Dear European Owners,

Anybody had a flooding problem and with which engine ?
Does anybody know if flooding is covered under the 3 year warranty ?

 

mayrojohn,

Since I got mine this morning ... no I didn't flood it YET !
I am not sure that it is covered ... but I will ask my dealer next time.
Most of the people at dealerships that I spoken to doesn't even have a clue about rotary so ... to young to even have knowledge of the RX-7 !

Regards,

Baphi

PS: where are you located in Germany ? Close to the Belgium / Netherlands border ?

 

Thanks for the answer Baphi,

The dealers in Germany dont know anything about flooding.

I 'm stationed in Koblenz just 50 Km from the Nurburgring !!

 

mayrojohn,

I drive my RX8 since 10 december and it never flooded. So I am now sure that this problem is magnified by some owners who does not take in account that it is a Wankel-motor.
Long time ago I was used to such a motortype by driving a NSU.

regards,
Patrick

 

i'm not very good with the english language

what's the meaning of "flooding"???

 

'Flooding' means that there is too much gasoline inside your engine, so the spark plugs get wet, and cannot fire. This means your vehicle will not start.

Flooding on the RX-8 can happen sometimes after you turn the engine off just a few seconds after starting it. The first time you started the engine lots of fuel was injected into the engine to make it start easier, then the second time even more fuel is injected in, even though the fuel from the first time hasn't been burned yet.

This causes the spark plugs to become 'wet' with fuel, and not fire properly.

Just one, very general example...

Hope this helps

 

thank you, now i undestand :D :D :D

and no, my 8 doesn't flood... and starts very well

 

When I collected my car at the dealer last week, he did warn me about the flooding as he's had a flooded RX8 before at his garage. He had to change all four plugs to restart it again.
Just don't stop a cold engine (it's always bad, whatever the engine actually)!

 

Hello,

When I testdrived the RX-8, my dealer warned me to NEVER EVER EVER touch the gas when starting the engine, because this would cause "flooding". I hope your dealer told you the same...

IKnowNot'ing is right about never stopping an cold engine. When I start my MX-6 (6cil) I always do have to drive it, otherwise it won't start the next morning.
Pardon me for my English, I try very hard but my main language is Dutch.

 

Uk cars flood sometimes, if not treated properly.

AFIC its covered by the free mazda recovery and warrenty.
have a look here:

http://www.rx8ownersclub.co.uk/forum

 

mayrojohn,

I drive my 8 since the 10th of december and I did NEVER FLOODED it. So I would say, no panic. Just keep in mind that you are driving a rotary and you need to "empty" the chambers by reving up a bit before shutting down.

regards,
Patrick

 

Depressing the accelerator pedal when starting shouldn't flood it. It may upset the logic of the fuel management program a bit, but not enough to flood it.

In saying that though, you should have your foot OFF the accelerator pedal when starting, to let the PCM do its job.

 

I just wrote what they had told me at that time in january.
Makes no diffrence to me, didn't do it for the last ten years in MX's.

 

I did experience some flooding when I recieved my 8 begining March.
I'm living in a village in an altitude of 800 meters. That's mean that in the morning the temperature is often below 0 degree Celcius (frezzing so). My dealer changed the stock spark plugs whith "warm" spark plugs (I don't no really what it is ) and since then my engine starts whitout problem.

BTW, I recently received a technical note from my dealer saying that in case of flooding, you have to press the accelerator pedal before putting the contact key, then turn it as if you wanted to start the engine. Pressing the pedal before the contact allow you to cut completely the injection, so you can empty the rotor chambers. Once is done, switch off the contact and start you engine as usual.

 

I haven't got my RX8 yet, but when I read about the flooding problems on the USA forum, I contacted my dealer. He said that the plugs originally used, were now replaced by 'hot plugs' and that should take care of the flooding problems. He also told me not to touch the gas pedal while starting the car. If I get my car at the end of May, I will let you know.

 

The flooding issue is real over here too folks.

I have had some problems with it and had a mazda technical engineer out to take a look as my local dealer didnt have the experience. It took him 3/4 of an hour to get it started after having to wait 24 hours for him to be available.

Mazda tech say that you should rev the engine to about 3-4000 revs and switch off. When you start up then keep your foot to the floor (this switches off the fuel) and then slowly release until it fires. But mine has flooded even with this system.

But it is covered by warranty and I get a new set of plugs each time it happens under warranty. Its just inconvenient when you need to be somewhere.

It happens for me if I pull my car out and only drive it a few yards (every time I get things out of the garage and dont want to scratch the 8.

Mike

 

I've had my RX-8 flood a couple of times. Mazda Assistance came out to fix it and said that some cars are more prone to it than others. Both times it happened when I was swapping cars around on the driveway, which is never a good idea. Apparently, BMWs are somewhat succeptible to it as well. Also had it happen to my Mondeo ST200.

Anyway, the Mazda guy cured it by taking out the fuel pump fuse then turning the starter. He said that often this will start it but if it doesn't, put the fuse back in and do the following. Put the accelerator fully down and turn the starter. This will stop any more fuel getting into the chamber. In most cases the car will eventully fire after a few attempts and you then need to back off on the accelerator and "feather" it until it fully runs. If it doesn't start after about 5-10 minutes, stop and get it towed to your dealer otherwise you'll burn out the starter motor.

Best not to flood the engine too often though - when it does finally fire you'll end up filling your street with a huge cloud of blue, smelly smoke. Doesn't go down too well with the neighbours.

Hope this helps!

 

Don't switch off the engine until properly warmed-up and it shouldn't happen again.

 

Mazda UK have finally admitted that the flooding issue is a fault and have released an ECU reflash to fix it. This was done on mine this morning so I will keep you posted on whether its fixed it.

Mike

 

Do you have any release version number for this flash?
Do you know if this reflash fix something else?

Thanks to keep us informed.

 

Thanks for the info. We'll have to get more details about this re-calibration! What's written on your invoice, or in your service book?
Also, I don't think it will FIX the problem, merely reduce the propension for flooding. If I were you, I'd stick to a proper warm-up before any shut-down.

IKN