Checking Engine Oil
 

Hey, first off I read the manual and dont understand this dipstick thing.

the dipstick has 3 measuring points and between each is .5 quarts?

Lets say that the oil is a little below full. How much do I need to add. I bought 1 quart of penzoil and am keeping it in my trunk. How often do i have to add oil also. My main thing is i dont want to overfill it and I am not 100% sure of how much to add.

If you don't need to replace your hood latch every 6 months, you are not checking the oil often enough.

I am new here also and today I just change the oil at 975 miles. About 1 QT for each section on the stick. Make sure let the be shutdown a good 5 minutes before checking it.
My $.02 worth.

When I get mine changed at the dealer they put 1 1/2 gts too much in, pisses me off. I even left a note in the car for them DON'T OVERFILL OIL. Get the bill 5 gts. overthe fill line at least an inch, can't say it ever caused a problem though. I read about it causing oil to enter the intake but that hasn't occured.

I am pretty sure oil in the intake is due to improper filling method, not overfilling, though severe overfilling could probably also do it. The PCV system has a connection from the filler neck to the intake to recirculate crankcase gasses. If you fill too quickly without a funnel, some oil is literally POURED into the intake. I am pretty sure the dealer where I bought the car did this.

I do my own oil changes using a funnel that ends below the PCV hose. So far, with 2 oil changes, no more oil in the intake.

0.5qt per section.

Ahh this happened to me recently, dealer had my car for a CEL and as they um "Tried to diagnois the problem" they took my oil cap off and put oil in. Sadly they over filled it and ran all the way into my intake. Now that is a mess and a half let me tell you. Went back to the dealer and they recleaned my entire intake system and gave me a new filter. They tried saying it was me for a split second till I told them I have a R-Magic Oil cap and when I last left it, the wording on the cap was facing directly down the front of the car (I'm anal like that) and when I was cleaning the intake I noticed it was turned about 40 degree's.

Rule of thumb by some is about 1k miles or every 3 fill ups either or, just depends on your driving habits. I dont drive alot and a full tank last me about 2 weeks (all 120miles of that tank UGH! lol). If you've not noticed yet the pass through to the trunk has a lil cubby hole, a large majority of us use it to store a bottle of oil just incase yanno ;).

None.

Wait until the level is down to the first mark below full. Then add half a quart.

Do Pennzoil bottles have a scale on the side? If so, that makes it easy. If not, switch to a brand that does.

Anyway, after you top off half a quart, put the half bottle back in your trunk. Then the next time it's down a half (approximately 837 miles later, but that can vary) just dump the remaining half in.

Buy another bottle and start over.

And be thankful that these days oil comes in screw-top bottles.

Ken

My rule of thumb is "Oops, I haven't checked the oil in a long time"..........

To the original poster, do the math. If the dipstick says add .5 quarts, just do it. You ain't gonna kill your car if its running like 1/8 a quart low. For that matter, you aren't gonna kill the car if its running 1.5 quarts low.

To others: Yes, they always overfill the oil on my regular check-ups. Their excuse is that most drivers don't understand this concept that they have to check their oil on a regular basis so they over-fill to give some insurance............could argue this point all day but I made it abundantly clear not to over-fill my oil. My point is that if Mazda doesn't think that a bit of over-fill will kill thier cars then why worry about it.............

So I just just my oil when I think about it which is usually around 1000 miles since the last time I checked. Even then, after a 1000 miles, its usually only takes about 1/4 quart to top her off.........

Everybody, quit worrying so much..........!!!!

i hate to pick on you here but all the threads you have started have already been asked before. just take a couple days to read through some threads and you'll have your answers.

Well, I sometimes tend to disagree with this... I think there are a lot of dealerships that have mechanics working on your car that don't really knob about the rotary engine.
Just because it is a Mazda dealer doesn't mean anything.

This post is a horrible misconception of oil consumption with the RX8. I only need to check it once every 1500 - 2000 miles. Oil consumption varies with each model....most likely, he won't have to check it "every couple of fillups" once he learns how much his 8 will burn.

Oil consumption is depended to your right foot, my fiance can go 1500 miles before adding a quart of oil. My last RX-7 did one quart every 1500 miles under normal driving, 1000 when beating on it.

Guys, seriously I have no idea when to add the oil in this car and how much. I know you told me but can someone please explain this again.

_______F__.__.__L__/


This is how the dip stick looks. Right now my oild after 380 miles is just a tad below the F. How much should I add to get it to the F? Also lets say the oil goes down from the F to the first dot ..example ( ___F__. ) How much oil do I add to get it back to the Full mark.

PLease help and remember that at one point you were new to this to.

Thanks

By any chance do your parents make you wear a helmet whenever you leave the house?

pwned.

If it were down to the first dot, you'd add half a quart.

Since it's just a tad below the F, a mouthful should be enough.

Ken

Nice! Actaully laughed at something on the fifth thread about oil consumption.

hopefully with a light so he can try to check it at night.. der dew de dew..

beers :beer:

The short answer is: NONE

The long answer is: NONE and stop obsessing over oil!

The whole reason you have a range on the dipstick is because there is a range of oil quantity that can happily be in the car. The oil level does NOT need to be on full. Someone said wait until it gets down to the first mark and then add a half quart, but I don't even agree with that. Too much trouble! And I don't wanna be hauling around an open, half empty bottle of oil that might spill and leak. The car will be JUST FINE if you let it get down to around the second mark and add a full quart, which is much easier. You just dump the whole bottle in and don't have to worry about anything. And you still have a whole half-quart buffer zone in case you forget and are a little late adding your quart.

And what's more, even in the worst-case scenario, if you don't remember to fill it at all, there's an idiot light in the car that tells you to add more. While I don't recommend letting it go that far, it's not the end of the world if it does. I had it happen to me once, and, remarkably, nothing bad ever happened to the car.

I believe I was the one who said that. But you're right - if it's too much trouble, waiting til it needs a whole quart is fine. There's still a half quart margin.

Lots of cars out there with one quart between the marks, and we'd always put a quart in when the level was down to the bottom.

I keep the traditional bottle of oil in my RX-8's trunk, and I enjoy fondling the car enough that I do top off at the half quart mark. But those half-quart fillups have always been done in the comfort of my garage, with the leftover half quart sitting on a shelf where it won't pose a leak problem. At a quart every couple of thousand miles, it's not like finding some when you need it will be a problem. Unlike clunkers I used to run, where I'd keep a case of oil (and a case of ATF) in the trunk.

Ken

And that's perfectly fine and reasonable. I just wanted people like the OP to understand that it's not necessary, that people top off the oil more frequently just because they like to.

:ylsuper: Good Post :ylsuper: