2010 series II RX8 Grand Touring
06-10-2015, 09:00 AM
#2
Welcome, FiveFootBri!
A 2010 with only 8k miles?! What a great find.
This is a great place to start:
https://www.rx8club.com/new-member-f...ot-8-a-202548/
(Note, most of the cooling mods are in reference to a series 1 car. Your series 2 has these issues fixed)
Honestly, you will here mixed things about oil. The most important thing isn't what kind, its to make sure the oil is clean, and topped off regularly. Most folks keep a quart of their oil in their trunk, and top it off every time they get gas. (Yes, it burns oil, yes, you need to top it off or it will run dry). Doing the Mazda recommended maintenance, and staying on top of the oil and fluid levels will go a long way.
There are some fixes and mods that others have done for Series 1 cars, that unfortunately cannot be done for series 2. You may read about the Sohn adapter on this website. Unfortunately, no one has figured out how to make that work with your car. Sorry!
You can call a Mazda dealer, and give them the VIN, and they can help you with the maintenance history of the car. It is low mileage, but its also a five year old car. You might want to flush the radiator, check brake lines, and automatic transmission fluid.
Please come back to this thread if you have any other questions. Enjoy the RX8!
A 2010 with only 8k miles?! What a great find.
This is a great place to start:
https://www.rx8club.com/new-member-f...ot-8-a-202548/
(Note, most of the cooling mods are in reference to a series 1 car. Your series 2 has these issues fixed)
Honestly, you will here mixed things about oil. The most important thing isn't what kind, its to make sure the oil is clean, and topped off regularly. Most folks keep a quart of their oil in their trunk, and top it off every time they get gas. (Yes, it burns oil, yes, you need to top it off or it will run dry). Doing the Mazda recommended maintenance, and staying on top of the oil and fluid levels will go a long way.
There are some fixes and mods that others have done for Series 1 cars, that unfortunately cannot be done for series 2. You may read about the Sohn adapter on this website. Unfortunately, no one has figured out how to make that work with your car. Sorry!
You can call a Mazda dealer, and give them the VIN, and they can help you with the maintenance history of the car. It is low mileage, but its also a five year old car. You might want to flush the radiator, check brake lines, and automatic transmission fluid.
Please come back to this thread if you have any other questions. Enjoy the RX8!
06-10-2015, 10:18 AM
#3
Water Foul
Welcome!
BigBadChris pretty much nails it.
Since you have an S2 car, the cooling issues and oiling issues are fixed. You don't need to worry about them.
You do need to pay attention to the ignition system. Coils tend to wear out every ~20K miles, and bad coils cause a failure cascade that can kill the cat and then the engine.
What oil to use is an endless debate around here that gets heated at times. There are a lot of threads you can peruse on the topic if you like. The truth is it doesn't much matter as long as you change it every 3,000 miles and check it every other stop at the gas station.
I have mine changed by the dealer, because I can get it done for $20 or $25 (depending on the coupon), and I can't buy 4 quarts of oil and a Mazda OEM filter on my own that inexpensively. They use mineral 5W20 in the winter and mineral 5W30 in the summer. Each dealer oil change enters a service record in the car's history for warranty and CarFax purposes as well. And, you have plenty of warranty left on that engine.
After the first track day on that dealer oil change, I drain the oil and fill it with 4 quarts of Mobil 1 0W40, which increases the viscosity of the oil in the system and makes it semi-synthetic. I drive on this on the road and on the track until I reach the 3,000 mile interval again, then take it back to the dealer for the above stated reasons. All I'm trying to say here is I use both mineral and synthetic oils in weights varying from 20 to 40. In the end, IT DOESN'T MATTER WHAT YOU USE AS LONG AS YOU CHANGE IT EVERY 3,000 MILES. Fresh, clean oil is very important to this car.
Otherwise, take a look at the service schedule for the car and follow it, and you will be fine. You have a 5 year-old car with very few miles, so you need to follow the "years" part of the service schedule rather than the "miles" part.
Most of all, enjoy your car!
BigBadChris pretty much nails it.
Since you have an S2 car, the cooling issues and oiling issues are fixed. You don't need to worry about them.
You do need to pay attention to the ignition system. Coils tend to wear out every ~20K miles, and bad coils cause a failure cascade that can kill the cat and then the engine.
What oil to use is an endless debate around here that gets heated at times. There are a lot of threads you can peruse on the topic if you like. The truth is it doesn't much matter as long as you change it every 3,000 miles and check it every other stop at the gas station.
I have mine changed by the dealer, because I can get it done for $20 or $25 (depending on the coupon), and I can't buy 4 quarts of oil and a Mazda OEM filter on my own that inexpensively. They use mineral 5W20 in the winter and mineral 5W30 in the summer. Each dealer oil change enters a service record in the car's history for warranty and CarFax purposes as well. And, you have plenty of warranty left on that engine.
After the first track day on that dealer oil change, I drain the oil and fill it with 4 quarts of Mobil 1 0W40, which increases the viscosity of the oil in the system and makes it semi-synthetic. I drive on this on the road and on the track until I reach the 3,000 mile interval again, then take it back to the dealer for the above stated reasons. All I'm trying to say here is I use both mineral and synthetic oils in weights varying from 20 to 40. In the end, IT DOESN'T MATTER WHAT YOU USE AS LONG AS YOU CHANGE IT EVERY 3,000 MILES. Fresh, clean oil is very important to this car.
Otherwise, take a look at the service schedule for the car and follow it, and you will be fine. You have a 5 year-old car with very few miles, so you need to follow the "years" part of the service schedule rather than the "miles" part.
Most of all, enjoy your car!
Last edited by Steve Dallas; 06-10-2015 at 07:51 PM.
