bloody oil!

[rxsam]

Not only does the 8 seem to eat more oil than the dealer indicated (or maybe its just my perceptoin as I seem to always be putting oil in and always at the petrol pump!!!)

but the fact that you have to carry oil arround with you everywhere is a real bummer.

Why can\'t oil makers use bottles that seal properly?!!

My mazda bag for my oil can is soaked through! This is the second time its happened aswell. Luckily the bag seems to keep it in pretty well however its a rigt pain in the ass.

Mazda should sort us out with a bottle to put the oil into, to store in an upright holder in the boot. I\'m a designer and thats what I would of done. (Give us a job Mazda?!)

Gripe over! going outside to take some pictures of the dirty beast!

[Donato]

Always putting oil in and always at the fuel pumps, welcome to the world of rotaries! You have to accept some niggles for the fun you get back though  

Halfords mineral oil comes with a nice leak proof cap, i know as i have a can bouncing around my boot at present.

[Norton]

Spare a thought for us Norton Rotary motorcycle owners, we use Shell Rotella DD plus which is only available by direct order from Shell and only comes in 200 litre drums!!!
Oil consumption is about 500 miles to the litre

[oilman]

TIP

You\'ll find a ski hatch between the rear seats. You can keep 3x1 litre bottles in here, upright.

That\'s where I keep mine.

Cheers
Simon

[BlueAdept]

I had mine serviced at 12100 miles and it\'s now got 14000.. it\'s only barely below 50% on the dipstick...  How often are you guys having to top up if it\'s a problem?..

[oilman]

I\'ve used 12L in 12000 miles.

Cheers
Simon

[MikeLMR]

it all depends how you dive, a heavy right foot will use more oil than a car that has been driven more sedately :-)

[BlueAdept]

Would YOU drive sedately?

[MikeLMR]

NO

I find the 7 uses about 1 litre in 2000 miles, but I do tend to do most of the miles on the motorway to and from shows as I don\'t use the car that often and the back lane miles don\'t add up that much

[ayrton012]

I\'m a red RX8 Revolution owner for about 1 year. I have 9000km in my car. The oil consumption is about 1/4 liter in 1000km. I\'m using 5w-50 Mobil-1 Rally Formula.

[zevans]

Originally posted by ayrton012
I\'m a red RX8 Revolution owner for about 1 year. I have 9000km in my car. The oil consumption is about 1/4 liter in 1000km. I\'m using 5w-50 Mobil-1 Rally Formula.

/50 is TOO THICK for a rotary, especially one without turbos, don\'t do this kids!

[ayrton012]

Well, I spent a lot of hours to know which is the best oil for my RX-8. Thicker doesn\'t means that it\'s weaker. If I right, the visco(viscosity) level of an oil is the most important thing. The higher visco means better protection, and better sealing.
The visco level of the Mobil-1 5w-50 RF is 104.9 on 40Celsius, 17.5 / 100 C. The index of visco: 184
The visco level of the 5w-40 Mobil Synth S: 91 / 40C, 14.5 / 100C,
visco index: 166.
As you see the Mobil-1 has higher stability in every temperature, so which is the better oil, and why?

Please, help me!

It\'s side ported, so synthetic oils are accepted, and I know that the temperature in the side ported rotary is low enough, compared to a normal engine with pistons.

[oilman]

The Renesis is designed to run on an sae 30 (5w-30 or 10w-30), I would have no problems with putting an sae 40 (5w-40 or 10w-40) in mine as one grade higher is ok especially if you are doing track days or have modded the car increasing BHP and potential oil temps however, the best option is always to stick to the manufacturers recommended viscosity but UP the quality to a fully synthetic 5w-30 which will be more thermally stable.

Mazda have told me that the reason for not recommending fully synthetic is that the engine was not tested on it although there is no seal compatability problem with the renesis engine.

The advice that I have been given from Oil Chemists is actually in favour of synthetics as they burn more cleanly.

With regards to using an sae 50, I personally wouldn\'t as I feel it\'s a step too far out of grade and the following consequences could come into play.

Moving two grades up from the recommended viscosity (say 5w-30 to 5w-50) is a little extreme and could cause long term engine damage if not short term.

Although the oil will still probably flow ok through the engine, it is a heavier visocosity oil. As such it will be more difficult to pump the oil through the engine. More friction will be present than with a lighter viscosity oil.

More friction means more heat. In other words, by going to a thicker oil in the summer months, you may actually be causing more heat build-up within the engine. You\'ll still be providing adequate protection from metal to metal contact in the engine by going with a high viscosity, but the higher viscosity will raise engine temperatures.

In the short run, this is no big deal. However, over the long term, when engine components are run at higher temperatures, they will wear out more quickly.

If you intend on keeping the vehicle for awhile, keep this in mind if you\'re considering using a heavier weight oil than the manufacturer recommends.

Remember the coolers are there to prevent the oil from getting too hot and "shearing" so there is no need to compensate for this through using a thicker oil.

Cheers
Simon

[zevans]

Let\'s not turn this into the synth versus mineral thing again...

I suggested that /50 is too thick at operating temperature and oilman is agreeing (I think ... )

As well as what he says about oil pressure and wear generally, remember that there is a metering pump which is designed to inject specific amounts of oil into the engine If the oil has significantly different flow properties from expected, that metering will be wrong and the wrong amount of oil will be injected. Remember /20 is recommended in some countries, so /50 is WAY out of grade.

Notice I\'m ignoring the 0/5/10 debate, because none of us abuse the cars when they\'re cold, do we?

[BlueAdept]

I\'m still curious to know why the US RX8\'s are 5w20