Hey guys so I'm sure most of you have seen this time and time again, but I am completely stuck on what to do right now. I have an 06 rx8 that was bought used about a year ago. I decided to store it for winter so I put in some Sta-bil. I start it up once a week or so just to keep it going and everything charged up. I went down a couple days ago to start it, and all I get is the engine cranking, but no fire. The day before I moved it in and out of the shop (unheated) and let it sit for probably 5 min at a time. I have tried removing the ECU fuse trick and cranking it. I have done as it says in the manual to depress the gas pedal- no luck. I even tried today, taking out plugs and putting oil in to try and lubricate the seals- no luck. When I removed the spark plugs two were wet and the other two were darker with burnt fuel/oil on them. Do I need to just purchase plugs or can someone point me in the right direction of what else to try. THANKS!

 

The removal of the ECU fuse is probably what flooded it - there is no need to remove any fuses. The old trick is to remove the FUEL PUMP relay - (blue, at front right of the fuse box) but the pedal-to-the-floor technique works better, even with no fuel pump running the injectors will still send enough fuel to flood your car.

It is flooded and needs to be cleaned out - cranking for about twenty total seconds (preferably with a boost battery hooked up) with the plugs all out.

Then either new plugs or use a propane torch to dry/burn the oil off the old ones.

Plugs back in and crank without touching the gas pedal - if it fires, you should gently gas it to keep it running - no pumping the pedal.

If it won't fire up like that, it could be that the Stabil didn't work and the old gas is wetting rather than burning, a tow-start may be required.

 

Thanks ill give that a try. You don't think plugs would be an issue then? It only has about 34K miles on it. I only tried the ECU fuse removal after searching causes of it not firing.

 

If it's just gas, would putting the plugs in an oven work in this situation?

On damp winter days a failed start of a conventional engine can wind up with a water/gas slurry on the plugs. The fix is to take the plugs out, put them in an oven til dry, then put the warm plugs back in. I've done that a couple of times and it worked like a charm. Just wondering if that would be of value for a flooded rotary.

Ken

 

Okay so I went out today and removed plugs, fired the car without them in for 20 seconds, and a bit of gas came out. I heated up the plugs and cleaned them off, installed them and tried. Nothing again. Back in August my ignition coils went out when I was driving out of town and had to leave my car at a mazda dealership over the weekend and they replaced those.

Since then I had an engine warning light come on so we hooked it up to a diagnostic tool. It said something about a possible o2 sensor clogged. I ran some fuel injector cleaner and the light disappeared after a few days. Would any of this have to do with my problems? I am at a loss right now. All I can think of is to replace the plugs, test the wires for spark, or pull start it.