does the rx-8 motor flood like the 7's????? thats a major factor in deciding whether to do a swap for me......... will i be able to start the car and back down my driveway and shut it off or will i still have to run it till its hot?

 

Don't quote me on any of this because it is all hear say. I don't have an Rx8. But I have heard that they do still have the cold start/shut down flooding problems. Some have been towed back into the dealer ships because the owner could not get it started after they moved it from the garage and shut it down.

 

The 8 has been known to flood, but not all the time. It is supposed to be getting better with the ECU updates. Look on the RX8 forum. Mine has not flooded, but I do not do cold shutdowns in either the 8 or the '88 vert.

 

thanks guys... are there any aftermarket parts that may help reduce the flooding risk???? would running a higher thermostat help? are there aftermarket parts that could potentially harm me and make the motor flood more????

 

You could always run a turbo timer for 10 minues, so the car would be guaranteed to warm up before shutdown.

The engine floods because the rotary uses quite a bit of fuel when cold, partially because it's a rotary and partially because Mazda dumps fuel in there to heat up the cat. When you shut it down while its dumping gas into the chamber there's not much you can do about that. ..unless you have the mind to shutdown while fuel is being cut, like as rpms drop from a rev.

 

so if i want to save the money and not get a turbo timer, and i want to shut it down when cold, i can give it a good rev and shut it off as its dropping to prevent flooding? just want to make sure i understand before i go and flood my motor

 

Well, buying a turbo timer to just avoid flooding is kind of rediculous.. I was being silly. One came with my car and that's all I use it for: when I start and move the car I set it and forget it.

As for the rev-it and cut the power, it's been an idea that's rolling around in my head lately. I don't know 100% how the stock ecu handles fuel cut but on the powerFC (what I use) when you close the throttle from a rev you can see the injector duty drop to 0, even during warmup.. so if you got the ECU into fuel cut and killed the motor during that fuel cut, you should be fine not flooding the car.

In my experience once you know how/why rotaries flood, it's not a problem with the car as much as it is with the driver. You'll forget that you drive a car that you can't shutdown cold and then do it. No gimmic will save you from forgetting.

Dave

 

I agree. Once you know how it happens it's easy to avoid it. Plus with good plugs and everything runnning right, even if you try, it should still be few and far inbetween when it happens.

Just find out how to change your plugs and pull the fuel relay/fuse. You should be able to unflood it then, just like any other rotary. Don't let minor flooding detour you.

 

yeah speaking of turbo timers, god I know i'm gonna get flamed for this, but what does one look like? I have one in my car, apparently not installed properly, so i want to rehook it all back up so mine works. it's a bitch to leave the keys in the car and run it for about 5-10 mins every day after work....not to mention i don't think the neighborhood i'm in is safe to do that.

 

No flames needed. They come in all shapes and sizes. Mine looks like a radar detector..

To be honest the general consensus is that using a turbo timer is only really beneficial if you're running an oil-cooled turbo. On most all factory turbocharged cars the turbos are water cooled. After you shut off the car the natural convection of water will still continue to cool the turbo(s). The turbo timer became one of those over-marketed items (like loud BOVs and 6" tachs.) If mine wasn't working fine and out of the way I'd have sold it long ago.

 

With the latest M flash (last I checked) the flooding issue has pretty much been eliminated. A year ago, that's all that was discussed on the RX8 forum. Now, I had to search for the topic and the last post was from about 2 or 3 months ago.

I was really disappointed to hear all the flooding issues last year. Very happy it appears to have been resolved. Now the debate of whether to get one or not!

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