I think it could be appropriate to start a thread on this subject. I was motivated by the most recent member to lose an engine. In the responses, at 165 miles one member said his/her service tech said not to baby his 8, to 'drive it like you stole it'. Occasionally some have mentioned how the service tech thought the 8 needs 10W30, some think the service folks filled with 10W30, etc.
I've been in and out of only a few dealership service areas with new cars over 27 years of driving - mostly Mazda and VW dealers - but I think it's safe to say, as a generalization, that most service techs have never or seldom worked on cars and to boot are generally not enthusiasts, and really don't read what the printout on your receipt says before or after the car goes into the service bay. There are exceptions. The one at my dealer who threw away my $200 tire (I recovered later and had it fixed by a tire shop) is an enthusiast at least by conversatio - but not a Rotary enthusiast. The short of it is this: the service techs are dealing not only with a new car but with a technology they generally don't understand and most don't care to learn about or ever understand.
If you have the knowledge that your car needs 600 miles for break-in and how to do that from this forum - and the tech says drive it really hard - don't listen to the tech - listen to the sage advice that is backed up by decades of experience by a mass of Rotary enthusiasts here. It's also safe to say that most [maybe all ]RX-8 owners on this forum know and care a whole lot more about their individual cars than any one service tech person EVER will.
IF I were to create a poll [ I won't ] about this - I think it would show that most owners here have encountered at least one service tech that was oblivious to the 8's needs already.
anyone want to back up my theory??

I totally agree man.

I am the lucky exception... The owner of the dealership I bought mine from is a rotary enthusiast. And that is great for me becuase his staff are used to working on his cars. Mine gets treated like it was made of solid gold. The service dept is always curteous to me and they seem to know there stuff. Now I have learned a few things from the forum that the service dept is not aware of yet but they jump all over researching it for me and getting things taken care of.

I agree. Thirty three years of the dealership dance! Some good some bad. Years ago it would take awhile to gather dependable information. We certainly have solved those problems with info sharing like this. The learning curve has been reduced, this enables some of us turnips to stay on the truck instead of falling off.

I knew of all service problems and bullitens issued before I bought. This was a great help in deciding what dealership to buy from. The interview process for the dealers was a real thrill. You find out real fast who has it and who is clueless.

RX8daniel you nailed it!

my service tech said

1. your low MPG(12-13) is probably due to winter gas. come back in the summer if you still have low MPG and we'll check it then.

2. your oil was a half quart low.

when i got home i checked the dipstick and it was half a quart over the full line.

3. the heated seats are warmers only.

mine barely get warm yet most people polled say theirs are very warm to hot.

4. your VIN is not in the range for the new oil pan.

it is and i had to bring it back after rescheduling and get the oil pan installed.

5. all mazdas now use 5w30.

the response i got when i had the oil pan replaced and the oil listed was 5w30. when questioned about this i got many different answers then finally the excuse that the oil used was 5w20 but the service log showed 5w30 incorrectly.

6. cannot duplicate problem.

response to my driver window making a gritty sound more so than the passenger side when putting window up.

love my car just not happy with the service department. there is another dealership a half hour away may have to start taking it there.

Not a service tech, but a salesmen (yeah I know).

He took me outside and showed me the soot on the RX8 tailpipes and proceeded to tell me that the soot is there because the rotary's "use" oil in the normal operating procedure (which isn't entirely incorrect). I then told him the reason that there was soot on the pipes was because the 8 is running a pig rich mixture and the soot is the result of that.
He looked a little flustered by this and proceeded to change the subject.:)

Oh don't worry that noise/vibration is normal, they all do that!

