1. Shifting 2. Checking Oil
 

Ok, so I finally have my RX8 04. I have been driving it for almost a month so far and love it.

Now here goes the total newb questions. I finally checked under the hood last night and took some plastic covers off to look at everything and I had to google how to find the dipstick :/ lol. And I know people say they check oil every other gas stop or whatever but what exactly am I looking for ? What am I looking for once I pull the dipstick out? Where should oil be at?


2. What if any is the optimal shift point for gas mileage?

3. I am and have bookmarked the DIY guides and the new RX8 owner on my work and home computer and on my phone. I also have the RX8 QuickTips PDF guide about the car but every link for the owners manual did not worked I looked for.

What transmission do you have? Do you have the cars manual?

Yeah I got the 6spd, manual transmisson. I found the dipstick I just didnt know exactly what to look for

there should be two scribed lines at the end of the dip stick indicating normal operating oil level. min and max. you should be in that range at all times, preferably at the max level. this is called "topped off"

http://manuals.deere.com/cceomview/O...37000_G820.jpg

everything is in your manual. read that first.

Are you really asking us how you use a dipstick to check your oil level?
Is this your first car ever?

Surely, you have family, friends, or a neighbor who can show you these most basic of operational requirements...

BC.

Your dipstick will look a little different from the generic picture above. It's round, with a flat area near the tip. There are a couple of raised crosswise ridges that are the equivalent of the scores in the generic pic.

Pull stick. Wipe. Insert stick. Pull stick and read. Replace. Do this after the car has been parked on level ground for at least five minutes.

If you're in the US, register in the owner's section at mazdausa.com. There should be a working link to the owner's manual. When you discover the service bulletin archive (not on the Mazda site), there's one on the improved dipstick that goes into more detail than one can imagine.

The answer to your second question is there isn't any. ;) The secret to dealing with the 8's mileage is to pay at the pump via credit card, and never look at the price on the receipt.

Ken

maybe thats why I stopped asking for receipt.:naughty:

Read #3 - I don't have a manual :naughty: , nah I bought it used and I looked ferociously online for it but only found the quicktip.pdf file. I found a couple of potential links but there were all out or I got the 404 error for whatever reason. If you have the manual however could you send me a link? Thanks

Not 1st car I had a 2000 Civic Si but I'm the type of dude (at that time.. 21) that would pay people to do all the work for me, and the cars in between were ones I didnt have to pay for so I never had to pay anything. I'm 29 now with a 7 year old and my first "real sports car" so I want to learn about it. Hell I might even want to learn how to change my own oil one day! lol. I also just moved into a new neighborhood so I don't know anyone either yet.

Thanks Ken, very informative

LOLOL!! I do the same thing when I take money out the ATM! But I'm going to Vegas next week so hopefully I can win enough to do some damn mods! :SHOCKED:

should we sticky this? hahahaha. i love the receipt statement. i've been tracking mpg and im consistently hitting 18-19 these days. yea!

Those numbers are pretty normal to an 04 Mazda rx8. The EPA fuel economy for an 04 rx8 6-speed manual is 16 city, 22 highway, and 18 combined.