SANTI

iTrader: (1)

Just bought a 2004 RX8 with 100k on it. Every time I fill the tank I have to put around 1/2 or a little less than 1/2 of a quart of oil, there is no oil at all in the ground.
I totally new to all this rotary world, just need to know if is it normal for the car to consume that much oil.

Mazurfer

Yes, it is normal...............and not to be rude, but now go search and read on this site!

Also........Go register at www.mazdausa.com in the "owners section" and download a manual if you don't have one. This would be a good read before you start asking all kinds of other questions that have been asked 1 billion times.

Move along people, nothing to read here. Don't want yet another freakin oil thread! Please!

BigMikeATL

Totally normal. Oil is injected into the combustion chamber to lubricate the apex seals. Just keep a quart in a ziplock in your trunk, check the oil every fillup or two, and you should be good.

Welcome to the club!

SANTI

iTrader: (1)

Thanks

paulmasoner

iTrader: (1)

Mazsurfer/guys... this is my neighbor. We had a discussion about this earlier... he is loosing/burning HALF A QUART of oil every tank of gas...

Thats multiple times(3-4 X's) more oil than anyone I'v ever seen report here.

I asked him to make this thread as I dont have a good answer for him. also FWIW, he may be new to rotaries but he is getting the basics. I have a nice little housing/rotor display courtesy of RotaryRessurection that i break out from time to time to illustate such things

shaunv74

That sounds like too much. Unless you are driving around at redline all day you shouldn't burn much more than a quart every 1000 miles. That being said at a track day I would burn a quart of oil in a tank of gas so it's possible.

Are you getting any smoke around the engine? A common place for oil to leak is from the oil filter if it's not put on correctly. It will pool on top of the motor and then burn off when it heats up. So it's possible that it's leaking out there and burning off. You should smell it.

paulmasoner

iTrader: (1)

thank you!

dannobre

iTrader: (3)

If he's not getting a ton of smoke on startup...it likely isn't the oil control rings.....so it may just be the way he drives

Like Shaun...I've burnt a quart or 2 a day at the track...so if he's in the upper RPM/Load areas a lot...he will burn a lot more oil than normal

If he drives like a granny and it is using this much.....it sure wouldn't be normal though

paulmasoner

iTrader: (1)

we talked about it today for a few minutes...

he doesnt drive the car nearly as hard as i do... and i dont drive it like i was at the track per se... he is burning oil at an abnormal rate...

Ah.. startup... i was thinking just seeing the smoke trail down the highway. thats what i said about the control rings... and thats why i broke out the rotor/housing display

dannobre

iTrader: (3)

Did you check that the breather isn't puking oil into the intake area..check in the bellows by the throttle body.

With the old style breather..if the keg pressurizes from a bit of blowby..it pukes oil into the intake sometimes

ShellDude

iTrader: (12)

+1 for checking intake

Mazurfer

Paul, guess I read it as "a little less than 1/2 qt. every tank full of gas", so while that maybe a little more than normal, it may not be all that unusual. Plus I thought he said it had over 100k miles on the motor as well.
Well..let me now go read what everyone else came back with and see if I just made myself look more stupid than I am.

paulmasoner

iTrader: (1)

we were discussing this just a few days ago, and i showed him the simple change made on later models with that line run to the LIM nipple...

just started the car... no sign of smoe on startup... but its definately there when revving... or rather it seems when coming down in rpm from revs

paulmasoner

iTrader: (1)

no no mazsurfer, you're right. i wasnt by any means trying to call you out lol... who am i to do that

face to face, a lil less comes across to me as JUST under half a quart per tank, regularly. when we were talking about how much, it was one of those "ehh, half a quart, maybe a littlebit less" kinda things

Mazurfer

Smoke at anytime is more info than we originally had.
+1 for checking that intake and thinking of what else it really could be.....runaway OMP?
Yeah if driven not that hard, then it might be more than normal. If you are there(Paul), then ****........you know way more than me about this car.


Oh....and didn't think you were trying to call me out in any way. Sometimes I don't read or comprehend they way I should or the poster intends. No worries! And................the is no "s" in Mazurfer" or just call me "Dave".

paulmasoner

iTrader: (1)

yeah, it was only about 10 minutes ago we started it to look at/smell the exhaust

aside from the oil/intake which i am embarrased to say i never thought of today, i could think of nothing else than what i told him. control rings, or OMP.. but i'd never heard of an OMP failing that way, failure mode i had heard of was just the opposite resulting in limp mode

Mazurfer

Agreed, but there is a first time for everything. Still highly doubtful it's a run away OMP though.
Oh.........I edited my last post.

paulmasoner

iTrader: (1)

Santi... if you havent done it before then... when i am off work again next weekend, or if i have time during the week, we'll pull your intake and look. also see about moving that breather line. and deal with your Eshaft position sensor

SANTI

iTrader: (1)

Thanks for all your help paul and thanks everybody for helping me figure this out, gas is already too expensive here and you guys can ask paul about that, can't imagine to pay for oil every time I pay for gas.

paulmasoner

iTrader: (1)

well, i am a lazy bastard and poor manager of time, but we at LEAST looked in his intake today... he doesnt have some oil in te accordian, but not close to as bad as i've seen before.

the OEM "oil catch box" on the accordian is bone dry, typical in the few i've looked at. The butterfly and throttle body looked clean over all, better than i expected for 100K.

if you're up for it Santi next weelend i'll try not to be so lazy and we can take a few minutes to clean your e-shaft sensor and do a compression test while its disconnected

bse50

Paul, why don't you also check the OMP while you're at it? I've seen a couple of cars burning too much oil because of a misplacement of their little stepper motor. Moving it around is a way to inject more oil when you don't have an accessPORT or aflashing device... some users simply do it wrong and inject a crapload of oil. In other cases it just stays open for some unknown reasons =)
That would be a 30min fix vs a rebuild... i'd say it is worth a try!

paulmasoner

iTrader: (1)

i would hope to not have to do that... i've seen the threads and pics covering it.. but how many people have actually done something like that? what are the odds, and OMP failure modes are in the opposite extreme so it isnt failure. not disregarding it, but ugh, not something i wanna mess with if i dont HAVE to

paulmasoner

iTrader: (1)

and G, quit watching iSpy!!

bse50

We had a couple of cases here. One was a friend of mine during a cruise. He started screaming and yelling after his car started smoking more than usual and the oil light came on (low oil). The OMP was stuck nearly completely open and the shaft was very worn out as well but i don't think it was the cause.
The curious thing is that there are several issues confined to different countries based on the average car use and maintenance schedule

I don't use iSpy

paulmasoner

iTrader: (1)

well, if it comes to it, we'll do it.

no iSpy? fail... i'm dissapointed in you