I just purchessed 2004 RX 8 and love the way it looks and drives, that is when it decides to start. I have had the car into the shop twice already for the same problem. I had the car for about a month, and had troubles with it starting so i brought it to the dealer and they told me there was a recall for Mazda RX8's that were produced before March 12, 2004, which my car falls under. The recall states that the vehicle may fail to start in cold ambient Temperatures, or may be hard to start after short distance driving when he engine does not reach normal operating temperature. To make a long story short they did the recall work which involved recalibrating the powertrain control module. The car ran fine for about a week than we got a cold snap in florida and yup "Bingo!!" the car wouldnt start, the dealer had to come with a flat bed and take it to the shop. They said it was the same problem, so the redid the recall work again. I guess what I want to ask is, Has anyone else here had this trouble with thier RX 8? and two, does anyone know about the lemon law?..If my car has to go back again the third time for this same trouble I would like to know my options. The car only has 790 miles on it..I paid to much to have a pretty car that wont start.

 

Search on flooding.

 

Thank you Bowman..I went to the flooding topics and yeah it looks like my problem, except the one day that it was cold it wouldnt even start up from jump street..Im hoping that the dealer fixed the problem this time cause I do really love the car.

 

Yeah, your probably flooded. Actually, it just happend to me for the first time in 10 months of ownership last week. The feeling of having my car shipped to the dealer on a tow truck sucked...but hey, its covered under warranty. To avoid it, try driving it at least once a week to be safe. And in cold weather maybe more often, and let it warm up for a few minutes longer.

-Doug

 

I normally keep my car in the gargage, but I drove to my brothers for Christmas , and this morning it was 18 degrees and it fired up with no problem . They had problems with one of the flashes that they but on hold for about a month while they worked out the software , so if you got the bad flash , that might have something to do with it . This morning was the coldest the car has seen , wind chill of about 10 degrees and she fired with no problems. Hang though , just a bug and when you get use to warming it up fully before killing it and they reflash it , you should have no problems and will enjoy driving it like most of us do !

 

you're in florida and you think it's cold? wow...

i've had no problem starting in -20 C

sorry to hear about your chitty luck...

 

This problem is easily avoided. Just never shut the car down before the temp gauge needle has reached near midway.

If you MUST shut it down cold, rev it up to 4000 rpm for a few seconds and kill the ignition, letting the engine coast down with the ignition off.

I have faithfully followed these procedures and have never flooded the car in 27,000 miles of ownership. And it gets a lot colder here than it does where you live.

 

Thank you Everyone for your help. I have been reading all the posts about this trouble and ,at least now if it happens again I know whats going on. Like I said i hope the work they did on it the other day works Again thanks and hope you all are having a great Christmas! :D

 

I don't think you understand the flooding issue - it's YOU that is causing it, and the dealer can't stop you. One of the characteristics of the rotary is that if you start the car, then turn it off within a minute or two, it may become difficult or impossible to start the next time, requiring the tow to a dealer. Nothing the dealer can do will change that fact. Therefore - if you (for example) frequently start the car, move it in the garage, and shut it off immediately, YOU are creating the conditions for a possible flood situation.

YOU can prevent it ever happening again - just by changing a few habits. Do NOT do the above sort of cold start, run for 1 minute, then shut down. Ever. If you have to move it, drive around the block, but give it a few minutes of running time before you shut it off. Before you shut it off if it's not warmed up, you should rev it to around 3500 or 4000 rpm, then turn the key off while it's running at 4000 rpm. That will help prevent excess fuel from accumulating in the rotor chambers.

Regards,
Gordon

 

Thank you for your insight Gordon, I understand what needs to be done to prevent this flooding issue all the posts were helpful. the strange thing was the second time it happened I was getting ready to leave the house in the morning, so there was no shut down, start up..it just never started period. But again thank you for your info.

 

I once drove an RX-3 and my last car was a 1983 RX-7 that I had for 18 years. I've never experienced flooding on either car.
How is it a characteristic of the rotary that it floods?
Or is it this rotary?
Is it the combo of the EFI and the rotary together?

colour me curious...

 

Okay, let me get this straight: if i move my car from the driveway to the garage without warming it up, turn it off and go to bed, then when i get up the next morning, the engine could still be flooded from the night before? Is this true?

I had this problem for the first (and hopefully ONLY) time earlier this week. It was raining and 50 degrees F outside, and the car was in the garage. Tow truck driver was able to start it after 15 minutes of trying. Drove it to dealer and they gave me new spark plugs. Never had this problem BEFORE the PCM "upgrade"! Thank you for the detailed information above!

Still love my car though!!!