brillo

Changing the oil in our cars is surprising easy, once you get the filter off for the first time. In fact, I would recommend taking your car to the dealer first, let them change it once, and then do it yourself from then on. Also, don’t forget to buy some crush washers to keep on hand for the oil pan drain plug. Oh and before I forget, I’m using there 5W-20, My car had 2,780 miles on it when I did my first change.

Ok, all that fun aside, so how is the Royal Purple? The engine is quieter at idle and while cruising at high speeds (almost silent), it still makes noise when you gun it but it’s a nice effect when cruising along at 70+mph. The engine appears to rev and fall (somewhat like a lighter flywheel) slightly faster, which makes rev matching easier. Can’t feel and power differences (not that I was really expecting too). Idle is somewhat smoother; I don’t feel as much vibration in the seat every few seconds as I did before. Overall, the differences aren’t as large as when I put this in my Mazda6 V6, but the nature of our engine is somewhat different. So is it worth the cost and trouble? Jury is still out on this one. The trany fluid was a much bigger difference in terms of feel and performance; however, if I notice an improvement in fuel economy I would say that would make it worth it. If your not comfortable running synthetic oil, I don’t think your missing much with the synthetic motor oil, but I would definitely swap the tranny fluid.

In addition, it should be notes that while I changed out about 4 qrts, there is still some other oil in my system, as the oil coolers hold, about 2 qrts? So I’ve have to do another change or two before I get it all out.

I’m hoping that this improves the fuel economy some, which I will monitor closely. I’ll also watch to see how quickly it burns down for me, and what kid of soot I’m getting on the exhaust tips.

If anyone else is running Royal Purple, I’d love to have them chime in with their thoughts.

4play

I read an interesting article in a Rotary mag yesterday that states the oil pressure gauge in the 04' RX8 is only a sensing unit and does not really reflect actual oil pressure just that it is reading .8 psi or above.... can you believe that? they made it a glorified idiot light...!!

I wonder if there are any aftermarket kits to make my oil gauge a real gauge?

This is my first rotary even though I have always loved the idea of one. I can tell you that I do like mine. Even if it did entice me into a speeding ticket... my own stupidity...had the Bose going too loud to hear the detector... who says you have to be young to be stupid...

Cam

iTrader: (1)

Brillo,

Thanks for the write up, I was thinking of going to RP at my first change. Keep us posted on the soot and mpg's.

Fanman

Good write up. Any notion to change your differential & transmission oil to RP too ?

smd3

This isn't surprising, and is quite common in OEM guages. They don't want owners in the service department whenever they thing something is wrong, over-reacting.

You can buy and install any number of aftermarket guages. The trick is placing the sensors, or sending units, in good locations.

I for one would be interested in an oil temp, and oil pressure guage. Eventually I'll probably add them. You'll probably find (with an aftermarket tach) that even the factory tach is innacurate/slow to respond. That's quite typical too for manufacturers.

Gord96BRG

Total oil capacity of the Renesis with dual oil coolers is around 7.6 quarts - an oil change only drains about half the total volume! (We first discussed this issue around September last year). It will take several changes to get to mostly RP.

Regards,
Gordon

brillo

I acutally did the Royal Purple Tranny and Diff fluid first about two weeks ago, been great, between the two, the tranny fluid is much more noticable.

Liquid Rhino

This topic has held my interest ever since I was looking for a new rotary...
I have a good friend who deals in Amsoil and swears by it (and by the looks of his SVT Cobra, it shows!). But with the luck some have had so far w/ RP, I'd fear being the first to venture to Amsoil...

Brillo, any specific RP product #'s recommended for both the Oil and Tranny Fluid? Their site's application guide is somewhat confusing.

RotaryZZ

Isn't RB a synthetic oil?? I though you're not supposed to put synthetic into the rotary?!

brillo

75W-90 for both the tranny and diff. RP also makes a 5W-20 engine oil.

