Hi Paul

I am taking you up on your offer to ask for advice!

My question is, how can it flood just standing there for 24 hours?

Hi Phyllis,

Good to hear from you. It won't flood on its own. My 2004 sits around
parked in the hanger for several months some times when I travel. I
disconnect the battery as something in there depletes the battery if
I don't. I reconnect the battery and it starts right up in seconds.

The early RX8's where notorious for flooding if you started them up
and did not allow the engine to fully warm up before you shut them off.
It happened to me while the car was still warranted in 2004. It had me
dumbfounded as I had already owned half a dozen rotary powered cars
and no such thing happened.

I took it to the official Mazda dealer and it took them three days to
get it started. One must take out a lower spark plug and physically suck
out all the raw fuel using a vacuum pump. I am sure they have now
learned how to do it in a few minutes.

Then I found out why that happens. The side exhaust port retains all the
unburned fuel. Previous rotary engines would force the unburned fuel
out the peripheral exhaust port. Mazda addressed the issue in the U.S.
by reprogramming the computer which is a low cost procedure for them.

This  apparently solved the problem as I have had no complaints from
anyone in five years. However I am still careful about starting it up
and shutting it off before the engine is warm.

Paul Lamar


Morning, Paul (and good Afternoon, Phyllis <G)...

As you may or may not remember, Paul, you and I bought our RX8s at
almost the same time in 2003.
Mine did do that flooding thing as well, but the "fix" that they
eventually programmed into mine simply shuts off the fuel supply (and
maybe the spark as well?) when the accelerator pedal is fully depressed
while the starter is cranking.  This allows the rotors to exhaust the
excess fuel. When following that procedure after a flooding incident,
the starting is normal (but with a little oil smoke from the
exhaust...got my neighbor worried once when he saw all the smoke coming
from my car. Don't do this with the garage door closed! <G).

Unlike you, I still have the flooding problem occasionally, however.
Usually when I forget to leave it running for at least a minute...I
don't have to let it fully warm up... when moving it into and out of the
garage...like when I wash it.

The above procedure solves the  problem, and ten seconds of cranking
with the accelerator pedal fully depressed, followed by a normal start
has always worked since the so-called fix.

Harley