I have managed to go 41,000 miles and 3 1/2 years on my '04 RX-8 without flooding it. Night before last, I had left it on the street as we had guests over. We went to bed, and then I woke up at 1:30 AM thinking "Crap! Gotta go move the car into the drive." Normally, with religious zeal, if I move the car for any reason when it's cold, I just drive it once around the block - that's enough to warm it and ward off flooding.

This time, I didn't do that.

Yesterday, I went to start it and got that sickening flooded stink, and the engine is turning over sounding like it has no compression at all (which, with a flood, it basically doesn't).

Will do the flood clear procedure this AM to see if that works, and if not ... "HELLO, Roadside Assistance? Drag this shitbox to the dealership."

What frustrates me is that this car has had all the flashes, has the upgraded battery, upgraded starter, upgraded plugs, etc. I thought that **** was supposed to prevent this.

Damn!

 

Save yourself some time and fustration before you attempt the mazda way. Take out the fuel pump fuse, crank the car for 15 -20 seconds, do not pump the gas pedal. Put the fuel pump fuse in , crank again for another 15-20 seconds or until the car cranks on. Mind you if the car cranks up, it will be stumbling so be prepared to FEATHER THE GAS PEDAL UNTIL THE ENGINE CATCHES, DO NOT MASH THE GAS PEDAL DOWN!!!! This will kill the process and you will to start over again.

 

try above procedure if it does not work DO NOT TAKE TO DEALER WHEN YOU CAN DO IT YOURSELF.

1. Take plugs out
2. Crank motor with plugs out and fuel pump fuse out
3. Clean plugs
4. Insert plugs and Fuse
5. Zoom Zoom

 

I almost flooded last week on my '05. I started the car in the morning then immediately realized I forgot to bring something from the house. Since my house keys are attached to the car keys, I did a quick rev to 3K, shut off the engine and went to to get my stuff. When I came back and started it, I cranked 2 times, 3 seconds each and it didn't start. On the 3rd try it stumbled to life and I smelled gas everywhere. I'm thinking if I didn't do the 3K blip that time it would have been dealership time for me!

 

Well, car is under warranty, so after four or five attempts to de-flood it, off to the dealer it went.

Got the call from them yesterday - and, it's quite a whack of work - they found that the battery was bad (this is the upgraded battery that they installed 2 years ago) - so they replaced that, along with both the positive and negative battery cables which were badly corroded. They also replaced the spark plugs, the plug wires, changed the oil and de-carboned the engine.

All under warranty! I pick it up today.

YAY!

Stew

 

I've found that come hell or high water, I will not shut this car off without driving it for about 2 minutes, or letting it idle for five minutes. Just a drive around the block will ward off the flood demons.

But that said, I'm ready for this lease to end, this car to go away, and my new Mercedes C350 Sport to hit the driveway. Can't happen soon enough for me.

 

Thanks! I used the procedure of removing the fuel pump fuse, then cranking it for 15 secs with the pedal not depressed. Then I replaced the fuse and had the jumper cables hooked up. Then I would crank it and flutter the gas for about 15 secs, then wait 30 secs in between, and try it again. Took about 10-12 tries but finally started.

 

Stew - did you get the new flash while u were at it? Any noticeable change if you did?

Sorry to hear about your flooding. I am freakish about letting this car warm up before turning it off. I tell people this and they look at me like I am crazy and that the car is a lemon.

 

I flooded mine yesterday. It was raining the night before. My car is normally in the garage, but we are having some A/C work done and there wasn't any room. I pulled into the garage, then ran out to my husband's SUV to go to the grocery store. When I went to leave for work in the AM, it wouldn't start. I had AAA tow me to the dealership. It's all still under warranty, but it's going to take them 2 days to fix it!!???

Now my husband is giving me crap about owning this car (yet, again).

 

When was the latest flash?

 

if you REALLY have to do such thing, 1) rev it hard a couple times before you shut it down to get rid of the excessive gas (or at least so i believe)
2) know how to deflood ur engine

- have a battery charger
- hold down ur gas peddle (this stops gas from being injected)
- crank the engine 10 seconds at a time

please try and not let stealership steal more of ur money, especially after this, they will not deflood again under warranty.

 

came out about 4 months ago.



40K miles, Zero flooding

I shut it off cold all the time too. Might be bad battery ?

 

http://www.turborx8.ca/flooding.pdf