Schaeffer Oil: Yes or No?
 

Hello everyone, I have a friend that works for a shop and can get every type of Schaeffer oil for $5 a quart. This includes synthetic, tranny, diff, motorcycle oil, 2-stroke; pretty much everything. He swears up and down by it and claims it has magnesium and zinc in the oil that will help to repair the engine. He also thinks it would be a good idea to run motorcyle oil through the RX8 because of the high redline. Even though it kind of makes sense at first, I don't think motorcycle oil would really help because I am not constantly cruising over 6k rpm. I have another friend that claims to know a high ranking official in Schaeffer's Oil Company. He says that the guy told him Schaeffer oil is meant for heavy machinery, not road cars. The first friend I mentioned knows much much more about cars than the second but anyone can be persuaded.

My question is should I use Schaeffer oil or not? My first friend claims that synthetic blend is the best because it has both dry and wet lubrication. I've done some reading and found that synthetic oils tend to be more precisely engineered and are more consistent. Is Schaeffer oil a good deal and is it a good oil for our rotary engine, manual transmission, and differential?

I have a 2005 RX8 6MT with 18.5k miles and has had the oil changed every spring with full synthetic oil since it has been purchased new.

Well, it's funny you mention this oil, I have not seen it mentioned here before.

I have a customer (I do computer work on the side) who sells this stuff and has been in the oil industry a long time and is an avid racer, engine builder, etc. and he has shown me some interesting stuff. he knows his stuff about oil so we had some good discussion about it's use in a rotary and he seems to think it would work great. It is used at the Goodyear factory and on other large corporate scales on fleet vehicles used to test tires and they get a lot of use out of it. But you won't know how it does until you use it and test it. I never gave it a shot because he always wanted to trade for it in lieu of paying me and it just wasn't worth it, :)

Try it and then send a sample to Blackstone and post the results in my used oil analysis thread.

I'll probably do that. I've barely seen any results from a Google search; especially about rotaries. The man that runs the shop my friend works for actually races an RX7 that he has tuned. I imagine he uses Schaeffer and I want to see if it's worth the hype.

Interesting...need more info about this oil

There's 5 states that use Schaeffer for their vehicles. I can't remember all of them but I think Indiana is one. Apparently they have the lowest maintenance cost on their vehicles. Their motorcycle oil is supposed to be really good and is sold in lots of motorcycle/atv stores. My buddy has 5 prepaid test tubes so I'll send one of them in about a year. I have 1500-2000 miles left on this oil before I switch to Schaeffer's. I might drive 5k miles a year. I will start using Schaeffer for fill ups and 2 stroke premix though.

Try it and see. Be sure to do a proper test of it: get a virgin and a couple of used oil analyses with a more "mainstream" motor oil. Then do the same thing with this liquid Schwartz in a bottle motor oil.

Though honestly, this makes me think your friend is either full of crap or doesn't know what he's talking about.

No motor oil will "repair the engine". None. Unless it is made of Disney magic or scifi nanobots, oil will NOT repair the engine. Ever. Period. It may hide minor defects. It may prevent wear. But it won't "repair the engine".

Magnesium and zinc are generally more reactive than iron, moly, vandium, etc (components in steel) so my guess is that these are added to give better acid resistance (the acid should oxidize Mg and Zn before the other engine components). But, that's just speculation. It wouldn't surprise me to find out that other (most?) motor oils use similar additives.

Honestly, I wouldn't use it unless it meets Mazda's minimum API service grade (SJ? SM? I can't remember).

Have you met him? It sounds like it. It does have some kind of certification. J something. I ordered a quart of 4 and 2 stroke and should get it today so I'll report back the certification and probably some pictures when it gets here.