Hello everyone,

I don't know much about cars but I purchased an RX8 about 4 months ago because I really liked how It looks and wanted to be cool like you guys

The dealer I purchased from, didn't tell me about the "engine flooding" problem. After a couple of months, one morning It did not start and I did everything but the proper "engine flooding"method. I ended up taking it to the Mazda dealer and they told me the ignition and battery are gone. I had to pay them $1400 to get it all fixed up.

Yesterday morning, It happened again. I couldn't start the car. After reading this forum, It looks like the "engine flooding" is a very common problem in RX8s. I can't be going back to the dealership again and agin because I can not afford to. So I decided that I will learn anything and everything that an owner of an RX8 must know, so here I am.

Read quite a few methods on this forum. I will be using the following method but to goahead with It I will still need your help. (I'm a newbie, but not a noob )

Method

1- Hook up your car battery with jumpers to a running vehicle or really good charger.....your gonnna need more juice than our little batteries supply.
2- Unplug the "airpump". This is on the passenger side wheel well and looks like a big washer fluid pump. There are two places you can disconnect this. One is on top of the unit and difficult to work with. Leave that one alone. The other place is about 6" down-wire from the unit closer to the wheel well. That is a large, easy to disconnect unit. Unplug that one.
3- Unplug the small air hose at the base of the big air intake. There are two small diameter hoses that are plugged into the larger air intake, very close to the top unit of the engine (not by the air-filter box). One hose is directly verticle and one is offset about 5-10 degrees to the left. Unplug the one that is directly verticle.
4- Now that you have plenty of juice from the jumpers, just keep trying to start the engine with the gas pedal to the floor in 8-10 second intveralls. It will eventually start. Once is does, it'll ride rough for about 20 sec and blow off some smoke, but you'll be good. Undo all the steps above while it's idleing and your good to go!
The tech told me he's never not been able to get one up this way and that it may take 30 or 40 cranks.
It took me about 10.
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Everything I will learn from this forum, I plan to make instructional videos, so the newbies like me will have a little easier time taking care of their RX8s.

 

2- Unplug the "airpump". This is on the passenger side wheel well and looks like a big washer fluid pump. There are two places you can disconnect this. One is on top of the unit and difficult to work with. Leave that one alone. The other place is about 6" down-wire from the unit closer to the wheel well. That is a large, easy to disconnect unit. Unplug that one.

Would this be the airpump?

 

You paid 1400 bucks for a battery, coils, plugs, and wires! You got f'd first off, even with them having to de-flood it, that's still too much.

Anyways, can we get some more info on your car. Year, miles, and mods...

 

Please read us the info from your receipt. We would all love to know what you got for the money.

 

They screwed you real bad I think. Is your car manual transmission? If it is, when your engine floods, simply pull start it. Should be able to find plenty of threads and posts on pull starting. I've explained it in a bunch of threads myself. Its pretty simple, just need momentum; be it from rolling down a hill, having a couple friends push you, or use another car to gently pull you to 10-15mph. Then just let the clutch out smoothly in 2nd gear and your engine will spin right up. Give it some gas to get it really going and that's that. Drive around a bit to warm the engine up and to charge the battery up. Pull starting is easily my favorite solution to engine flooding. I have never had the deflooding procedure work for me. All it does is kill my battery. Plenty of others have pull started or push started this car, it's safe.

To prevent engine flooding, DO NOT TURN THE CAR OFF WHILE THE ENGINE IS COLD. Always let it warm up, especially in the winter months.

...and welcome to the forum. You can learn damn near everything here.

 

Here is the invoice:

 

Yes It is a manual transmission. I tried pull starting this morning but It did not work. The battery and starter are brand new.

I tried the deflooding method but now It seems like the battery is dying down. Any other suggestion you have?


I really do not want to go to Mazda. They almost gave me a heart attack, last time I went.

 

Those repairs are most likely still under warranty. How long ago were they done and how many miles have you put on it? Call the dealer after you get your info together.

 

Whoa there, pull starting didn't work? That's the first I've heard of that. Was the key in the ON position? Popped it into 2nd gear while moving? What happened when you tried? I don't know what could be wrong if pull starting didn't work.

 

Maybe I did not do it right.

So I press the clutch while its moving -->put it into second Gear --> release the clutch and It will start?

Do I need to use the starter while releasing the clutch?

 

^^ you do not need to use the starter while on a push start ...

you can be on neutral while getting pulled/ pushed and then engage 2nd gear ...

and after having picked up some speed then release the clutch ...

anyway ...

[ you paid alot of money at your garage ... do you have/ did they give you back the original parts that were on your car ?? next time try an independent workshop ... was your starter really damaged ??

if you followed the instructions against flooding, you shouldn't have this problem again ... try contacting the mazda garage for advice. after 1300 USD this shouldn't have happened again]



question for the elder: is pushstarting good for the catalyst ??

 

Yeah you just slowly ease off the clutch and let it go into second gear while you have some momentum (10-15 mph should be fine) and when your rpms start to come up and register non-zero start giving it a little gas with the pedal to try and get your revs up on your own. When it starts working you'll probly need to clutch back in so you can rev freely without risk of plowing into whoever is towing you.

This should force your engine into spinning again. It should be impossible for it to not pick up any rpms doing that because the transmission will be engaged in a gear while you are moving, it'd be physically impossible for the engine to not be spinning at some rpm value.

But like I said, your key must be in the ON position. The car/engine computer needs to be ON to be injecting fuel and sparking the plugs.

