Has anyone in Australia had flooding problems with their RX8?

I'm noticing that a lot of my trips are only a couple of minutes in duration so having to warm up the car for 5 minutes everytime its started from cold would be a real pain.

Surely if that was a requirement Mazda would have fitted something similar to a turbo timer to the car?

If no-one here is having the problem maybe its a cold weather thing? A lot of the guys talking about flooding problems are dealing with snow and ice. There isn't any of that in North Queensland.

Deano.

 

i'm in and out of the car all day. It's happened a few times where it takes a while to start but always does. Just remember, if you hold the key down and it doesnt start, turn the key all the way and take it out before starting the car again. "apparently "it can go into limp mode if you dont.

 

This is a common misconception, there is no need to warm the car up before driving. Just get in, turn the key and go. It will be warm enough to prevent problems after a couple of minutes driving, especially down there in your warm climate.

The only time you need to leave it for a few minutes, if is you are starting it from cold in the morning, and just backing out of the garage, and not driving anywhere. In that case you should leave it until the temperature needle starts to move, spin it up to 3K/4K, hold for a few seconds and remove the key while its spinning.

Cheers
---Dave

 

I've completely ignored the whole flooding issue.

Quite a few times, I've backed it out of the grarage and turned it off straight away. No problems on the restart.

So, maybe I'm a bit too careless, but at least it means it not that easy to flood.

 

Perhaps it has something to do with living in the warm and sunny (at present steamy and hot) climes of Brisneyland, but I've never experienced any problems at all in re-starting adter backing out of the garage. I don't know whether this is a good practice, but I wait a second or so after turning the ignition key fully to the right before engaging the starter. I seem to remember reading somewhere on the forum that this was a good idea. Perhaps it was something about intializing the pump for the oil injector. I also start without my foot on the throttle pedal.

 

As I've said on another thread, I just run mine around the block if I need to back it out the garage - it's pretty hard not to be tempted to take her our for a spin once she's fired up.

If I can't do that for some reason I don't give it five minutes until the needle has moved on the temp gauge - I just give it enough time so it is off the fast idle (i.e. wait until the idle drops below 1000), rev it up to 3000 for a few seconds, let it spin down and then shut off.

 

Like msydd I've completely ignored the issue. I regularly take it out of the garage, switch it off, and start it again in 3-4 minutes. So far, no problems - but after reading about other people's problems I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

 

Never had the problem.

I also notice it is easier to start now it has a few km on it.

When I have been working on my scan tool, I have often started it up for less than a minute to test if the software is working, then shut her down again.

Cheers,
Hymee.

 

As none of the Australians seem to be having this problem, at least not so bad the car has to get toed I'm thinking it might be temperature related - like extreme cold.

 

I dont think its related to the ambient temperature at the time, as in the UK cases its been quite mild, although very damp in some.

But it could be that the Australian ECU's dont have such an agressive cold start procedure, as you dont get the low temperatures of european and especially north american winters.

Do you even get frost at sea level in the south, or is it only up mountains?

Cheers
---Dave

 

Hi,

I mentioned this in another flooding thread in the Discussion Forum...

"Just thought I'd let you know that I contacted Mazda Australia about the "Short Trip Driving Procedure" which is being issued in the USA (faxed them a copy) and was informed that it didn't apply to Australian spec vehicles.

Mazda AU wouldn't elaborate on the reasons but alluded to there being some fundamental difference with the vehicles. In anycase, I'm not following this procedure and often have to move my car short distances while cold & just started, such as in/out of my driveway, without any flooding occuring."

Pappy.

 

G'day Dave

You do get night-time frosts at sea level in many inland areas of Australia in winter - rarely near the sea. The Granite Belt fruit and wine growing area in SE Queensland gets down to a few degrees C below zero in winter. I have a natural aversion to being cold, so I don't know whether our 8 will be subject to such extremes of climate.

 

In Canberra it gets down as low as -7/-10C at night in winter. I have had my car since August and, while it is always garaged, on those occasions back in winter when I was out late at night, I never experienced any problems, nor in our dry summer heat (39C).

 

The guys in the states are talking about snow and the like. I'll see if any get stuck up at Perisher when I go skiing later in the year :-)