I bought my 2004 RX-8 just over five years ago. It's an awesome car and it was an incredible find. It only had 27 000 kilometres on it - that's under 17 000 miles. I now have almost 88 000 kilometres on the odometer as I run it daily and year round. Including snow.
When it flooded I was in a hurray to get to an appointment and as soon as it turned over I knew I was in trouble. Since I freelance with MotoIQ, I decided to share my frustration and joy. Take a look if you have time.

 

couple of things
1.there's no need to remove the fuse just press the loud pedal all the way to the floor
2.a healthy rx8 engine wont flood I've had 2 and never flooded either.
current has BHR ignition the last was stock i could start move out of the garage and shut them both down and they would fire right back up
3. there is zero need to rev it to 4-5k and shut it down(unless you want to **** the neighbors off)
4. um you know you don't have to and probably shouldn't use compressed air to remove the fuel right, you should be able to spin it free handed with the right tools an know how

also

if this is the spark plug that came out its no surprise you flooded it

 

Hi Sonicsdaman,
1. two schools of thought on this - pedal to the floor or pull the fuse. It's not hard to pull a fuse, so I do.
2. That's good. Others have flooded healthy engines, including me. I described how and why it was my fault. For the record I've also moved and immediately shut off with no issues - but the quirky part of me now goes around the block first. Flood a rotary, pick up some quirky habits to help ensure it doesn't happen again.
3. I don't have an aftermarket exhaust and have never irritated my neighbours. There's a discussion or two on this forum somewhere. Again, two schools. We're in different ones.
4. thought about the compressed air, could see no way that it would damage anything, and it seemed to help. I'd probably try it again if necessary.
5. Yup. Bad plugs and tired coils caused the issue. No question, I agree with you. The tune-up should have happened more than a year ago. Life got in the way and I didn't do what I knew needed to be done.
6. Phew, that was more than a couple of things.

Thanks for reading. Interesting points that I appreciate you sharing. There are lots of different perspectives and I can certainly learn from that. I'm glad you've never flooded your two RX-8's. Hope it never happens.

 

Yeah, +1 to everything sonic said.

2 floods in 4+ years here.
First right after I bought it, bad coil and carboned plug.
2nd a couple of months ago, bad battery, 3 years old.

I treat it like any other car without all of the mythical 'Rotary engine flood prevention procedures'.

(I pull the fuse also.)

 

nissannx out of curiosity do you still have the original 04 starter or did you upgrade to the 2kw?

 

Two school of thought is not an excuse for one of the schools being wrong The site does say "more signal, less noise"

If it flooded then it wasn't healthy. Maybe the engine was fine but not the ignition coils or spark plugs. That's like saying "I've thrown up while being totally healthy". It's a symptom.

 

Hi Loki, I did say that the engine was healthy - but that the ignition system was way past due. Sorry if that wasn't clear enough. In referring to the engine being healthy I was trying to clarify that there were not any internal issues causing grief. There was a symptom and the ignition system was the fix.

I'm not trying to create noise, LOL, but to talk about the RX-8. Flooding happens, usually it is owner/driver error and I pointed out was my problem. Not trying to hide that, and when it does it is often more challenging that a flooded piston engine. Are rotaries quirky - yes. Yet, I'm not the only RX-8 owner who does what I've described. Does it cause a debate - sure. Is it noise - I don't think so. Different approaches, debate and discussion is good.

 

Hi sonicsdaman,
Mine is still the original starter. I've had no issue with it.

 

New, redundant threads about topics that have been discussed a gazillion times, not so much.

 

Enjoyed reading you article and enjoyed the pictures. Your 8 looks very clean and rust free! I also have a Titanium Grey GT with the black/chaparral interior, but it was a rescue car is not as clean. Looks like you maintain your cars and I respect that. I remember when the NX was new. I remember going to the dealership and seeing them with my grandfather. The one I remember was a an NX200 that was blue in color and had t-tops. Very nice car. Somewhat difficult to find these days. Owning one is on my bucket list!

 

Thank you, mazdaverx7. Like you, I'm sure, I usually work hard to keep my cars clean and well maintained. Glad your rescued your RX-8 - it's a shame to see them overlooked.

I bought my NX new in 1992 and it was the NX1600 version. I've also owned 3 other NX2000's - red, blue, and white. My NX now has an SR20DET from a Nissan Pulsar GTi-R that, when it gets tuned, will be around 325 whp and spends more time on the track than the road. That's where the RX-8 gets more use!

 

Would love to see more pictures of your NX collection if you have any laying around. Those cars are extremely difficult to find where I live. They are either rusted away or trashed.

 

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