Bought a 04 rx8 6 speed with 89k miles off a auction. Checked the vin from car fax and the dude took amazing car of this car. Oil changes every 2800-2900 miles
One thing is that when they auctioned the car off they turned it on and turned it which in turn flooded the engine (no bueno) Took me a good few hours to unflood it but i managed!
I have a question though...
When I warmed the car up and let it run for a good hour. I turned it off and when I went back to turn it on it took a good 5-6 seconds to turn on. Question is
Could this be a bad battery? Could it be from being flooded? Could it be the spark plugs or starter?

Here is some pics and a vid :D

I'm more than happy to be part of the forum!

Any tips on how to make sure I get the most out of the rotary engine? I know that redline a day keeps the mechanic away.
Warm the car up before driving.
Oil changes every 3000 miles
When turning off rev it on 3k rpms for 10 seconds

 

Welcome!!! Nice looking 8, cool video!

 

Thanks :D Looking forward to tearing the cornors up :D

 

Welcome to the club, there are many things that would cause your starting issue,seeing as it has 89k on the motor, and assuming it is the original motor, find a reputable workshop or dealership that knows how do a compression test ,this is a starting point, hopefully your engine will be within limits and you may be lucky enough its something easy and cheap to fix ie; plugs, coils and wires. Like I said,it's a starting point.

 

Welcome, mine is 04 Lightning Yellow GT.

IF you have not done so yet, read new owner sticky.
Very helpful.
Good luck!

 

I have an '04 as well and have experienced the enjoyment of flood-clearing as well, but the engine should only have trouble starting if it was turned off after only a few minutes. By the time the engine gets up to temperature, which takes about 5-10 minutes at most for me depending on climate, startup enrichment stops, so it shouldn't flood the engine.

Was the engine still hot when you tried to start it back up? Hard start when hot is a symptom of poor compression, which I hope is not the case.

I'm pretty new to RX-8's as well, but something that took me a while to find out was that "redlining" the engine regularly may not be best. Other members of this forum who have a lot of experience with rotaries seem to suggest getting the engine to around 8000 RPM or so, but not going to redline at 9000.

I wouldn't necessarily turn the car off at 3k either. I doubt it hurts anything, but it really shouldn't help anything either unless perhaps the engine is cold and you absolutely have to shut it off for some reason. I think the theory behind doing so is that the engine should push some of the excess gas out as it spins down, but I have no idea whether that's effective or not. When you suspect the engine is flooded (i.e. you shut it off cold), turn it over for several seconds in flood-clear mode (depress the throttle completely, then hit the starter) before starting. This should help keep the engine from compounding the flood problem by adding even more fuel.

Anyway, hopefully your issues are being caused by something more run-of-the-mill than low compression. The first thing I would try would be new spark plugs, wires, and ignition coils. The car is probably due for them anyway at 90k and they can make a big difference. Also, don't replace plugs, wires, or coils in a piecemeal fashion - replace them all at once. Apparently an under-performing part anywhere in the chain can harm the other components.

 

Wow thanks for all the information!

I found a shop near me which specializes in rotary engines the shops name is Jerrys Little Car shop so i will go and do a compression test but before I do that im gonna change out the spark plugs, coils, and when you say wires you're talking about coil wires, correct? And also I will upgrade the starter to the new 14 teeth starter because ifeel like its not turning over as fast as it should. If that doesnt solve the issue i guess i will be rebuilding! Yay :/


And thank you everyone for a warm welcome

 

Love that rear logo and welcome!

 

No problem. I'm fairly new to rotaries as well, so don't take my word as gospel, but those were some of the things that I would've wanted to know when I had just started.

Wires = spark plug wires, i.e. the connection of the coil to the spark pluig; I think we're talking about the same thing there.

Also, good point about the starter, that should help some too.

 

warm start difficulties usually mean compression is bad. I would have the compression checked.
however they changed the starter later for series I for a faster turning motor might fix the problem.

 

Sorry but how was that a cool video.

Did I miss the ***** or something?

 

This is not necessary at all. Otherwise, welcome!

And read this! https://www.rx8club.com/rx-8-discuss...t-here-202454/

 

Could be a few things...

I bought my 04 with 89k too! It started like ****, I'll let my video do the rest on how I fixed it.




Post a video of it starting, it might help.

 

Man, I saw this video last night! I went through like 10 pages of youtube to find the problem. Most compression problems I saw the Rx8 also had revving issues. Mine revs to red line like a champ!
I mean the dude took great care of it from what I saw on Carfax. Last oil change was at 88900 miles and its at 89177 now

Now your video is the one that convinced me to get a new starter. Mine starts exactly like how yours did in the beginning.
I ordered some new control arms as of now since the ones on this one were total **** ;(

Thanks for the video again :D Gonna fav it

 

There was a side boob in there somewhere :P

 

Yeah I'm positive it is the starter, it just sounds really slow as well.
Im hoping it isn't bad compression but I have scheduled an appointment in about a month and a half with a rotary specialist mechanic to do a compression test(Recommended my Atkins Rotary) and I'll do all my step by step proccess on what the issue was and how I resolved it to guide the next person who has the problem like me. I read all the New owner guides and all that but it is very broad and many people who post their problems vanish when they find the solution 0.o

 

Here is the video of my 8s cold and warm start.
Just by the cold start I'm pretty sure I need a new starter. I know that bad compression usually kicks in during warm starts when there is actually some compression in the engine.

 

Welcome. Gratz on the cool car.