I was watching Speed today and there was a commercial by Castroil debunking the typical rumors and myths about Syntec and snythetic oils in general. I noticed a certain shade of red out of the corner of the screen and as I looked closer I noticed a certain fender bulge.

As the commercial was ending the guy leaned over to continue working on "his car" and indeed it was a nice red RX-8.

Any thoughts or comments?

 

I saw this too. He states it's a myth that synthetic oils can void your warrantee and the camera zooms out to show a strategically placed RX-8. Hmm, I wonder if they've been monitoring this forum. But at any rate, while it may be true that using synthetics can't void your warrantee, that doesn't mean it can't hurt you engine. So long as Mazda continues not to recommend it, that's all I need. After all, it's Mazda's product and they should know best. What does Castrol care if you mess up your engine, so long as you put money in their pockets?

 

Mazda recommends you use a 5W20 oil, that meets API SL specs. Castrol Syntec has that rating, ergo, it is approved.

S

 

Didn't somebody post a reply letter they got from a mazda VIP about how..and i quote from memory...

"The long-term effects of synthetic oil use in the Renesis engine is unknown and therefore mazda does not recommend their usage."

Which brings me to my second point.....WTF are Castrol doing showing pictures of our car on Tv commercials. This completely detracts from the mystique surrounding our vehicle. The RX-8 needs to remain an enigma, wrapped inside of a riddle

 

I remember Castrol had a commercial with an FD doing donuts and driving through flames.

 

Something like that .. some of us (Rotarygod) talked directly with Mazda people at Sevenstock and were given their take on the whole synthetic issue. Do a search for more info.

 

See this post

https://www.rx8club.com/showpost.php...6&postcount=16

 

Fact of the matter is, the user manual says *non-synthetic* is recommended.

 

I know. It's pretty damned confusing isn't it. Not like an rx-8's engine has never failed.
I 'm not voiding my warranty.
Yet rosenthal mazda only has one oil on their website for sale - castrol syntec.
the whole thing really pisses me off. why doesn't mazda just cut the crap and tell us it's ok. it obviously is.

 

The problem is that in order for Mazda to say that synthetic oil is ok they would have to spend $$$ on long term testing on EVERY avalible synthetic oil out there on the market to ensure none would cause failure.

Simply put it is more cost effective and safer to just say stick with traditional oils and be done with it. - (paraphrasing a comment made at Sevenstock 8 by Takaharu Kobayakawa or as some of you know him "Koby".

FWIW - Mazdaspeed (Mazda's own raceshop) recommends them, and many of Mazda's own engineers use them exclusively in their own personal vehicles. I know of several race teams that have been running synthetics for nearly a decade (royal purple) with no problems.

 

so , mazda has tested every single synthetic out there with all of their other engines?

 

"The long-term effects of synthetic oil use in the Renesis engine is unknown and therefore mazda does not recommend their usage."

So, with the Renesis engine being so new, how much "long term" experience can they have with ANY oil?

Zoom, Zoom!

 

The whole point as pointed out by Koby is that he's concerned that not all manufacturers put the same degree of quality into the products. He mentioned to Rotarygod that Royal purple and Valvoline were alright and said that in his opinion, Mobil 1 synthetic is not to his liking.

By the nature of the rotary engine, it does combust a bit of the oil ... and perhaps Koby is concerned that not all synthetic oils will combust properly. So instead of doing test on every new synthetic oil that is produced, Mazda put out a blanket statement saying that they recommend standard oil.

With regular piston engines, the combustion of oil is not as much of a concern, so using synthetics is not an issue.

 

So instead of doing test on every new synthetic oil that is produced, Mazda put out a blanket statement saying that they recommend standard oil.

So it still begs the question, did they test every standard oil??? Why didn't they test a representative sample of synthetic oils at the same time they were testing standard oils so they could make a recommendation for synthetic oils like they did with standard oils?

 

Saw that commercial today. Was Castrol targeting 8 owners? I dunno.. What I do know is..

Synthetic oil is NOT recommended. Period.

