Noob007

Every time i drop off my RX8 at a shop for some work, they flood the engine, and then charge me for all the work getting it back up and running.

What do you all do when this happens? Do you just always add that cost when you drop off your car? Do you argue with them and not pay?

I'm assuming they know what they are doing when i bring it in to a shop, but it keeps happening. I might print out a note to leave in my car that tells them to warm it up before shutting it off, and that i won't pay for unflooding the engine.

Any advice welcome. Thanks!

Jedi54

iTrader: (7)

is it the same shop that continues doing it.
have you ever had any issues with flooding other than when you're there? What year is your car?

I ask because I've never had a shop flood my car, in fact my car has never flooded even when I TRIED to get it to flood.
How old are your ignition coils and spark plugs? If you have strong spark and a good starter, it shouldn't really be flooding.

To answer your question though: If you go back there give them specific instructions to not shut the car off cold. It needs to get to operating temperature every time.

Meat Head

I’m the only clown that has done this to my car. I got cocky and shifted it twice without a warm up. 40 minutes late to work the next morning after deflood procedure. Only happened when I did it twice, single shift is no trouble. Local dealership is the only other place that’s had the car for recall service. They have at least one technician with rotary knowledge so no flooding there. Try a different service company.

BigCajun

iTrader: (1)

After I got my LY tuned up right with good coil kits and before the compression got bad the only time it ever flooded was with weak batteries.
A healthy engine should never flood, even starting it and shutting it right off for moves.
If it floods then there's an underlying problem.
Fix that and you won't have to worry about warming it up or any of the other stuff some people say you're supposed to do to keep it from flooding.

Noob007

Thanks all for the replies!

It's a 2009 RX8 Grand Touring with 96k miles on it. Spark plugs ~10k miles. I've never done anything with the ignition coils, so those are original. If you think I should swap out the coils, do you have any recommendations for good ones? Battery has been in various stages of health. That's another story.

I've had the issue at a few different shops. I live in New England, and i've only ever had trouble with flooding when it gets to about 40 degrees F or colder outside. I vaguely remember reading somewhere that if the engine is cold when it starts up, the ecu throws extra fuel in the mix to help the engine warm up faster (so it can pass emissions, i think). If it's shut off during that extra gas stage of starting up, the extra gas wont fully burn and will instead sit in the engine and eat at the oil "seal" around the rotors. Anyway, again, i've only ever had this happen when it's getting colder outside. Not sure of the exact physics of how that plays into it, but that's been my experience so far.

Jedi54

iTrader: (7)

if the coils are original I would look at swapping them out for another set of OEM Mazda coils. There are good aftermarket coils, the best of them being the Black Halo Racing but it's up to you to decide if you want to spend that much.
Fortunately Mazda has made some revisions to the coils over the years and the current ones seem to work quite well.

I honestly would start there and get the battery issue sorted out. That should hopefully prevent issues in the future.

Noob007

Kool, I'll look into the coils. Thanks for the tips!