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Car's dead or so I'm told

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Old 02-02-2008 | 10:03 PM
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Angry Car's dead or so I'm told

Well today I have a luvly surprise. My friend who was working on my car's body was blowing up my phone for some reason, I finaly called him back and asked what was going on. He said "Yeah your bumber is on we are just doing the final touches and your car wont start man.". I just grumbled to myself and thought "Great they flooded it I know it!" I asked what he meant and what was going on. He just said they where able to get it started in the morning after a few tries but after that it just wouldnt turn over. I eventually get over there and after talking to Chrism try a few deflooding tricks. No dice she still wouldnt kick over.

After a nice luvly talk with MazdaRoadSide Ast. (which where great btw) I got a tow truck to come on down. She's being hauled to the miserable dealership called Mazda Gallery.

Chrism believes the engine is dead, and I agree. Hard to explain the sound but it sounded as if you took that few splits seconds of noise of when the car is attemting to start and amplify it by alot and spread it out over 10 seconds oh plus add in a slight hint of a death moan and you have the sound the engine was making.

I'll be keeping you all apraised of the situation on this 'cause if I lost compression all together I'll be the first to have a engine replaced due to it this far north.
Old 02-02-2008 | 10:08 PM
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nah kev rotten42 in canada had 3 replaced.....but it sounded just like lil benny's car when he lost compression in his rotor....kind of a distinctive sound a bit different than a flooded car....i just honestly hope im wrong but from the symptoms i dont know bro
Old 02-02-2008 | 10:16 PM
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Wow, that sucks! This has been a rough winter for your car, man!
Old 02-02-2008 | 10:31 PM
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Suck!

I hope the best for you.

What year and mileage?
Old 02-02-2008 | 10:32 PM
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Your not that far north of me. I'm at latitude 41.9 and Boston is at 42.1. I've had to replace 2 engines.
Old 02-02-2008 | 10:35 PM
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04 auto
Old 02-02-2008 | 10:37 PM
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yesterday morning my car scared me, it took me almost 5 seconds to turn on the car. im still dont really know how to deflood the car yet, so ill be in a big trouble if it floods
Old 02-02-2008 | 10:44 PM
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Originally Posted by the stig
yesterday morning my car scared me, it took me almost 5 seconds to turn on the car. im still dont really know how to deflood the car yet, so ill be in a big trouble if it floods

I'd be checking your battery and alternator then....first thing tomorrow.

If it was me of course.
Old 02-02-2008 | 10:49 PM
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Originally Posted by Mazurfer
Suck!

I hope the best for you.

What year and mileage?
2004 with just over 51k.
Motor Mounts have been replaced and Cat replaced shortly after buying her at 31.5k (mind you the CAT was replaced after the recall was performed and given a pass).
Coils have been replaced recently as of about 2k miles ago.
Mileage varies from a all time high of 22mpg to a all time low of 8.4mpg. lately I've been getting 12mpg on avg.
Old 02-02-2008 | 10:52 PM
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Originally Posted by Mazurfer
I'd be checking your battery and alternator then....first thing tomorrow.

If it was me of course.
how should i "check" the battery? and alternator? battery see if both end connected well? and how am i suppose to do a check on the alternator? TIA
Old 02-02-2008 | 10:56 PM
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What would they have done to blow the engine....Not likely anything...so you are probably really flooded. The engine will sound really strange with no compression.

Is it a manual or Automatic? If it's a manual you will have an easier time....you can just pull it till it starts.

If it's an auto..you will have to do the pull the fuse/ plugs...blow out the fuel...inject a bit of ATF into the ports type start...trust me it is a PIA...but it will work if you do it right and persevere. just be careful that you don;t overheat and toast your starter
Old 02-02-2008 | 11:12 PM
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Originally Posted by the stig
how should i "check" the battery? and alternator? battery see if both end connected well? and how am i suppose to do a check on the alternator? TIA
1.) Put a voltmeter on the battery without car started and it should read at least 13.2 volts. If it reads low...then get it tested.

If you don't have a meter, and have an Autozone close by, you might get them to read it for you.

2.) Put a voltmeter on the battery terminals while the car is running and it should read about 14.7VDC, If so then alt is fine.
Old 02-03-2008 | 01:02 AM
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I'm going to have to agree with the flooding crew on this one. When a rotary gets flooded it's pretty scary sounding. It's like you have zero compression or the motor is totally disconnected from the starter. It just spins effortlessly. It's a little unnerving. Good luck and pray for flooding.
Old 02-03-2008 | 01:22 AM
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An engine doesn't just loose compression sitting there for body work.

