I have a 05 rx8 gt. It has about 113600 miles, but runs great. Well, did.

The other day I got into it, let it warm up like I always do before driving. It was at operating temp, and was idling fine (right about 900) shifted into first fine. No problems. Nothing weird. Got around the corner in second, and the car stalled. I figured I may have let it drop too low. Whatever, not a big deal. Pulled over, put it in neutral and tried to crank it again. It sounded like it wanted to start, but it sounded flooded. You could hear it cranking, but it wouldn't turn. So I did this about 4 times, (yes I've watched the deflooding videos, it's never happened to me) and it started. But it sounded HORRIBLE. Not like metal grinding, but it sounded like maybe one rotor was working? The CEL was blinking then it died again.

My question is, could it have lost compression? Or is it a spark plug? I know they lose compression out of no where, and it does have high miles. But I don't want to take the whole motor out if it's only going to be something stupid. Anyone have advice? I have another daily until I fix the 8. So I do have time. And Thank you for your help and time.

 

There is a good thread that assists with what/where to troubleshoot, in order to find out what your issue is. It's located at the top of the troubleshooting subforum titled "Starting issues, START HERE ".
Do some reading and follow the guidelines. If you still feel that you're not finding the cause, report back here with what worked and what didn't work.
Good luck