If you are having trouble please explain how you are doing what you are doing so we can figure out what's missing.

Edit: In response to Claus, it probably isn't the best thing in the world for the catalyst but it shouldn't kill it if you are using this technique only a couple times a year or so. rotarygod uses this technique as well, and he knows his stuff. I have done it a few times and my cat was still alive, but I no longer have a cat anymore so I don't know how many miles or years it could potentially take off its lifespan. I did make it to 45K with my cat still in working order, so at least it didnt just die rapidly after a couple of pull starts.

 

Hi guys,

I tried this again today but no luck still.

I had my brother pushed me with another car. I had the car in ON position and when the speed reached 10 mph, I put it into the second gear and released the clutch but nothing happened.

Did I do that right?

Do you think weak battery could be the reason, its not starting up?

 

Well.............I would try the push start again and maybe get going a little bit faster.
If that doesn't work.....do you know anyone that knows something about cars? If so, then go here and print this out and follow it.

http://www.finishlineperformance.com...5-08-1883f.pdf

 

BTW.....I'm not saying this is ridiculous.....especially the price on the plugs, but this work order isn't that far out of line. He got a new starter, battery, plugs, oil, oil filter, etc............plus all the labour.

Oh....somebody wanna tell me what the hell an oil kit is?

 

So what happened as you let the clutch out? It should have made you bleed some of the speed off but the trade off is that you should have made the engine start spinning. What RPM did you get to? And did the car KEEP pushing you while you were doing that, or did you let the clutch bring you to a stop? If you are stopping the push while you do that, then you are going to need more momentum. That's why I prefer pulling instead of pushing, more foolproof.

Remember, you need to try and give it a little gas as your start getting the rpms up, to get the engine really going on its own. Once it starts responding to gas, go to neutral and rev it a bit.

If you are doing all of that correctly and still cannot get it to start I do not know what to tell you, it's possible something is wrong with your spark plugs or coils, or maybe a wire to some of those elements came loose.

Weak battery MIGHT be a problem, I don't know for sure. How weak is it? Are your cabin lights really dim? If its not that bad, it shouldnt be a problem. If everything looks dim you are pretty low and should charge it overnight or something.

 

The ultimate fix is to buy the Access Port from MM and use one of his exsiting maps provided with the unit.

 

lol... yeah, the AP will fix flooded engines in no time, and also it keeps the car permanently waxed, and converts your exhaust into missles.

 

Hello again,

I

I got it going. Speed was the issue. I went upto 20 mph and did exactly what GaMEChld suggested. A lot of dark smoke came out.

Thanks very much everyone and special thanks to GaMEChld

Another problem. The check engine light came on, right after. I hope it isn't a big issue?

 

Glad you got it started..................now remember................never, ever shut this car off cold. Also, if you have an Autozone nearby, most will read the code for free. Please go see what code it's throwing and come back here and let us know.
It's possible that you might just have to do a reset. Try this.............turn the car to "on", but do not attempt to start it. Tap the brake pedal real fast about twenty times while watching the oil pressure gauge. It should sweep to the right and then back to the left. Once it does this, then turn the key to "off". Then you can start as normal and see if the CEL goes away. Whatever you do.............once you restart the car, do not shut it off cold. Take it for a drive and once you reach normal operating temp, beat the **** out of it for awhile.

 

You are quite welcome. The check engine light I imagine has something to do with the exhaust sensors not liking all that smoke. I bet the light will go away with a day's driving. What is your location by the way? If you happened to be local I wouldn't mind swinging by to read the code for you. But all in all, I wouldn't worry about it. Just keep an eye on how the car is behaving, if all is well, then the light will probably go away soon. I don't think anything would have broken as a result of this whole flooding issue and getting it going again, unless you disconnected or disassembled something to cause the light.

Did you reconnect your Air Pump? That might throw a check engine light. Not that it is a vital piece of gear (I don't even have mine anymore) but I hear it might throw a code.

 

I am in Stoneycreek, Ontario. I will be too far away from you. Thanks anyways .

Right after the engine started, It wasn't sounding normal and I drove approximately 4-5 miles, that is when the light came on. I drove for a while and parked it. This morning, the engine sounded normal and felt as powerful as ever but the light is still on. I called Mazda and they said, stop by and have $110 ready for us to just have a look .

I never disconnected the air pump or touched any parts at all. For me car is behaving perfectly. I will wait for a week or so and see If it goes away.

I feel the same, that the smoke after push starting has something to do with it. Also the mazda guy told me, If that is the reason, light wouldn't go away, right away. It will take a few days. I really hope that is the case . Wish me luck!

 

Thanks Mazurfer . I don't think, If I will ever forget to do that . I do not think, we have autozone in Canada. I have never heard of them. The only place I know I can get it checked is Mazda dealer unfortunately and they charge for even just to say hi lol. I tried "tapping brake pedal" method but didn't work.

 

Just do what you planned, drive it for a few days. It takes a while to make the engine computer to be happy with exhaust anomalies. If you still have the light after 100 miles or so, then find a way to read the code. Do not take it to Mazda, it looks like they like to take advantage of you. Just find any car shop. Anyone can read the codes. It's done with a fairly standard piece of gear, just a little code reader that plugs into the OBDII connector underneath your steering wheel. You can even buy one yourself, I picked one up off Amazon.com. It is definitely not worth $100 to get a single code read for you. You might as well buy the code reader with that money, then you'd be able to read codes anytime you code an engine light.