Hey all - i have begun to pay more attention to gas and service since i got my 8. Am using 93/94 at petro/chevron instead of 91. Anyway, am closing on the point i need to top up oil and have noticed NOONE sells 5W20 - at least none of the stations i usually use. The Petro station at 4th and Burrard has been cool - kid there gives me the 2.5 cent discount cause he has a FD heh....but im gonna need to find some oil soon...

 

Canadian Tire sell it ...5W20 ...green bottle...cheap price...forgot the brand

 

Quaker State is the brand. I keep a bottle in the trunk (strapped to the emergency tire repair kit). Meets all warranty specs and seems like a decent oil. If you go synthetic (Red Line or other premium oil) you will have to keep a decent supply - you don't want to mix synthetic and mineral based oils.

Reminds me of my younger days on RD350s and RZ500s - two stroke street bikes. Always a pain in the but because I ran them pre-mix!! :D

 

Cool thanks, will hit Canadian Tire tomorrow. Not going synthetic - will just stock up on a few quarts of 5W20...was pretty funny, decided i was going to top up the oil and hit 5 stations in as many blocks. 20W-5, 5W-30, 10W-40, 10W-30 but NO oil for my poor 8. Ah well, she got washed and shined today, she can wait till the morning for the lube love

 

you can also buy it at mazda dealerships. but it's probably just a re-labelled oil.

 

Personally, I don't like Quaker State. Go to a Lordco, they have several selections to choose from. I'm using Castrol GTX, much better oil than cheapo quakerstate and still only $3.50 a quart.

 

Agreed.. Lordco has lots in stock. I'm using the Casto GTX as well...

Just curious though, my dealer threw in 5W30 at my last service. I've got 4 bottles of 5W20 leftover. Any probs with mixing viscosities?

 

I would say, as usual. Your dealer is a twit. I don't have the answer to that question. Personally I wouldn't do it.

 

Well, I won't pick on you too badly , I'll just point out that all the synthetic manufacturers expressly state that their oils are fully compatible with mineral oils and can be mixed freely. You ideally want to avoid mixing different additive packages, but that applies even more so to different brands of mineral oils than just synthetic and mineral mixes. How do you think manufacturers create the Synthetic Blend motor oils? That's right, they simply blend their synthetic and mineral oils. Since the additive packages aren't an issue in those cases where it's from the same manufacturer, it's even less of an issue.

Mobil1 is now available in a 0W20 that is designed for applications requiring 5W20, and Castrol now has a Syntec 5W20 on the shelves at Canadian Tire. Castrol GTX 5W20 has been available for a long time.

Regards,
Gordon

PS - guys, feel free to use 5W30 is 5W20 isn't available. In Europe, that is the specified oil for the RX-8 anyway. The only reason Mazda in North America specifies 5W20 is for slightly reduced friction which will result in incredibly slight improvements in fuel economy, which helps their corporate average fuel economy results (CAFE).

 

Pennzoil at Lordco has 5W20 grade in their conventional oil.
At 14,000km I switched to Mobil 1 0W20 grade synthetic from Canadian Tire (the bottle says "formulated for engines specifiying 5W20 oil").
At 18,000 I switched to Redline 5W20 from
At 22,000 I switched to Royal purple 5W20
and now I'm sticking with royal purple since they're the only ones I've found have tested their oil even on old rotaries.

So far my engine or apex seals haven't blown up yet :p

 

Hey rx8van, you may personally don't like Quaker State, but test results as proved it's one of the best for the RX8 (Rotary engine) at 5W20, I will try to get the article on it and summit it to you ... and then, you will see....If you are a specialist in oil engine ? Which I doubt, there isn't much difference in between them. (Except the price $)
Jowettw is right, I ask my dealer which brand of oil they used, his answer "It's a Canadian brand !" in other words, don't know !?

 

Hey Daniel --

I have absolutely no training in oil. I just grew up in Squamish where everyone used Castrol in their higher performance cars (granted they were all from the 80's and didn't have rotaries). So I've just stuck with the trend and had no problems.

 

Here in Winnipeg, both Canadian Tire and Walmart carry 5w20 oil, synthetic and conventional. Your local outlets should carry them as well.

 

[B]Forget about going SYNTHETIC all together for a rotary engine, that's not recommended by the dealer !? Because of "Loss of friction ?" anyone know's what that mean ??

 

hmm.... I've never said this here before but....
danielson... I think you should do a search on synthetic on this forum first.
The dealer isn't always the most informed

 

Dealers quite often know nothing. Read your owners manual. It will tell you what oil to use.
It says nothing about using or not using synthetic oil.