The Mazda RX8 is a great performance car for a relatively low cost. Rather than your conventional engine, the RX8 has a rotary engine and as you may know, rotary engines can suffer from flooding relatively easily. Once you have a flooded RX8 they can seem impossible to start, but in the article below I will show you how to start a flooded RX8 Mazda without the huge mechanic bill.

Problems – Get It Started Fast

RX8 engines are known to have lots of problems some won’t start, some have hot start issues and some have misfires. But most owners will come across the not starting problems.

On this occasion, the flooded RX8 engine was caused by moving the car from one location on the drive to another, without letting it warm up enough.

Click – All RX8 Engine Swap Options

Proof It Works

Here you can see our flooded RX8 starting using this method.

How to start a flooded RX8 in 15 minutes

What you need:

A car battery charger

Set of high-quality jump leads or portable jump pack

Another car to jump off

One phillips screwdriver

De-flood Your RX8 Process Fast

First, we are going to disconnect the power from the fuel pump and then crank the engine over to clear out some of the additional fuel that is in the engine, then we will reconnect the fuel pump and jump start the car to get it started. Unless you are very lucky, it is unlikely to start on the first try and could take 10-15 iterations of this process to get it started. Make sure you leave around 30 seconds between cranking the engine over to allow the starter motor to cool down.

Click – How To Rebuild an RX8 – Video Series

Step 1 – Charge Up

Put the car on charge beforehand to ensure it has maximum power to crank the engine over.

Step 2 – Remove Rear Seat

Remove the rear passenger seat by pulling the base of the seat upwards to reveal the fuel pump cover.

Step 3 – Remove Cover

Use a phillips screwdriver to undo the 4 screws on the cover and lift off the cover.

Step 4 – Look at the fuel pump

Here you see the fuel pump and the connector that we will be disconnecting.

Step 5 – Set up jump leads

Set the car up for a jump start. I used heavy duty jump leads as you may be cranking the car over for around 15 minutes on and off, use another powerful car for the jump start, and make sure the other car is running at the time of jumping.

If you don’t have another car you, might be able to get away with a mobile power bank . I have successfully done this a few times.

Step 6 – Disconnect and Crank

Back in the driver’s seat, ensure the car is out of gear and remove the fuel pump connector from the fuel pump. Once removed crank the car over with the clutch depressed for 30 seconds to clear out the excess fuel from the engine.

Step 7 – Keep Cranking and connect pump

Whilst still cranking the engine, plug the fuel pump back in, apply 1/3 throttle and continue to crank the engine with the clutch depressed for 30 seconds. Repeat steps 6 and 7 until the car starts to fire up. When the car begins to catch, don’t let go of the key until you’re sure it will stay running. It can take many attempts to get it started. See the video below for an idea of how the process looks.

Click – How To Rebuild an RX8 – Video Series

Step 8 – Take the car for a run

Once running take the car on a good 20-minute run ensuring all fuel is burned off out of the exhaust properly. Fixed.

Flooded RX8 – Recommendations – Get a Boost Pack

I found that I was getting a bit nervous of stalling the RX-8 whilst out and about. Without a jump car it was impossible to get the car started again. But with a mobile jump pack I have been able to get the car going again. It might not work in all instances, but you can crank the car over around 20-30 times with these packs for are a great help.

Mazda RX8 Motor Swap

If your RX8 engine is truly broken then you might want to consider an engine swap, we have a full guide looking at everything from V8s, 1JZ, 2JZ or even 13B-REW engines. Take a look and plan your new engine.

Click – All RX8 Engine Swap Options