Rootski

iTrader: (1)

I came back from leave at home to pick up my 8 from my friend's house. I put it into reverse in his driveway, hit a hump of ice on right as I set off, and I'm embarrassed to say... stalled it not 20 seconds after I turned it on. I tried the key again and, yep, after two weeks of sitting in the Colorado cold, the car had no tolerance at all for it and all I got were the all too familiar whines of a flooded rotary.

I didn't know what to do- getting a flatbed in there to get it to the Mazda dealership was pretty much out of the question, in that little alley behind my friend's house. I didn't have the time to pull the fuel pump fuse and try to blow the gas out with the starter. Then something Rotarygod said on the forums long ago came across my mind- "The best way to start a flooded rotary is by towing."

So we quickly found a tie-down strap in my buddy's garage, and I crawled under the car and hitched the hook to the structure brace just behind the front wheels. We hooked the other end to his Land Rover and he gave me a tug. At about 11mph, I eased the clutch out in first and the 8 finally struggled to life... with a LOT of smoke... but after everything warmed up after 10 miles or so it she felt good as new and re-started just fine after I parked it.

So, there you go, now you too know what to do if you're faced with that situation. I'm keeping a tow strap in my trunk from now on, and never again will I bother with the Mazda dealership. I'll likely want to think about some new plugs though

ShellDude

iTrader: (12)

I don't think towing my little auto is going to help much, except to get it to the dealer... Did you happen to try the official Mazda "push the pedal" solution?

Rootski

iTrader: (1)

Nope, I didn't. I tried it ages ago when it flooded the first time, and it didn't do a damn thing. I think the general consensus around here is that it's useless, though maybe some have had success with it. I haven't and therefore don't bother with it.

CaptainEggs

when i flood the engine... usually it takes about an hour to start it up. nothing but full on cranking, get the jumper cables, and do what the manual says. takes a while to deflood the sucker. ha but ext time ill try to do the towing method... if it ever floods again.

Puchorx8

I have an 05 RX8. Never had a problem with flooding, but a few weeks back with car sitting outside in the cold weather, when to start the car, with no problems and put it in gear with out to much gas and it shutdown. Try to restart and did not. Since I work in the marine industry and had some problems with diesel engines in the winter, I decided to used STARTING FLUID. It comes in a spray can. Applied fluid trough the air filter & gas pedal down. After cranking for about 7 seconds, I let pedal go, until car wants to startup. It took about 5 tries, but I got the car going in about 5 minutes with out draining battery power. When the car wants to start, then you can press pedal. Since it was my first time & STARTING FLUID is very flammable, I did not wanted to go to hard on engine
I hope it does not happens to me again, but now I am read with a can of STARTING FLUID in my trunk.
I hope this help you guys & be another way to solve the headache.

Brettus

iTrader: (2)

Better still - get a mate to help you push start it - easy as pie .

BTW - tow starting and push starting is better done in 2nd gear . Too easy to lock up the wheels in 1st .

rotarygod

Glad it worked out Travis. It does it everytime! Push starting works most of the time but pulling always works and is what I'll do if I can't push start it pretty quickly.

BTW: Travis, you guys really kicked our butts in Ft Worth! Unfortunately I was there to see it. We didn't show up to play and made many mistakes that we don't normally make. You guys were methodical and mistake free and it showed. Congrats.

Rootski

iTrader: (1)

Brettus- Since the car was at the bottom of an upward sloping driveway/alley (don't ask, it's Colorado), push starting it would have been real tough, especially with the speed it needed to finally fire. I think starting it when flooded needs more revs than your average push-start, so it's possible, but towing seems way easier on your mate.

Fred- Thanks! Wish I had known you were there, I would've tried to make it down. I tried to get USAFA to send me for free, but they weren't having it, so I gave up. We owed you one for last year, though, when we couldn't shoot ourselves in the foot fast enough.

CarAndDriver

Glad it worked out. Hopefully, I won't need any of these helpful hints. New plugs time though.

alnielsen

iTrader: (4)

Starting Fluid/Ether will wash the oil away from everything it touches. This would leave the all the internal seals without lubrication. I hope you will find out why the car is flooding first.

rotarygod

Travis, just an FYI but my wife's dad used to teach at the Air Force academy and was even a tutor for the football team at the time and used to travel with them to their away games. My wife was born in CO Springs. My dad was also in the Air Force so it was kind of hard to be upset about losing to them. It happens. You've actually gotten us twice in 15 months! Both of our dad's were cheering for AF but the other 51 weeks a year we do too.

Incidentally, that was probably the friendliest game that I've ever been to. There was no smack talking from either side that I could tell. Air Force fans were very cordial and how could we possible say anything bad when it comes to our own armed forces? The fact that you guys could send a bomber over our school has no leverage in that of course! There was no heckling from AF when you won either. That's probably our only loss that I didn't walk away from mad. We played poorly and had no one to blame but ourselves.

Burton

Just a quick question, could you temporaraly use the screw in tie down rods from the front to toe it and start it this way? Or would that not be strong enough/damage the car?

Razz1

WRONG ALL WRONG!

Use the Tie Rods in the trunk where the jack is at.

Screw them in and tow.

kersh4w

iTrader: (3)

thats what he said....

he just asked if you could screw them in, IN THE FRONT. not the tie rods FROM the front.

his wording may have been a little off, but thats what he meant.

Lunacy

So thats what those things are. Where do they screw in at?

Burton

Yes, Thats what I meant sorry my wording was terrible. So it is ok to toe it from one of these? Id like a few yes's if possible before I rip my front bumper off.

physco

has anyone ever had the thing die and have to warm the garage up to about 80 degrees when it's 10 outside to get the thing to start then it smokes something awful

teresaam67

I have an automatic and towing wouldn't work and the Mazda way didn't work either - had to be towed to the dealer and unflooded for $150. What a ripoff

kersh4w

iTrader: (3)

i wouldnt TOW your rx8 for a long distance using anything other than a flatbed.

however, if you are doing it just to move it around the block it should be ok. it definitely wont rip your bumper. they screw into that black metal bar you can see in my sig. and that is heavily bolted to the frame of the car.

to find out where they screw in, the front bumper has 2 spots, one in each top corner of the grill. and it has (at least one) spots on the rear bumper too. look again in the grill area.

terrypk1

just spray engine cleaner into the vuccum holes on the passenger side of the engine and fire it.
that's how i got mine started.

mike0615

U know u have 2 tow hooks in the trunk right?

dillsrotary

I applied that cream you sent me and my herpes cleared up in ten minutes. Thanks Rotarygod!

zacknolden

They said it all. It won't definitely tear your bumper. If you wish to screw that black metal bar then that is heavily bolted to the frame of the car.

Burton

I towed it using the tow hooks hooked into the bumper using a rigged v strap and a Tahoe (2nd gear) and it started right up and its running great! This is undeniably the way to do it.. Thanks guys!

CrazyJek

I went to florida for a week and left my 8 in my garage in upstate new york. After 5 days i decided to call my father and tell him go start my car up and let it warm up. He calls me back and says it wont start... im like... god dammit!

I told him to push the gas pedal to the floor and crank the engine for about 6-8 seconds. Then turn the ignition off and start it up again.

Voila! It started. Blew a lil smoke for a couple minutes and then was fine. This was the only time the engine was flooded so far. Couple times i was in a rush and not remembering, turned the car on, and turned it back off in like 45 seconds. Luckily it started back up with no problems.