WA FC owners, is anyone having cold start/flooding problems?
 

Pain in the ass........

I have to wake up for work at 4 am every day. The other morning I hopped in my beast and it was cranking but wouldn't fire. My boss had to come pick me up it was pretty embarrassing let me tell ya......When I got home I found out it was flooded. I did the EGI fuse removal trick and it eventually got the job done after a few tries, but now the engine sounds like it's miss firing a little bit. I'm getting new plugs and wires tomorrow so hopefully that does the trick.....

Can anyone give me some tips to avoid any future coldstart headaches? I could really use the help, I can't afford to be unreliable for my job because of a stupid cold start problem.

uggg i hate it when that happens

that doesn't help me much

hmm, as i recall fuel stabilizer worked best for me, and a different mix ratio of water and coolant. I think i used less water and more coolant before. There were some reallly cold mornings last winter and Rotar didnt like it very much, but plugs wires, and something to alter the start up temp might work. I also reved the shit out the motor to blow out carbon after each use and let it sit for 2 min for a cooldown before shutting it down. Good luck with it mayn!

how long do you warm the engine from completly cold to the point you start driving to work ? I know that in rx8 you are suppose to rev the engine to around 4k then shut it off at 4k, has somthing to do with clearing the fuel system so it won't flood as easy. might wanna try that see if it makes a difference. don't do the 4k trick if you have exhaust leaks lol

WingsofWar, what fuel stabilizer?

Jack: Well that's the thing, the car wont even run on it's own. It cranks but wont fire. but on the lucky days it does fire up I let the car sit for a minute to stretch it's legs, so to speak.

my exhaust system is fine, I don't think that's the problem.

throttle position sensor ?

where and what is that?

the tps is located up top of the motor in front of the top mani, its what you would think your idle screw is, and can push it to rev motor up if you want. the tps is the little black deal that it moves.

It's your injectors. Try searching for witch hunter performance
Screw it I got it http://www.witchhunter.com/
He's located in WA, so he's local. I met up w him to get my injectors cleaned + flow tested. I had the same problem as you. It wasn't that the injectors weren't flowing properly, it was just that one of the end caps was broken + caused it to leak in the cold. He gives you new ones + new O rings as well. Cheaper than that engineering place in cali that does this too.

You'll need a new gasket though.

If you have an S5, you can just floor the gas when you start it up. That will clear everything out.

thanks for the link. How much did it cost you?

put a gas pump. on & off switch in line yuo can call me at 253-677-5616

Your problem is quite familiar. I installed a rocker switch (on the dash) and ran a wire to the fuel pump relay, under the passengers feet and flip the switch prior to turning off the key and just let the engine die. Now you have a theft deterrent and when you turn the key on, flip your switch. Remember, in start mode, the injectors supply huge amount of fuel which obviously is too much. hence flooding. I realize it's not the perfect cure, but I like the fact that it discourages car theft and no more having the boss pick you up. Like incubuseva said, your injectors are probably leaking while you sleep.

Engine rebuild.....






But on a more helpful note, if your engine is getting old and tired and having starting problems here's a cheater trick to help for a while. When you go to turn off the car rev it up to 3-4k rpm's and take out the key (kill it). That way you'll minimize flooding issues.

This is usually for hot start problems mostly, but if the engine is really getting tired and just flooding in general hot or cold this can help. Never really heard about purely cold start problems.

Might just need a new battery, one that has more CCA's.

Good luck.

The engine only has 95k on it, not bad considering it's a 16 year old car.

I'd do that switch/relay trick thingie but I'm not electrical saavy enough to figure that out.

you learn this from your 8 ?

It says 17 bucks per injector. I dunno if he puts tax on that or not... It was a long time ago that I had this done. But I haven't had any problems since.

I have had/am having that same problem. Getting the fuel injectors cleaned helped a lot for a bit, but then it went down hill again, but still better than before.
My problem is that I have low compression. 75psi front rotor and 60 back >_<

today i bought new spark plugs to see if that would help.....

I got three of them out pretty easily, but the upper left one is stuck in the hole. The white ceramic or porcelin or whatever it is is broken and now the metal shaft is bent. The socket still wraps around the nut on the plug but slips off as soon as I try to torque it. My friends think the plug is "warped" in the hole, but is that even possible?

Either way now that the plug is broken and bent, what kind of tool do I have to use to get it out? Will The socket wrench still work?

Looks like you need a rebuild there buddy. 80 is considered the low point at where you should rebuild. You're way past that...

I might try some vice grips but they might break the whole thing clean off...

this is probably a dumb question....but would anti-seize help at this point?

You are very right, lol. But being the poor college student that I am, and having no where to do such a procedure in my tiny college town, it'll just have to wait. *sigh*

No. PB blaster might though. That stuff is god.

Yeah I hear ya. I'm just poor though :(