Flood on cold start

[Harley25]

Hi,
I've had my R3 for a few months now, it's at 94k mileage so quite alot I guess, but it had a rebuild at 89k and new coils/sparks in 2019. But now it keeps flooding and I've got no clue why.
It's only on cold starts after it has sat for about a week (only really drive at weekends) which is weird, it'll fire but then immediately stall. Whats more is I find it very difficult to start again using the throttle down to cut fuel, crank for 8 seconds, repeat 7-10 times then actually try to start it.
When it's going it's a dream to drive, pulls fine and hot starts easily. I'm going to take it to HME rotary soon for servicing and that because they rebuilt the engine. I was just wondering if anyone has experienced similar? Love the car when it's running though
-Harley

[Harley25]

Are you sure it's flooding?

A flooded engine won't start at all from cold.

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[Harley25]

Yeah it's flooding, stinks of fuel. The first time it happened I towed it to the nearby mazda dealer, and they cleaned the plugs and ot started right up. It's just weird how it floods on a completely cold start.

[warpc0il]

Could be the throttle body sticking.

It's a fly-by-wire throttle, so no direct connection to the pedal.


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[Dr. FrankenRex]

I don't believe the R3 has the foot-to-the-floor fuel cut...

Have you tried to start it without the throttle at all?

[Dr. FrankenRex]

Also, how do you turn the car off after a drive... Please tell me you don't hold it at 5k rpm for 8 seconds or blip the throttle...

[boosted]

Sounds like a leaky injector to me.? Id pull the plugs when it does it and see if 1 chamber or another or both.

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[Harley25]

I've tried taking out the fuel pump fuse too, still just very stubborn to start. I just turn it of normally. I've heard about revving it before you turn off and I've done it before but to me it makes no difference.

I was thinking maybe a leaky injector slowly filling it over a week or just bad ignition. But wouldn't I notice something like that while driving? It's smooth as butter when it's running and it pretty quick, no hesitation or anything. I've had it misfire on cold starts a little before, but it stops after 15 seconds or so.

Thanks for the replies guys

[Harley25]

Sounds like a leaky injector to me.? Id pull the plugs when it does it and see if 1 chamber or another or both.

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Haha I saw this just as I sent my previous post. I'm thinking the same, just an odd thing to happen though I guess.

[boosted]

Been awhile since we sold our r3 and it did a 5 sec cold start misfire flashing cel malarky.
It had d585s.. i took them off and went rev c oem. Solved that problem.
But it always started fine hot or cold. I suspected coils or leaky injector and if coils had not solved i was gonna pull em and send for test/repair.

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[BigPete]

Who did the rebuild?
I’d check the plugs and make sure all the ht leads are pushed on fully. Possibly a small leak on a water seal. Does it start fine after the cold start?

[350matt]

Possibly faulty coolant temp sensor ? so its not controlling the fuel mix correctly ?

[warpc0il]

When you're trying to restart, does the light go out, following the lamp test?

It would been useful to plug in an ODB reader and see what's happening, as there might even be some Pending codes.

Doesn't need to be anything fancy, just a cheap ELM dongle with the free Torque app is enough.

[Harley25]

Thanks for the help guys, really appreciate it. Just had the spark plugs out, cleaned them and cranked the engine. Spat out loads of fuel. But I went to start it and still no luck! Gonna try again tomorrow.

Rebuild was done at HME rotary so I'm going to take it there soon. It's very reluctant to start to say the least. Almost like it dumps tonnes of fuel in on start up only to not burn anything. But then there was alot of smoke out the back and it was trying really hard.

At least it looks nice, I get alot of compliments. Got a big REDSUNS sticker on the side
People think it's a supercar or something haha. I let you know how I get on tomorrow.

[Nickp47]

Could this be as simple as a weak battery? If it’s been left for a week or so it may have lost some battery charge thus is turning over slower. If possible, next time you try to start it hook it up to some extra power

[Harley25]

Hi guys,
Got it going the other week, loads of smoke!
But I took it to work today (I work at a garage) and it flooded again on me. Pretty lucky it flooded at the garage really .

It's drank a little bit of coolant so worse case it might well be another rebuild unfortunately, depending on what the lads say when they test all the easy bits (battery/sensors etc). Do you think it could be little drops of coolant fouling the spark plugs while it's sitting?

I bought it knowing there was no warranty as it doesn't pass on to the new owner, but I hoped it'd be pretty sound after only a few thousand miles. I won't be too annoyed if it comes to a rebuild though, I budgeted for it hehe and the car was cheap. Maybe some k-seal will do the job.

Honestly though, taking it to Matlock Bath last weekend with the guys was the most fun I've had in ages. Love the car to bits despite its flaws.

[ChrisHolmes]

Talk to HME and get it booked in there for health check.