So i flooded my car pretty bad a week or so ago...and let it sit for a few days. then I went to do the unflood procedure and then realized my car wouldnt even crank. after checking starter wiring, etc, it magically cranks again. but still no fire. it sounds very weird when its cranking, like its lost compression on one of the rotors. it sounds like theres no compression or something. not sure what it could be. fyi right when i got the starter working again it did fire and then i let it die on accident before it warmed up and now it wont start. any help appreciated. thank you!

 

When the engine is flooded it loses compression, which is why they are so hard to start again. Many unfortunate owners have had their flooded rotary towed to the repair shop where they receive a diagnosis of no compression = need a new engine.

Clean the plugs off and squirt a little oil or Seafoam into the spark plug holes, then try it again. Then find out why it flooded in the first place (leaking injector?).

Good luck...




.

 

thanks for your input. i went ahead and tried cleaning the spark plugs and putting a little of oil in the spark plug holes. and now it sounds normal when it cranks but it wont start still. any ideas? i am a little worried that there is some internal damage but am confident I can get it running with some help. thanks in advance.

 

Unplug the fuel pump and spray one to two seconds of starter spray into the air intake and try to start the car. If the car starts it will brief as it will run on the fluid. After the car dies then replug the pump and try to start in a normal fashion.

 

Yeah, and give the thing an oil change, the flooding will "water" down the oils consistency and stops it from protecting the engine. Best un-flood procedure is to remove plugs and squirt in a bit of ATF to help up the compression, new or clean plugs. Dump oil ASAP and replace with new stuff, even some cheap motor oil will do, better than fuel thinned oil. Also if you are flooding frequently you may not want to fork out for expensive oil.

 

I had several instances of this problem over the years with my '91. It got so that it happened each time I washed the car, but sometimes if I opened the hood and let it dry out for a few hours it would start.

One time, it just would not start, so I had it towed to my local gas station mechanic. The guy stunned me with his diagnoses. First, he said that I needed a new engine. I nearly fainted. The car floods and that equates to needing a new engine?!?

He kept it to "try some other things," and then told me that it needed a new timing belt. When I pointed out that rotary engines don't have a timing belt, he stuttered and said, "Oh, I mean the timing chain..." When I said, "no, they don't have that either," the guy totally stuck his foot in his mouth. He said "That's amazing. I worked at a Mazda dealership for 10 years; they must have changed it since then."

By this time, I just wanted to get my car out of this lying, incompetent guy's hands.

But when I told him I had a tow truck on the way to take it somewhere else, he got busy and -- lo and behold -- he got it started. And then he said that the problem was fouled spark plugs, which he said had not been changed in a long, long time. When I whipped out my receipt for having him change the spark plugs a few months earlier, he stepped all over himself trying to back out of that bullshit.

Oye! "Caveat emptor" to the max.

 

good luck man. i just did the 3 step procedure on mt 1987 N/A and it worked like a charm! you may need to do the "complex" procedure and change spark plugs and all

 

When starting try pushing the peddle to the floor. On cold starts it cuts fuel to prevent flooding. Let it crank for a few seconds and release your foot fully off the peddle. It may sputter and should start. At least that's how mine is.

 

Good luck

 

this happened to me when I got my car. There's a number of thing you can do and if you do them all then it should work faster...
1.removing plugs and clean them
2.unplug fuel pump and crank engine for maybe 15 seconds, smoke should come from plug holes
3.put some automatic transmission fluid into the intake somehow (i put it right after my top mount intercooler
4.put her back together
5.when you crank the engine have your foot flat down on the throttle and do not crank for more than 5 seconds at a time, leaving a 20 to 30 second break into between attempts.

GOOD LUCK!

 

FYI I horribly flooded my S4 a couple weeks into ownership 10yrs ago

It took 3 evenings of cranking the motor 10-15 seconds at a time every 30min to unflood it.
Follow the procedure - unplug the fuel pump, hold the throttle pedal open(this only shuts off the injecotrs on S5 I believe), etc.

I cranked it till the exhaust no longer smelled like gas. And then some more for good meausre. Then plugged eveything back in and she started right up.

 

Pull the relay in the engine bay for fuel closest to the engine vs closest to the fender. Then go back in the car and push the gas pedal all the way down and try to start you car holding the key turned for about 10-15 seconds.Afterwards plug the relay back in and hold the pedal to the floor before starting it and it should work, a little smoking but it'll be good. Don't ever try to start the car by pumping the gas pedal or such, it'll flood it easily if the seals need to be rebuilt.

 

I used to put a spoonful of atf in the spark plug hole when things got really bad. It worked but the exhaust would smoke for hours.

 

If I am right,only the s5's have the "hold to the floor" Flood clear feature..S4 does not.
(If I am wrong I can edit..haha!)

 

Either you're right or I was taught to pull the fuses on the S4 for nothing lol