Hey rx8daniel. I am the one who said "drive it like you stole it" and that advice came to me from the dealer tech rep who has done ONLY rotary work for over 25 years (and is a Rotary enthusiast as well), which is the primary reason I chose the dealership. Oh, and yeah, it is the same advice I got from from my younger son based on his GSL-SE which has never missed a lick.
Now, I didn't just fall off the turnip wagon either (and my signature sums it up) and I agree that most service techs don't really give a tinker's dam. What I do think is that far too much effort is put into getting the best deal on the front end without any investigation into the service capability of the dealer, which then produces many of the stories on this forum. Find a dealer where the employees actually buy and drive these cars and you've found the dealer you want, because it's not just a job to them, it's a passion.
So, how's mine doing? It ain't missed a lick either. No flooding. No stalling. No problem. And, I'm not saying to go out and abuse it. I'm saying don't baby it, and there's a big difference.

Originally posted by RX-GR8
my service tech said

1. your low MPG(12-13) is probably due to winter gas. come back in the summer if you still have low MPG and we'll check it then.

2. your oil was a half quart low.

when i got home i checked the dipstick and it was half a quart over the full line.

3. the heated seats are warmers only.

mine barely get warm yet most people polled say theirs are very warm to hot.

4. your VIN is not in the range for the new oil pan.

it is and i had to bring it back after rescheduling and get the oil pan installed.

5. all mazdas now use 5w30.

the response i got when i had the oil pan replaced and the oil listed was 5w30. when questioned about this i got many different answers then finally the excuse that the oil used was 5w20 but the service log showed 5w30 incorrectly.

6. cannot duplicate problem.

response to my driver window making a gritty sound more so than the passenger side when putting window up.

love my car just not happy with the service department. there is another dealership a half hour away may have to start taking it there.

Let me quess...you were dealing with maple shade mazda?

I had some of the same problems at the turnersville store also..

yep maple shade mazda. was thinking of taking it to the turnersville dealership. whwre do you take it now?

Originally posted by RX-GR8
yep maple shade mazda. was thinking of taking it to the turnersville dealership. whwre do you take it now?



I'll be taking my 8 back to NuCar in Del. on Monday. They will be installing the 6-disc, app. pack & accent. The spare comes out. I'll take the service bulletins with me. I'll spend most of the day with the good folks @ the dealership. We'll see how they are after a day of bore assing. I'll use the warranty makes $ for the dealership tact. Let you know Monday night.

Following my oil ordeal:

Service: We have a few cases of 5w-20 in the back, since we still use 10w-30 to service most everyone's vehicle, so when you bring it back, just ask for 5w-20 and pay the diffenerence.

My mind says: So I'll get 5w-20 when i ask for it, what about any other RX-8 owner, are they going to get 5w or 10w???

Originally posted by rx8daniel
I think it could be appropriate to start a thread on this subject. I was motivated by the most recent member to lose an engine. In the responses, at 165 miles one member said his/her service tech said not to baby his 8, to 'drive it like you stole it'.

As between the service techs, the sage advice on this board and the users manual, go with the user's manual. I suspect it is the most reviewed and re-reviewed document Mazda produces for the RX-8. The marketing people have a say in it - certainly, but it's the mechanics and lawyers that pour over it, and that's why I trust it.

Now, that doesn't mean it's perfect, and a dose of common sense is appropriate. For example, the RX-8 manual says that if the car is to be used on snow and ice covered roads, one "may find it necessary to replace the original equipment tires with snow tires." That's crazy, because the way one might find it is "necessary" to replace the tires is by sliding into a pedestrian. People have reported being stranded on flat roads in almost no snow. The manual "should" use the word "must" with regard to winter tires and winter driving conditions and the dealers "should not" sell the car in areas where it freezes without also offering a winter tire package and giving a prominent warning to drivers about not driving it in slippery winter conditions - but I digress.

The manual says to use only 5W20 - in all conditions. It says don't use gas below 91 Octane. It says to regularly check the oil. It says break in the car in the first 600 miles. These are not suggestions, but directives. I can see deciding, after a great deal of research, to move away from them, but it's always something that should be done with extreme caution -- especially with a car that's in its first model year. The dealerships and techs know surprising little, have no significant experience with the RENESIS and should not be contradicting the manual.