The only logical conclusions are:

1) The body shop guys flooded your motor big time

OR

2) They body shop guys went joyriding in your car and did something stupid, but this is also highly unlikely because we all know the Renesis loves abuse (it's a masochist). If you were turbo, this would be more logical, because they could have messed with your boost controller or something.


I would try pulling the fuel pump relay, hooking up your batt to a charger, and cranking it 20 seconds at a time. Then reconnect the fuel pump relay and crank her for 5 seconds at a time until it fires.

EDIT: Also pull your plugs, as they are probably fouled with gas and oil, give them a good bath in some contact cleaner on the electrode, wipe clean and reinstall.
Old 02-03-2008 | 02:23 AM
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The last time mine was in the body shop they flooded it really bad...took me over an hour to get it running. It was spewing clouds of fuel out of the plug holes.

The next time it flooded was an improper IntX map that was dumping in stock fuel pulsewidth with upgraded injectors
Old 02-03-2008 | 09:31 AM
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its all between the shop and the dealer it was towed to now.....
Old 02-03-2008 | 03:06 PM
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damn that sucks man. just when your car was suppose to come out done..
Old 02-03-2008 | 03:52 PM
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I hope it is flooded or did they start the car, put a brick on the gas pedal and begin doing body work?
Old 02-03-2008 | 05:46 PM
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Well so far I wont know for sure until tomorrow when the dealership takes a look at it.

Gonna be calling up the bodyshop friend and grill him about what happened. Again he claims one of the guys went to start the car to pull it into the shop to be prepped and buffed in the morning. At first it wouldnt start but after the 3rd try it started up. He pulled it into the shop and went on to buff it, after which they had to move it and at that time it wouldnt start at all. One of them read the manual and seen the deflooding procedure and went about giving that a try but no dice. At this point is when they went about calling me to tell me whats going on. Went down to the shop and called up Chrism after trying the deflooding procedure myself twice. I followed Chrism advice and did a 10 second interval start/rest and it did nothing. Connected it to a jump pack also after the battery called it quits completely and it to did nothing.

I'd like it to be just flooded but with my track record and gut feelings usualy being right I'm thinking the worst.
Old 02-03-2008 | 05:58 PM
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I disagree with your gut. I think it's just flooded. I hope I'm right.
They moved it at least....what.....three times and probably didn't warm it up before shutting it off any of those times?
I ALWAYS make deadly sure that ANYBODY that is going to start my car knows this drill and follows it. Well...........it's only been two people to this point as I'm kinda **** about my car. It was a tire shop both times, but I made sure that they followed this.
Anyway as I said yesterday.........good luck. I hope it's just really flooded. Seems to me they were lucky to get it started that 2nd time and once they did, they should run it for awhile or taken it for a drive.
Old 02-03-2008 | 06:01 PM
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Every time mines been in the body shop they've flooded it...they start it to move it around in the shop 3-4 times a day at least.......go figure...I even tell them every time not to do it...and they still flood it.

Last time I told them to push it around...and they phoned me the second morning.....Flooded again. I suppose that they would learn if I made them take it to Mazda and pay $300+ to deflood it and put in new plugs
Old 02-03-2008 | 08:42 PM
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Well I talked to the bodyshop guy who told me he took the keys with him when he went home. And that the only time he gave the keys out was when the guy was going to take the car in for a wash and a buff.

Again I'd like it to just be flooded but I'd rather think the worse and have it be better than think easy and have it be deadly.
Old 02-03-2008 | 08:46 PM
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the past few days when i start the car, always feel like its about to die...ill check it out tomorrow
Old 02-04-2008 | 12:09 AM
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i drove 40 minutes to a mall, and when i came back out the car took about 10 seconds to start. i was like but then it started..

also clavius, my guess is that its just really flooded. i'd clean the spark plugs (if the alt and battery are ok) and see if it starts. my guess is that the spark plugs are so fouled they cant function.
Old 02-04-2008 | 03:48 AM
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Originally Posted by dannobre
Every time mines been in the body shop they've flooded it...they start it to move it around in the shop 3-4 times a day at least.......go figure...I even tell them every time not to do it...and they still flood it.

Last time I told them to push it around...and they phoned me the second morning.....Flooded again. I suppose that they would learn if I made them take it to Mazda and pay $300+ to deflood it and put in new plugs
Morons who fixed my car Flooded my engine and had to replace my starter because of it. What idiots and I WARNED THEM TOO not to drive it for a short while and park it. Go figure though what do you expect from a body shop.... not like they think they have to foot the bill.


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