06-10-2015, 12:45 PM
#4
Ignition system
Just to follow up on StvnScott
Unlike your American muscle cars, the coils plugs and wires on these cars are a "wear out" item. It's unfortunate, but that's the way it goes. The coils wear out, plugs get fouled up, and you lose power. You can get all the parts for about 400 bucks. Mazmart even sells a tune up in a box:
MAZMART - Serving The Mazda Community Since 1980. RX8 RX-8 Tune Up Kit air filter oil filter coils plugs wires OEM NGK spark plugs
You can buy an aftermarket ignition (Black Halo Racing, Sake Bomb Garage, or the DIY LS2 option). The aftermarket stuff shouldn't wear out as fast, but your results may vary. When in doubt, search! You are unlikely to break new ground here, I'm pretty sure someone somewhere has asked about It, complained about it, it broken it before!
BHR ignition
Black Halo Racing Ignition System | Black Halo Racing
Sake bomb ignition
IGN-1A (AEM/Mercury Marine) Smart Coil Universal Mounting System - SakeBomb Garage LLC
BennettBilt LS2 ignition
Rx8 LS Ignition swap kit ? BennettBuilt Performance
Unlike your American muscle cars, the coils plugs and wires on these cars are a "wear out" item. It's unfortunate, but that's the way it goes. The coils wear out, plugs get fouled up, and you lose power. You can get all the parts for about 400 bucks. Mazmart even sells a tune up in a box:
MAZMART - Serving The Mazda Community Since 1980. RX8 RX-8 Tune Up Kit air filter oil filter coils plugs wires OEM NGK spark plugs
You can buy an aftermarket ignition (Black Halo Racing, Sake Bomb Garage, or the DIY LS2 option). The aftermarket stuff shouldn't wear out as fast, but your results may vary. When in doubt, search! You are unlikely to break new ground here, I'm pretty sure someone somewhere has asked about It, complained about it, it broken it before!
BHR ignition
Black Halo Racing Ignition System | Black Halo Racing
Sake bomb ignition
IGN-1A (AEM/Mercury Marine) Smart Coil Universal Mounting System - SakeBomb Garage LLC
BennettBilt LS2 ignition
Rx8 LS Ignition swap kit ? BennettBuilt Performance
06-12-2015, 04:08 PM
#5
Just to follow up on StvnScott
Unlike your American muscle cars, the coils plugs and wires on these cars are a "wear out" item. It's unfortunate, but that's the way it goes. The coils wear out, plugs get fouled up, and you lose power. You can get all the parts for about 400 bucks. Mazmart even sells a tune up in a box:
MAZMART - Serving The Mazda Community Since 1980. RX8 RX-8 Tune Up Kit air filter oil filter coils plugs wires OEM NGK spark plugs
You can buy an aftermarket ignition (Black Halo Racing, Sake Bomb Garage, or the DIY LS2 option). The aftermarket stuff shouldn't wear out as fast, but your results may vary. When in doubt, search! You are unlikely to break new ground here, I'm pretty sure someone somewhere has asked about It, complained about it, it broken it before!
Unlike your American muscle cars, the coils plugs and wires on these cars are a "wear out" item. It's unfortunate, but that's the way it goes. The coils wear out, plugs get fouled up, and you lose power. You can get all the parts for about 400 bucks. Mazmart even sells a tune up in a box:
MAZMART - Serving The Mazda Community Since 1980. RX8 RX-8 Tune Up Kit air filter oil filter coils plugs wires OEM NGK spark plugs
You can buy an aftermarket ignition (Black Halo Racing, Sake Bomb Garage, or the DIY LS2 option). The aftermarket stuff shouldn't wear out as fast, but your results may vary. When in doubt, search! You are unlikely to break new ground here, I'm pretty sure someone somewhere has asked about It, complained about it, it broken it before!
It's very similar to our RX7 kit. We’ve put these coils through the ringer with at least a couple hundred kits out there with absolutely fantastic results. These are running on everything from stock cars with stock ECU’s to 700+HP 13b FD turbo e85 builds. These coils were basically built for the rotary and are dead on reliable. The RX8 kit will come with:
- RX8 specific mount (in stock coil location)
- Full plug-and-play standalone wiring harness (RX8 specific harness, direct power from battery, high amp relay, milspec wiring, and high-temp silicone abrasion/ heat resistant cover).
- Ultra-low resistance custom spark plug wires
- Mounts 4 IGN-1A/AEM smart coils.
For those not familiar with the IGN-1A coils, they were specifically designed for two-stroke marine racing engines, designed to be extremely high output with extraordinarily fast recharge times. Since rotaries fire twice as often per revolution compared to a piston engine, LS coils or other piston-engine specific coils have a really hard time recharging fast enough. While the LS coils are capable of high output they've been designed with a 6,000rpm redline. 9,000rpm on a rotary is the equivalent of 18,000rpm on a piston engine. The LS coils were never built do do that... the IGN-1A's were
These will work with the stock ECU dwell time settings (we run them on stock FD ecu's as well with great results), but for high HP builds or forced induction on an aftermarket ECU, they really shine. The IGN-1A are hands down THE coils for rotary applications and we haven't come across anything that can keep up yet.
-Heath
06-12-2015, 04:44 PM
#7
We've been doing FD parts for years but recently picked up an S1 for prototyping and have a few locals with S2's. We've been quietly developing on this thing for the last few months and are pretty excited about all of projects that are nearing completion.
One of our good friends of the shop had an R3 for years, and we had a great time tracking that car. My only gripe was lack of power, but man could it hold speed in a long sweeper, nothing could keep up. The handling was brilliant... unfortunately that car was sent to the great rotary lot in the sky when a friend borrowed it for a session at Laguna Seca and rolled it. Anyway, we're back in the saddle a year later with a dedicated SBG development car! Let the engineering begin.
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