I want to say that I am no mechanic but I am a tinkerer and can do almost anything if I have good directions to follow. So please excuse any ignorance on my part. I am trying to narrow down a car not starting issue, the battery is fine, car still won't start when being jumped either. It is also not flooded since I did deflood procedure several times. I wan't to test if the engine is receiving fuel from the pump and I do not fully understand the info I've found on these forums so please excuse me.

I've come across EuroTech's post in this thread https://www.rx8club.com/series-i-tec...re-rx8-252936/

I simply cannot follow what he is saying. So basically I need to know where to test for fuel pressure at the pump or in the engine bay? If in the engine bay which line, I see two, one with red clip and one with blue clip. And also what item do I need to buy that advanced auto or autozone might carry, I am willing to order a part if need be but would rather local for having it sooner.

I recently did a big tune up on the car, the things I've done are:

Replaced fuel pump with this model
Replaced started with this model
Changed partially clogged stock cat with hollowed out stock cat

Changed plugs, coils and wires

Changed intake filter to K&N drop in filter

Cleaned throttle body

Cleaned MAF

Cleaned ESS

20 Brake stomp reset

After all that and putting it all back together the car started better than it ever had and also ran as good as the day I bought it for about 300 miles and then out of nowhere it decides to not start. Zero symptoms of anything going wrong, no CEL's no loss of power, beautiful idle.

Today I checked all fuses with a multimeter with the exception of the relays and they all checked out ok and working. I'm assuming at this point that there is spark but I will make sure on that and check tomorrow and also see if they are fouled out or not. Do I need to check each spark plug for spark or just one? I also saw mention of checking O2 sensors for for shorts? Is this something worth checking? Any help is appreciated, thank you.

 

Did you jump it?

 

The line that sprays fuel when you unclip the clip is the fuel line

Can you hear the pump whirring if you put your ear near the fuel pump and turn the key to 'On?'

The blue line is for vacuum and red is for fuel, but if you have a new pump/housing and you can hear it working then it probably isn't a fuel pressure issue.

 

Yes I did jump it with no luck. And yes I can hear the pump working when I turn the key and I also took the backseat off and the access cover and put my hand on it while I'm turning the key and I could feel it working.

 

I know you have been through the deflood procedure, but until you see a badly flooded car its hard to comprehend how hard it can be to start when flooded. I recommend you put a couple of ounces of washer fluid or even better Marvel mystery oil down each intake maintenance port. If it starts then it was just badly flooded. Either that or pull the e-shaft sensor wire and all 4 plugs then spin it through until it dries out and reinstall clean plugs and the e-shaft sensor and crank it up.

 

Check it, you need to be methodical.

Sympton troubleshooting

http://foxed.ca/rx7manual/2003mazdar..._S01_0002.html

 

The manual is not particularly helpful if the car is flooded. It you go through all the steps you will determine the engine has low compression and needs replacement. Check the most likely issue first.

 

Just pulled the plugs this is what they look like. They weren't wet at all.

 

Ok so I pulled all plugs out and pulled off ESS plug and also pulled the fuel pump fuse under the hood and cranked it over a lot. I did not notice any fuel coming out at all. I am not sure if I should have pulled the fuel pump fuse out or not but I thought it made sense since I was trying to clear fuel out I didn't want it pumping any back in. Am I right about that? If not I will do it again with the fuse in.

I also check for spark and it definitely had spark, I only checked one plug, also not sure if all four need to be checked. But the one I check is sparking fine.

It did not even sound like it wants to start. I am also jumping it each time I'm trying to start it. I guess check for fuel at this point?

 

Probably not flooded. I am too lazy to read, Have you checked fuel pressure?

 

Hey man no I have not checked pressure yet, but I did for the hell of it pop off the fuel line under the hood with the red clip and fuel came pouring out.

 

Do you recommend a certain pressure tester?

 

Plugs look good. 9k is right it's not flooded or else the plugs would be drenched. Test the pressure or replace the pump with the old one.

 

I appreciate the responses guys, tomorrow I will check the auto parts store for a gauge.

 

https://www.google.com/search?q=fuel...r+RX8&tbm=shop

 

Yep, that is me and how I found my leak. Gotta have a fuel pressure gauge when turbo. I didn't even smell the leak.


Here is my post on what it ended up being.

 

Well I am fairly certain my pump is not leaking from there. After pulling the plugs and trying or clear out any fuel and not seeing any fuel come out and also the plugs being totally dry I have a sneaking suspicion that fuel is not being sent to the engine. I really cannot understand how it could be a clogged fuel line, I've never read anything on these forums about anyone having a clogged line. I'm going to pull my pump out an examine it and maybe put my old pump back in and see what that does since I can't check fuel pressure without that adapter. I don't know what else to try.

 

Ok first off I want to thank all the help from you guys, this forum has always been an awesome source of info and help from people. Update. Got her running today. I put the old pump back in and it started right up. I drove it around a little and went through a few drive cycles and it's seeming back to normal and I am ******* happy as hell. So it seems that new pump I put in stopped working for whatever reason after about 300 miles worth of driving over the past couple months or so. Very odd because it sounds like it's working but I guess it is not. So for now I would avoid this pump from Amazon Maybe mine was just a lemon but who knows.

And honestly I don't know for sure that my original pump was not working. I suspected it might be on it's way out because my car was running shitty but it just could have been that I needed plugs, coils and wires which I definitely did. So I do think I'd like to get a newer fuel pump just because mine is original and the filter is dirty looking and if not already it could start malfunctioning soon as it is old now. Any recommendations? Walbro? BHR?

 

Some have liked the Walbro, some have liked the DW series, either newest DW65 or the DW200 for NA RX8s, ( DW300 for turbo applications). Others have still have had some fuel pump overheating and starvation with the Walbro and DW pumps put inside the original Series 1 fuel pump assembly at low fuel levels. (slight modification suggested on the Series 1 pump assembly for these two higher flow pumps Walbro and DW series, there is a DIY on the forum for this) .

Mazda upgraded both the pump and pump assembly for the Series 2 RX8s and some have installed the Series 2 pump in their Series 1 RXs (again a DIY is on the forum as some modification is required to the pin connector and the submersible hose to make it fit, unless you also install the Series 2 fuel sensors, then it is a straight swap).

I personally installed a DW200 purchased from BHR (who is a great and trusted merchant and member here) into my original Series 1 pump assembly. That setup ran great for over 8000 miles and then was also subject to overheating and shutting down at low fuel tank levels. Just recently I opted to install a new Series 2 pump and pump assembly into my Series 1 RX8, with the proper mods done.

So far so good. Here is a link to an ongoing thread.

https://www.rx8club.com/series-i-maj...3/#post4694325

 

Your problem was the Airtex pump/assembly for the S1. I had the same issue with mine. I called RockAuto about it, and they said there have been quite a few complaints/returns regarding that specific pump, so many in fact, they have cleared it out of their warehouses due to the manufacturing defect on it.

It honestly looks like they just threw SII designs on the SI pump and tried to Frankenstein it.

Any chance maybe the mods can post a sticky about this to warn? I have photos I can contribute as well if need be of both pumps side by side, hopefully that will keep other forum members from going through the same headache.