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Coupes & Convertibles Mazda RX-8 Mazda RX-8
3616 messages, Last post on Apr 22, 2009 at 5:06 AM
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Oh, I *know* it's not a 2-stroke engine. I was using that analogy because most people understand how one works and how it needs to inject a little bit of oil as it runs. And, yes, it goes through more oil than a typical new 4-stroke engine. But that's normal. I find it interesting that owners complain as if the engine is faulty somehow for doing what it should normally do. Mazda needs to put a page in the brochure and manual explaining how it works and why you need to add a little oil regularly(as opposed to every 3-5K miles in a typical 4-stroke engine). The engine also appears to have a much smaller amount of oil in it compared to a typical 4-stroke, so being a quart down is more of a problem whan when you have 8 quarts total. Me? I would have had a separate little tank and used a special oil. Less chance to get the thing messed up if the oil is always "rotary oil"(some specific weight/etc that works best). But I can also see a LOT of people doing zero maintainence on their cars and it dying as a result. Either way, it's reliable and fun if you do the preventative maintainence/checks every weekend.
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Replying to: plekto (May 05, 2007 10:32 am) You're assuming the average owner reads the manual... |
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Replying to: plekto (May 05, 2007 10:32 am) Better look again. The RX-8 holds at least 5 litres of oil. You can't drain it all out, because it's held in the cooler and you also can't fully empty the oil pan. We fully drained ours once, and had to put in the full amount. Shocking!  I started calling it "the truck". Also, Mazda has played fast and loose with the dipstick, raising and lowering its' calibrations (full and add marks) a couple of times since introduction. So it's kind of hard to know when you -really- should add oil. If I'm near change time I let it run a little low. Some have stated you can actually run it a quart low with no problems. Don't try to race it like that though! In hard cornering, the oil -could- slop away from the pump pickup. That would be a "bad thing" (tm).
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Replying to: pathstar1 (May 05, 2007 6:04 pm) |
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Better look again. The RX-8 holds at least 5 litres of oil. You can't drain it all out, because it's held in the cooler and you also can't fully empty the oil pan. We fully drained ours once, and had to put in the full amount. Shocking! I started calling it "the truck". Also, Mazda has played fast and loose with the dipstick, raising and lowering its' calibrations (full and add marks) a couple of times since introduction. So it's kind of hard to know when you -really- should add oil. If I'm near change time I let it run a little low. Some have stated you can actually run it a quart low with no problems. Don't try to race it like that though! In hard cornering, the oil -could- slop away from the pump pickup. That would be a "bad thing" (tm). **** You just made my point.  The design of the engine tolerates a low oil condition much less well than a typical engine. So you have to check the oil every couple of weeks. Of course, if you have a bike or an old classic car, this is perfectly normal. A little extra work and you're good to go. But the RX-8 isn't a put gas and forget it Honda Civic, either.(and it's not washing machine bland, either
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Replying to: plekto (May 07, 2007 4:44 pm) The oil temp rises as there is less mass getting cooled in the pan. The anti-wear additives are being worked X times as fast (depending on how low the oil is). |
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Hi guys. It's good to be back on the board and read about RX-8 owners' words . I had been on this board a couple of times, and last time I posted, I was about to ship my car to Korea from US. Now I have settled in my home country. I was a little concerned about bringing my RX-8 into Korea since there is no official dealer/service center. I still couldn't part from the red hottie, so took the risk. Overall, I am happy driving this exotic looker in the city where 90% of luxury cars are BMW. Just hoping there won't be any major issue. I am about to make an oil change for the first time since I came to Korea and have a little bit of problem  . The manual says I am supposed to use 5W20 and I remember sometime ago on this board that synthetic oil is not good for rotary engines. Well, there is the problem. Apparently, it is not easy to purchase regular petroleum 5W20 here. Synthetic 5W20's are sold in a specialized stores for racing car tuning but not petroleum oil. Just wondering if I can use synthetic oil at all. Or, petroleum 5W30, which I can also purchase here. If neither, I should order oil from overseas (which is whole another problem). Thanks.
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Replying to: articist (May 11, 2007 5:59 am) Please note, synthetic is also petroleum oil. It's just got certain petroleum molecules in it that don't occur in nature. They have to be converted from "normal" oil. In fact, these days, most synthetic oils have moved back to being very close to normal oil. It's expensive to convert to the group 4 molecules and they are using group III more often now (eg Mobil 1 has changed from group IV back to group III last I heard). I think Royal Purple, Redline, and Amsoil still make group IV, and the German Castrol was group IV as well. Don't know if it's still available. Only reason I mention this is many think the group IV works best in the synthetic world. Mazda allege synthetics will harden certain seal materials in the engine. Lots of people use synthetic oils with good results. As always, YMMV.
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Replying to: pathstar1 (May 12, 2007 6:45 am) Anyway, after some extensive search for 5W20 non-synthetic, I did find a website which says they import such. I know you are in Canada, and this particular brand is Petro Canada. Is it a good oil? I think they have SL and ILSAC GF-3 seal. Thanks again.
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Replying to: articist (May 13, 2007 7:02 am) For example, I learned synthetic group III oil doen't harden seals like group IV and group V does. So if that's true, Mobil 1 would be fine in the RX-8. At any rate, I don't think you have to be really worried. As long as you stick to the grades specified by Mazda it should work just fine. The weights are not that critical, except for mileage. Especially if you are sure to warm the engine up before reving it or putting high loads on it. Mazda are walking a fine line re fuel economy in the US, hence the insistance on 5W20. |
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