Confirmed hot start issue - gutted!

[CylonOne]

Well, I'm only few days into RX8 ownership, and being part of this fantastic forum but alas, it's game over for me.

My RX8 is just stunning to drive, there doesn't seem to be any power loss, but today I've discovered it 100% has a hot starting issue...

I went out for a nice early evening drive around the Durham countryside, all went fantastically. I parked up on my drive afterwards, turned off the engine, then thought "I wonder if I have a hot start issue", so tried to start it again. No good. This confirms that what I thought was a flood yesterday, was in fact a hot start issue.

Let the car cool, went out 20 mins later and it started on the button!

Unfortunately, although it's one of the nicest cars I've ever driven, I am just not financially prepared or willing to start spending money on investigating the issue. The coils, plugs and leads look very old and it hasn't had the starter upgrade, so perhaps those fixes would cure it. But I guess I'm just one of those RX8 owners who, having experienced such an issue so early on, just decides it's not for them.

I paid £900 for the car, so not exactly expensive. It's not on Gumtree for just over half of that (with the hot start issue fully disclosed).



David
Durham

[Secla]

Link ?

[CylonOne]

Link ?

I'm not a member, so don't think I'm permitted to list a sale on the forum.

If you want to drop me a PM.

[acegeezer]

You didn't check it first, or read the buyers guide before buying it then?
Plus you can almost guarantee the need for full ignition replacement that's another £500+ straight away, sounds like you couldn't afford to maintain it anyway.

[Scartlead]

If it is has hot start issues, then £900 is not the end of the world. At least you sampled the delights of what this car can give you, shame, a little more diligence when buying, would have gotten you a better example. GLWTS anyway

[CylonOne]

......... sounds like you couldn't afford to maintain it anyway.

You're just "one of those people", I'd guess.

I said I was not financially prepared or willing to invest in the fault further. But hey, feel free to make wild, snarky assumptions about people...

Muppet.

[BigPete]

What's the mileage? any rust or damage? 231 or 192
You could check the cranking speed just in case it's a slow starter motor or battery

[New Duke]

He wasn't being snarky even if it read like that. He meant that in the scheme of things this is a sports car that can't be run on the cheap. Low second hand prices are misleading.

Some people are lucky and get a bargain, most aren't and now you know why the car was only £900 to start with. It's not an issue or fault that the car developed, it was there when you bought it. You're not the first and sadly you won't be the last.

I'm sorry that you don't want to repair it. Why not take it to a specialist like bigpete for a second opinion? These cars do give back what you put into them. Good luck with the sale and good on you for disclosing the hot start issue in your ad.

[warpc0il]

Failing to restart immediately isn't "the hot start issue" associated with low compression.

You *may* have low compression but it's just (if not more) likely that your ignition system needs some tlc.

To be valid, a hot start test needs to be left a few minutes after switch off before restarting. The classic real-world scenerio would be pulling over for petrol, filling-up, walking in to pay, and then finding that the car won't restart until you wait another 20 minutes.

You need a compression test.

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[Delanor]

If you don`t start RX-8 ownership with a decently sorted example then expect trouble, you have a 14 year old car on 74K miles and you say "The coils, plugs and leads look very old and it hasn't had the starter upgrade" so there is bound to be problems isn`t there.

I bought a 20 year old Porsche 911 on 90K miles with a full service history and a huge pile of invoices I had to spend a small fortune on it with a lot of work mechanically to get it in a decent condition, I was expecting as much but you never know until you take ownership then you find out.

To be honest £900 for an RX-8 isn`t going to buy the best example is it or at least I wouldn`t expect it to be, my own RX-8 example owned from new has had 3 different upgrade coil sets and leads and 2x batteries and that is @ 11 years old and only 29K miles.

As above some investigation is required certainly the ignition system/battery needs to be in good order first and a compression check is a cert it may not be a terminal fault, did it fail to hot start when you test drove it?

*
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Del.

[Paul_13]

To be valid, a hot start test needs to be left a few minutes after switch off before restarting. The classic real-world scenerio would be pulling over for petrol, filling-up, walking in to pay, and then finding that the car won't restart until you wait another 20 minutes.

That brings back bad memories. When I drove the rx8 a bit before I broke it for the engine etc, I was stuck in texaco and the bloody thing wouldn't start. Que lots of comments and looks from other people

[Davemitch]

You could take it for a compression test and check over by Matt hes only in Shildon and repairs/breaks rx8s

[acegeezer]

......... sounds like you couldn't afford to maintain it anyway.

You're just "one of those people", I'd guess.

I said I was not financially prepared or willing to invest in the fault further. But hey, feel free to make wild, snarky assumptions about people...

Muppet.

Muppet yourself.. buying something like this and not prepared to spend on it is just plain stupid!
Coming on here and crying about it, what on earth did you expect people to say?

[goodeggbob]

David,there are one or two people on here atm,that are considering doing diy engine swaps. Why not read up a bit and see if this is a possibility,after all ,you clearly enjoy the car. What is the overall condition of the car? does it warrant a replacement engine? have you ruled out everything else?
There are people on here who can help you out,whether it be advice,or actually lending you parts to do an elimination process.Just ask.

[warpc0il]

Why are we assuming it needs an engine swap/rebuild, on so little evidence?

[Essex2Visuvesi]

[350matt]

David,there are one or two people on here atm,that are considering doing diy engine swaps. Why not read up a bit and see if this is a possibility,after all ,you clearly enjoy the car. What is the overall condition of the car? does it warrant a replacement engine? have you ruled out everything else?
There are people on here who can help you out,whether it be advice,or actually lending you parts to do an elimination process.Just ask.

the drawback with an engine swap is most of the time there's little guarantee that the replacement engine is any better than the one you're pulling out
as 90% of the lumps that are are sale / pulled out of cars are in need of a rebuild anyway

best option is rebuild another one or the one that you have

the way to view it I'd say is that the Rexi is actually a 4K car that you can buy very cheaply but it will need an engine at some point

after all what else can you buy for £900 that goes, looks , sounds handles etc etc like this

alternatively sell it on and get a n E46 BMW 328 as thats about the closest alternative for not a lot of cash

[goodeggbob]

obviously,he would only consider an engine swap,when it has been determined that his own engine is useless,as i previously mentioned.
as for a diy swap,you would of course carry out as many tests as possible before purchase,just as you would when buying the whole car.