Do all you synthetic users know more than the engineers at Mazda? Doesnt matter WHY its not recommended, it just IS.

 

That nonsense again? What a load of crap. Go ahead, quote me the exact page number in your owners manual (which should be the same in mine) that says "non-synthetic is recommended".

I could spare you the time, though, as I've made that challenge plenty of times before - it isn't in the owners manual, and the owners manual says NOTHING!!!! about synthetic or non-synthetic. ALL it specifies is API SL, viscosity 5W20. Period.

As StealthTL (the oil production engineer, works in a refinery, remember him? ) says above, ANY oil that meets API SL 5W20 is approved. Further, as has been extensively discussed, NO oil being produced that meets those specs is pure mineral oil. In order to meet API SL 5W20, EVERY 5W20 oil on the market is a synthetic blend. Period. If you're using 5W20, you ARE using a certain amount of synthetic oil already. Stop worrying about it. Synthetic is better - even for rotaries. Because of the high engine heat of rotaries, many would say synthetic is better especially for rotaries.

Regards,
Gordon

 

synthetic oils are created in a lab.. as such not all of them are created equal. Apparently some oil's like mobil1 CANNOT mix with the fuel that they are injected with and this causes BIG problems in a rotary... some cannot burn completely, causing buildup and cat failures, which is why the blanket no synthetic come forth from Mazda....

 

Gordon is right. I 've read online so many times that 'mazda doesn't recommend synthetic oils for the rotary' that I'd accepted it as truth. well, I just pulled my manual out of the trunk, and it says no such thing. If I didn't get online I'd never even be worrying about this one bit, I'd be changing to synthetic in about 400 miles, when I get to 1K , just like i've done for the last 3 new cars i've owned.

Without anything in the manual stating it's prohibited- I'll be doing it. In fact, I might just use Mobil 1.

If I ever have a problem, I won't even mention the oil to mazda. why should I .

THEY never told me I can't use synthetic. With synthetic being as popular as it is these days, if it were a problem dont' you think their lawyers would make sure it was in the manual?

 

FYI:

Mobil 1 seems to have low favorability amongst rotary enthusiasts.

Valvoline or Royal Purple get top marks.

 

yah I was kidding to make a point, I won't use Mobil1.....:-)

 

AT the Orlando Rev-It-Up last year I saw a tech putting Mobil1 in an RX-8. I had to climb under a rope they had to keep people (like me) out. I asked him if it was OKAY to use Mobile1 (synthetics) in the RX-8 and he kindly, but FIRMLY asked me to leave and would not answer my question.

I wish Mazda would just come out and declare it either OK to use or Definitely not OK. I reject their cop-out of

"The long-term effects of synthetic oil use in the Renesis engine is unknown and therefore mazda does not recommend their usage."

 

I just found that the little fold-out drivers guide they gave me with the manual says to use 'non-synthetic' I agree 6speed, it's pathetic.

 

"The long-term effects of synthetic oil use in the Renesis engine is unknown and therefore mazda does not recommend their usage."

If you substitute the word "cooking" for "synthetic" in the previous statement (STILL an accurate statement) I wonder how many people would ignore it an put Crisco in their cars?

What's so hard to understand? Be a guinea pig if you want. Dino oil for me, only.

 

thanks to castrol we dont' even know what's synthetic and what isn't anymore.

 

If said Crisco oil met API SL specification and was a 5W20, then it would meet Mazda's stated requirements and be perfectly safe to use. API SL is not an easy specification to meet.

What's so hard to understand? The specifications are there for a reason - if the oil you wish to use meets those specs, it's safe to use.

ONCE AGAIN, there is NO SUCH THING as 5W20 dino oil - EVERY 5W20 on the market is already a synthetic blend.

You are NOT using dino oil only anyway!

There you go - if the argument is that Syntec isn't really a synthetic because it's not made from a PAO base stock... then there goes any argument against using it! If you wish to consider Castrol Syntec as just an extremely good, extra-refined mineral oil (which it is), then Castrol Syntec should meet the needs of parties on both sides of the argument about using synthetic oil in rotaries.