Collings

Someone out there with some manufacturing knowledge, please take this idea and run with it.

The oil filler and dipstick on the RX-8 has got to be the dumbest, most stupid, idiodic, and diabolical automotive engineering screw-ups of all time. Don't get me wrong.. I love my car. It's just that on a car that you expect to burn through a quart of oil every few tanks of gas, to put the dipstick so far down in the engine compartment is absurd.

But the truely evil mistake was to put the oil fill in the very center of the engine comparment where it's difficult to reach, then to make it a tube that sticks up six inches above a totally un-cleanable mass of very important stuff like the alternator is sadistic. You can't even get the bottle down far enough to tip it in. You have to hover way above the filler and hope you've got it lined up right as you start to pour! I'm paranoid that I'm going to spill this water-thin oil down into my engine compartment every time I add it.

And no, I don't want to carry an oily funnel in my pristine car, thank you.

Someone PLEASE build some sort of funnel attachment to go around the filler tube. There's a few inches of tube there that you can clamp something on to. Even if it's not a funnel proper, just a big disk that would catch spills before they ran down all over my engine would make me very, very happy. Make it "rotor shaped" and purple if you have to. Just make it. Rainbow ponies will gallop through the clouds, and scientists will discover an eco friendly gas substitute that will save the earth and make Mazda engines produce the amount of power their marketing people claim they will.

Oh. And I'll buy one for $20.

Aseras

just wad paper towels there.. same for the oil filter when you change it. pour the oil sideways... works much better too.

Collings

But.. Rainbow ponies, man.. F#$%ing rainbow ponies.

RX8rider

Buy paper disposable funnels. You can get a pack of them for like $2

ranger4277

I don't use a funnel, I just pour it in spill free.... practice makes perfect I guess.

pcimino

Paper funnels. look about 2/3 of the way down...

http://www.theproperaircraft.com/prod7.html

My biggest complaint with the oil dip stick. Could probably attach a funnel like device on the end to help guide the stick to the center. Not a problem during daylight, but at night, even with a flashlight, gets tricky.

zoom44

i keep a funnel in the car and just wipe it clean when im done and wrap it in a cloth and put it back in the trunk.

RotrDoc

Paper funnels are available everywhere (Autozone, etc.) for about a dime each. Neat, compact, disposable.

pcimino--I (and probably every owner out there) share your frustration with trying to snake that wiggly stick into the 6 mm tube in the dark.

Nemesis8

iTrader: (3)

I have an ear mounted LED that I put on at night to find teh dipstick hole

My wish is: The dashboard should have an oil level indicator on it. When you get in the car in the morning, you turn teh key to "on" and teh gauge powers up telling you where your level is. I can dream, right?

fasto

A search can be fun and easy too... Both an aiming and a lighting solution are posted in this thread (seperate).

https://www.rx8club.com/showthread.p...ipstick+funnel

Krankor

Gas stations (at least the mobil stations I tend to go to) will give you a paper funnel for free, that's what I do.

captain mercury

same here.
ive never had a problem with it getting my trunk dirty.