View Full Version : Oil usage...getting better????


9-K Rever
12-10-2003, 03:47 PM
Hey guys...this may just be my imagination but I swear to god my oil usage had been getting less.... I have about 2k miles since my last change..and no light, and levels are are realy respectable in the pan.

I wonder if it has to do with the type of oil I am running now. The car came with 5w 20 and the first change was done with 5w20... the car now is running on 5w 30....I wonder if that has something to do with it.

FEEDBACK PLEASE!

mikeb
12-10-2003, 05:39 PM
must be the different weight in oil

FirstSpin
12-11-2003, 06:20 AM
My dealer (the salesman) told me that there's no 5W-20 in Houston and that they are trying either to get some or to get permission from Mazda to use something else. That doesn't give me warm fuzzies since my car is obviously not the first car they've sold (or serviced). This makes you wonder what they've been using on the cars they've serviced to date.

How hard is 5W-20 oil to get? Where do I get it? Is the use of another weight apt to cause problems? Would such problems be warrantied? Questions--questions....

9-K Rever
12-11-2003, 08:29 AM
The Renesis was designed to use 5w-20 its a light thin oil. You should be able to pick some up at a local auto store. But, I am wondering if there is a connection to my better oil milage by useing the 5w-30. I have been running it for some time now and the car is fine. Rule of thumb about sales people, they realy don't know that much.

RobDickinson
12-11-2003, 09:16 AM
Originally posted by 9-K Rever
The Renesis was designed to use 5w-20 its a light thin oil.

Bollox. What oil it needs realy depends on the temperature range the cars likely to see.

The RX-8 comes with 5w30 as standard in UK/Europe.

cruzdreamer
12-11-2003, 09:37 AM
I bought some Pennzoil 5W 20 oil....could not find anywhere on the label if it was synthetic or not. Help?

9-K Rever
12-11-2003, 09:51 AM
Oh boy...that should be on the lable if its synthetic or not.

yrotory
12-11-2003, 12:01 PM
Fastspin, your dealer didn't look very hard. 5W-20 oil is at any Autozone, Wally world, etc. in Houston. Its easy to find

If it doesn't say synthetic on the label, it is not synthetic. Even if it does say synthetic it may only be Group III basestock and not the PAO or esters found in Mobil 1 or other oils using Group IV or V basestock.

Also, your oil consumption should not be getting "better". The engine has a metering pump that injects oil to lube the seals. This accounts for most of the oil consumption and should not change much if your driving doesn't.

jonalan
12-11-2003, 02:32 PM
Originally posted by 9-K Rever
Rule of thumb about sales people, they realy don't know that much.
Careful now! Some of us may be in the "sales" business. :)

9-K Rever
12-11-2003, 04:03 PM
Jonalan- WHOOPS! Sorry man! My bad...no offence intended!

Careful now! Some of us may be in the "sales" business.

9-K Rever
12-11-2003, 04:12 PM
Y ROTARY-

Thats what I am trying to say. We all know about the oil injector. And the seals, we know they seals also expand with centrifical force.. You can have leaky seals when they get old and what not. But, what I am trying is say is here there may be a connection to a higher weight motor oil lasting longer in in the rotor houseing than the thinner weights. When I was running 5w-20 I was seeing the light every 16hundred miles or so...but, I have gone over 2k miles since the last change with 5w-30 and there is still plenty in the pan. And no light. I might even make it to my next change w/o putting oil in it. (Jump up and down) It could stick to the seals better than the lighter 5w-20..

What do you think?

9-K Rever

yrotory
12-11-2003, 09:07 PM
9-K, I think the oil injection system has no clue what weight oil it is injecting or what happens to it after it is injected. Viscosity has little affect on the capacity of a positive displacement pump.

Maybe its just a question of the oil seals doing a better job so less oil is getting past to the combustion chambers by that route. Maybe something else. Time will tell.

yrotory