from his second sentence he already knows that the S5 has a fuel cut feature, it apparently didn't work.

Took everything apart and reassembled and no start. I didnt see anything wrong under the LIM that stood out. Both primary and secondary fuel rails were full of fuel, the injector tips were wet with fuel, so I believe getting fuel is not the problem. I put new wires on despite others checking out.

I tend to think several people on here are correct in that some how it is still flooded. When I tried to start it it vaguely sounded like a couple of times that it wanted to compress, but not so. I removed the plugs, EGI fuse and held the pedal to the floor and turned it over about 10 seconds 5 separate times. I'll do a few more times, add the oil and do it again. Running out of time so I'll have to push the car out of the way to leave for Christmas.

Many thanks to all your quality inputs and Merry Christmas.

I've never had any luck with just blowing the gas out the exhaust or spark plug holes. It's a waste of time to pull the spark plugs to de-flood it anyways. Just try getting as much oil as you can in the intake. I can almost guarantee you success.

Gave it one last shot by putting even more oil in the plug holes. Rotated with 22mm using the alternator, then tried starting. Didnt start but kinda almost did. Looks like I'll try the other method AGreen suggest.

AGreen, are you saying uncap one of the 2 manifold caps, attach a hose and blow oil in. Is this right? I ask because I never heard of this? Probably wont get to try for next few days though.

What kind of acid? I tried white vinegar once and it didn't work.

One of the manifold caps will work just fine. I just pull the vacuum tube off the MAP sensor and dip it in a bottle. IF that doesn't work, then I'll remove the whole line, suck up oil in it, then blow it into the engine. In your situation (with such a CLEAN engine) I'd recommend removing the vacuum tube from the engine (the MAP line) and use a NEW vacuum tube to do this. Oil will degrade the rubber hose quickly.

The reason I chose that port is that it's dead center of the manifold. Due to its location, it evenly distributes oil to the front and rear rotors. Really any vacuum source will get the job done though. I know for a fact that if you pour enough oil down the brake booster line, an Rx8 will recover from a floodout :D

I tried putting oil in the spark plug holes a few times, but it's just so damn messy. Plus it takes so much longer to pull the plugs, and you never really know if you're getting it in there!


Not to toot my own horn, but my method really is the shit.

WHen all this is over, Change the oil... One time I was having a bad flooding issue and could never get the car to stay running because the oil was so thin and full of gas..

Success! Thanks to the forum's help and AGreen's de-flood method, it started. A great sight to see was this big cloud of white smoke that persisted for like 5 minutes. I still need to bleed the air out of the coolant and then I'll change the oil.

I still have the bad connector issue and ordered new connectors, but haven't received them yet. Hopefully the connector wont work lose for a week or so.

Attached is a pic of what AGreen recommended in lieu of de-flooding by removing the spark plugs. Run a hose to the intake manifold to the vacuum cap & blow oil through it to build compression. It works!

vinegar is mainly used for mineral deposits for uses like cleaning glass or hard water off your car's paint.

most heavy duty automotive degreasers will work for the fasteners, find degreasers that can be diluted but don't dilute it. soak the parts in the degreaser for at least a few hours then brush them with a soft brush or place them in a tumbler in the solution for a few hours, rinse and repeat until they're all clean. purple power works just fine for the job and can be found at most auto parts stores, just don't use it on aluminum parts and wear gloves while using it. wash the parts in fresh water afterwards to get any residue off or they will have a white residue on them after drying.

grats jd!

Well crap, only way I can start now is to inject oil in through the intake manifold. I let it run until op temp before shutting down to burn off excess oil/gas. Once it starts it seems to operate fine. Any suggestions?

If it's flooding every time you start it, put in a fuel cut switch. Yes, it's kind of a cheap bandaid, but it really does work. The fuel relay is easy to get to under the dash just to the right of the steering column. I used a beefy switch and put it on the main power to the relay.

Any instructions on how to install a fuel cutoff switch? I'm no electrical person.

I know where the relay is because I changed it when I did the fuel pump this past winter.

I'll do a compression test tomorrow, but my gut feel is its not a compression issue. Once it starts it runs fine. Something is causing a fuel dump at start up (I think).

Once I burned off the oil I injected and burned off the excess fuel from flooding, it now starts. It's a weak start, but it starts.

I ran a compression check and the numbers are kinda low for Front Rotor:
Front ~70 psi
Rear ~90 psi
Mileage: 196,546

compression usually is the cause of hard starting actually.

with rotaries, once you get them started they will run fine even on low compression. get the compression figures first before spending too much time on anything else.

Good advice. So how would 70 psi rate? Should I plan on ordering a engine gasket set? I read someplace, but I can't find it now, 70 psi and below is the lower limit. Anything 70 and below is marginal. Is that an accurate assumption?

70 is marginal at best as far as starting, usually you will run into starting issues in the 80psi and less ranges. for a S5 non turbo, 70psi is actually pretty horrible compression wise. sorry.

Ok, I figured as much but wanted to hear it from the experts. I need to start accumulating engine rebuild gaskets and so forth. $$$$

I noticed black dust on the ground at the back of the car inline with the tail pipes. Upon closer look, it looks like after all these startups and running the car it has been blowing out carbon. Enough that there are two trails on the garage floor.