RotaryZZ, if you do a search there are a bunch of posts on the matter, if your not comfortable with the engine oil, just do the tranny/diff swap which IMO was a bigger improvement in drivability. There are no issues with the tranny/diff.

RotaryZZ

But I believe the official word from Mazda is still no synthetic for the engine, am I correct?

Black-dragon

Actually I was talking to my service rep. at mazda the other day during an oil change and asked about synthetic. He said mazda sent out a letter and in their training for the rx-8 it says that if they find out that a customer has used synthetic through more than 2 oil changes their warranty is void. I don't know if he was just trying to scare me, but he has always been a reliable source of information for me.

Black-dragon

But I do find it funny that I just saw a thread that Rosenthal is selling synthetic oil, and overstocked it because of so many requests.

brillo

While I understand your concern over the oil, I would rather not turn this thread into a synthetic vs dino oil debate. I did a ton of research, spoke with several long time rotary guru's a few tuner shops and the folks at Royal Purple before making my decision. Again, my overall impressions are favorable, but the improvements aren't as massive as the tranny and diff change, so if your worried about it, just use dino oil and go sythetic on everything else.

MELRX8

I sent the following email to Rosenthal and this was the content and response:

>I notice you sell Redline 5w20 Engine Oil in your maintenance section. Do
>you support the use of this product, or just sell it?


As with everything on our site that is non-factory, you use at your own risk.

I only started carrying it because RX-8 owners have asked for it.

Black-dragon

I had no intentention of turning this into another synthetic debate I just wanted to state what I was told by my dealer.

Mike Z

I've been using Royal Purple 5w30 in the engine for quite awhile, 75w90 in the trans & diff. :p

It works great, the engine is smooth, burns a little less oil than dino. My trans shifts like silk and when idling with the car in netural the trans is quiet, compared to the stock gear oil, my diff hops a little less on kick *** starts so, I sleep well at night knowing I've given my 8 the best of care.

The motor oil is API, SL GF-3 rated, just what Mazda requires in a motor oil and the gear oil is GF-4 & GF-5 rated with a limited slip diff additive built into the oil.

Royal Purple is also recommended by Racing Beat and their engineers as being a good synthetic for the RX-8 and have dynoed the oil in a RX-8, only to be surprised to see that it actually gives more HP!!

So, take it from there...........Mike Z

RotaryNoob

3 times the price... I did that in my last car. Now I'm thinking Castrol Syntec is sounding really good at 2.50 a quart.

brillo

I wouldn't use syntec, there really are only 3 true synthetics I trust, Royal Purple, Red Line and Amsoil. If cost is an issue I would just stick with good dino oil, which is fine.

EyeBall Fixer...(o)(x)

What About Those Of Us With An A/T?
Does Royal Purple Make Anything For Us?

brillo

if your referring to your A/T tranny, then yes they do make a A/T fluid. just visit their web site.

staticlag

Been running all RP (engine, diff, tranny) for 3k miles, 5467 total so far. No problems, smooth idle, smooth acceleration, much better than stock! Now I need a grounding kit.

Genesis

And you know it's better than stock how? Stats on comparison?

staticlag

Well, the idle smoothness increased from a stock value of 4.8los to 8.3los with RP.

Trust me dude, You can easily tell, the difference is that great when compared to stock! Anyone who has had any biological schooling can tell you that the human body is a precision instrument and capable of registering fairly subtle changes in environment(and then it adapts to them). My comment is purely subjective, but subjection has justification when based on prior expereince.

Example:

I smack you in the left knee with a baseball bat.

Then I ask you: "which one hurts more?, left or right?."

Can I have some stats on that?

Genesis

:D Nice stats :D I'll watch out for my knee's next time (is your name Tonya Harding?) Fact is, you don't have much to prove RP is better, which is my point. Subjective reasoning is ok, but in the end dino oil changed at frequent intervals is cheaper and more effective than syn RP...sorry but I don't buy the RP marketing hype. Better $$ spent elsewhere.