Finally happened - my '04 RX-8, that has reportedly had the M-flash already, did the flood thing. Didn't expect it after nearly 12,000 miles without any problems. Sunday I pull the car from the curb to the driveway so I can wash it. I jump in later to run to the video store and it won't start. Tried the whole "flooded car starting drill" to no avail. Monday morning my wife calls the service dept. and they tell her to call roadside assistance for towing. Funny thing is the tow guy shows up and says "OHHHH, it's one of THOSE. There's one 8 that I've towed 5 times already from flooding! Man, I'd be pissed if I spent 30K+ for a car that floods!"
My wife tells him how I pulled it into the driveway then later it wouldn't start, and tow man says "OOOOOOOOO, can't do that with these. If you wanna pulll it in the driveway you need to drive it around the block a few times."
So as she tells me this on the phone while I'm at work via her minivan (oh, the horror) and she is stuck home carless, and I find it a tad amusing. Untill........service guy leaves a message on the phone Monday evening saying it will be ready Thurday or Friday. So we call him today and he says "Yeah, it's flooded, I'll need to change the spark plug but have to order it so it will be ready Thurday or Friday."
FREAKING IDIOT!!!!GOSH!!!!!
Despite the sign in the service dept. saying they don't give out loaners, they are giving us a loaner, so leaving now to go to a rental car place on Mazda's dime (although my salesman who left the dealer a week after I bought it swore to me that if I ever needed a loaner, "if you bought an 8, I'll get you a loaner 8."
Are spark plugs for RX-8's really that unobtainable?

 

Seems funny that it should take that long to get some spark plugs. Especially given how prone these cars are to flooding.

I just bought mine 2 weeks ago, but I follow a strict regiment of not shutting the car off unless the temp needle is in the middle. Its a bit of a hassle, but so is getting the car towed to the dealership.

They told me about the flooding when I bought the car, in fact they used your example as a prime case for flooding, they said "if you just going to move the car out of the garage to wash it, leave it running until its warm". Sorry your without your 8, but at least you have a loner to beat the **** out of for a few days.

 

My car flooded the 3rd day I had it, moving it out of the drive way to wash my wifes car. Mazda gave me a (6) as a loaner and after three days of not being able to get what is refered to as the "trailing" spark plug, I made the service manager take one out of a new car off the lot and told him when the new one for me comes in "put it back in that car. I was pretty pissed off that I bought a 32,000 car and after 3 days it was in the shop for 3 days for a damn plug.....Thankfully no problems since

 

They can hang up any sign they want. When your car is in for warranty service, Mazda pays for a rental car. It's one of the features. It's written right on the window sticker (at least it was for the '04's)

 

Man, I can't believe how few people are briefed on flood avoidance prior to purchase. C'mon everybody, spread the word cause it doesn't seem like anyone who actually knows how to avoid flooding will really ever encounter the problem, especially with the latest M-flash. Pass it on!

 

My '04 w/ 13k flooded on me today. First time since I bought it in last July. Got the M-Flash, know the warm-up drill, ect.... Thought I might have gotten a little luckier than most when it came to this problem. Did the "cold start/flooding" {I think that's what it's called} procedure and amazingly it worked. Instead of the 10 sec that the manual read I was doing it for 30-45 seconds at a time. 30-45 w/ throttle to the floor, 30-45 w/o. After about 5 or 6 of these {and nearly draining my battery} attempts, it finally fired up and was blowing smoke for at least a good 5 minutes. The engine was making some odd "wisping" noises when I took it around town to see how it was going to run, but after about 5-7 miles of semi-aggressive driving, it started to act like it was back to it's old self again. It's going to the dealer Friday to check everything over. I love this car, but, one more time and she's gone like a fat kid in dodgeball.

 

Friday night - my car was towed to the dealer on Monday morning, and I still don't have it back. Spoke to the dealer around 4:00 today and they said they just got the plug this morning and should have it ready by the end of the day......then got a message left on my voice mail around 4:30 saying they had trouble with their computer so my car isn't ready. So now I'm tooling around since Tuesday in a Grand Am from Enterprise rental.