By the way... with a little digging, you can get a copy of the RX-8 user's manual on-line as a PDF file. I was able to get it off the the Mazda USA site back in September, but it took some ingenuity. It's about 14Meg, so I can't post it, but maybe someone else could host it as a service to those who have not yet bought. It's worth reading before the sale.

Originally posted by RX-GR8
yep maple shade mazda. was thinking of taking it to the turnersville dealership. whwre do you take it now?

Turnersville probably. BUT

Had them tell me same thing about the window, then they claimed to have adjusted it. Still makes the same noise.

Took it in due to the clutch bearing whine..they claim to have adjusted it...still whines.

Had oil changed at 1,000 miles...they told me it was the first oil change they did on a 8..

They are friendly, but booked up about two weeks for everything.
Allso, they close the service department for lunch...the first time I have heard of this..

I will be going in for the 5,000 mile servce soon, I will let you know what happens...They better put 5W20 in it!

Originally posted by klegg
Turnersville probably. BUT

Had them tell me same thing about the window, then they claimed to have adjusted it. Still makes the same noise.

Took it in due to the clutch bearing whine..they claim to have adjusted it...still whines.

Had oil changed at 1,000 miles...they told me it was the first oil change they did on a 8..

They are friendly, but booked up about two weeks for everything.
Allso, they close the service department for lunch...the first time I have heard of this..

I will be going in for the 5,000 mile servce soon, I will let you know what happens...They better put 5W20 in it!

i'm taking mine in for the 5000 mile service too. i'm going to ask to see the 5w20 oil in person.

DaveT-I agree w/ everything in your post here. Personally, I opted for the 600M break-in. I can't really afford to search for a dealer with a service tech area that knows rotaries, or can prove what they are doing - as I have only 2 Mazda dealers within about 30 miles of where I work and live. If I get to where I need a reliable rotary tech - I'll probably head to the DC area - about 70 miles from home - rather than chance it at the dealer which is less than a mile from my office. I'm not saying there are no Mazda dealers with either owners, techs or service writers (which is really what I meant when I said 'tech') in their shop that are not only enthusiasts, but know and love rotaries. The point is that on some critical subjects I wouldn't just take the 'typical' service writer's advice as the best advice - I'd go with the above post about the owner's manual as the authority.
anyway... I found the responses interesting (and not surprising). I will say my winter mileage seems lower than my summer mileage -but the latter is limited and I think the hotter plugs may rectify some or all of that difference.

rx8daniel - Thanks for your comments. Please don't think that I'm proposing going against the owner's manual. What brought all this on was that my car went into limp mode at 164 miles while my younger son(28) was driving it. Engine just stumbled once then limped home. He got it cleared and I took it to the dealer the next day and they replaced the oil metering pump. Up until that point I had been taking it easy, and that's when the service tech advised me to quit babying it.
As an aside, this dealer didn't have the part, but pulled a new RX8 off the sales lot and took the part off of it to fix my car, gave me a car to drive, and I got it back the same day - which is my point about scouting the dealer's service dept. before buying. And, on top of all that, I got a great deal on the car as well.
My only other comment is that an owner's manual totally devoid of any service proceedures other than checking the oil, which then goes into great detail about audio and nav systems isn't printed for guys like me who do all their own service (unless it's a warranty issue). The only service instruction in the whole book is "take it to an authorized Mazda dealer", which is why this site is so damn important to us all.

I agree on the lack of maintenance in modern owner's manuals. Much the same in my Toy Sienna (1998) book - I don't even think it shows how or when to check the air filter IIRC. My fave part of the RX-8 owners manual is when it says to check the chart for your weather conditions to choose from the (one) oil type they recommend for the various temperature ranges. As an aside, I highly doubt my dealer would pull a part from a car on the lot.