treat it like it is flooded....

Sort of
 

I live in PA. Last week was very cold and I didn't run the car at all (I have another winter car that I use). Yesterday was actually pretty warm and I tried again and no luck. I should have mentioned that in the initial post as well.

If you have the time, space and tools, you could try checking to see if your spark plugs are fouled. And if you have a method of testing the coils, that's also recommended. If there's an issue with any of the above mentioned, you'll need to replace!

Thanks
 

I was planning to replace everything at 30k miles, so I decided it is probably time to do it all now. I just ordered new plugs and the BHR coils, so I'll install all of that when I get it. I also plan to get a new battery while I'm at it - hopefully I can get that ordered tomorrow.


Thanks for the advice.

Let us know how it goes!

I actually believe my 09 r3 just flooded too. About to go try to deflood it. But, I was also wondering if BHR set is recommended set for Series 2 also. I know it's the most recommended for Series 1, but haven't heard many floods for Series 2 like us.

Still is recommended for the series 2. Even the revised OEM coils (B and the much more recent C iterations) that the series 2 cars got degrade over time, and should be replaced every 20,000-30,000 miles.

A car equipped with fresh/properly functioning OEM coils is no more likely to flood than a car equipped with the BHR kit, assuming everything else is equal. Aside from the superb fit and finish of the kits themselves, the main advantages of the BHR kit that make it so popular are (1) not having to replace the coils every 30,000 miles, (2) the plug-and-play nature of the kit makes for an easy install and alleviates the potential to get counterfeit or otherwise incorrect coils, and (3) superlative customer service.

My 2011 just hit 20K miles. I replaced with autozone geniune c coils and the car runs much better including better gas mileage . Paid around $100 for all 4 coils and wires