Help! Proper RX8 usage
 

I bought an used 2005 RX8 in great condition few days ago. okay, I admit I don't know too much of car and I am in veryvery short of knowledge on rotary engine. After I bought RX8, I did some research and I realized there are number of tips (or musts) to use RX8 properly. Maybe my searching skill is not too great but I couldn't find perfect answers for proper usage of rotary engine. People saying different things from forum to forum, so can you please help noob so that I can take this RX8 upto 999k miles? :)

First, I'd like to know if I should have idle time after turning the engine on or before turning the engine off. If yes, I want to know how and why. Should I press accelator during idle time (disengaging gear)? Some people say I need to wait 5min to drive after engine start and I need to wait 5min to turn off the engine after driving. Some people say I need to wait 1.5min after engine start and 15sec before engine off. Some people say that I do not need to have idle time after engine start, but I need to make sure that the engine temp is at above normal temp before turning the engine off. To do so, they advice not to turn off the engine within 5min of the engine start. Which one is right? Is it to prevent engine from flooding? One thing is that I live in Southern California, where is pretty warm and never snows throughout whole year. Does it matter to this idling time?

Second, I heard ppl saying that it is good to hit the redline (or drive >7000RPM) once a day to burn up the carbon leftover inside rotary engine. Does this apply to only rotary cars? I have had Hyundai Elantra for long time and I never done that. I am a daily driver, never race, usually shift up at 2k~4k rpm range. So I'm not sure how to do that. Can I normally go from 1st to 2nd and hit high rpm (>7k~8k) at 2nd and directly go to 4th~5th skipping 3rd gear? I think it is going to be too fast to go to 3rd gear if I hit high rpm at 2nd gear. Maybe I'm not properly driving manual trans. as I learned it my own.

Other tips on Rotary I have is that:
- use 5w20 non-synthetic oil every 3k miles
- Rotary engine consumes engine oil for lubricating the engine. It is always good to carry extra engine oil, check regulary and fill up the engine if oil level is too low.
- Premium gas (above 91 Octane) is recommended

Any other tips am I missing specifically for rotary engine?
Any advice will be appreciated! Thanks!



p.s. Sorry for longlong crappy english, I'm not a natural english spearker :(

First, welcome to the world of rotary engines.

I recommend 5w30. That's what Mazda specifies everywhere except the US and Canada. Since you're in southern California, you could use the heavier grades that a lot of people recommend, without doing any harm.

IMHO, synthetic is just a waste of money in any car if you change oil every 3000 miles.

Just let it run for about 10 seconds after starting. That's what the owner's manual says, and is reasonable for any car to let oil pressure build up, let things settle down, etc. After driving, if it's warm, just turn it off, no revving. If you don't drive it far enough to warm up, then you let it idle til it is warm and rev to 3k before shutting it off.

Idling is generally not good for any car. You might need to idle in very cold weather for the fast idle and enrichment to finish off, but other than that cars are best warmed by driving gently.

Redlining is recommended for rotaries. Usually you can do it legally only in first or second gear. Shift at higher rpm than you're used to. The power comes in at high rpm, and it's not hurt by revving. In fact, revving a rotary engine is good for both the engine and your soul.

As far as revving ordinary cars - don't forget the classic "Italian tune up." :)

Read the FAQs and stickies for more tips. And browse the site enough to get a feel for who the knowledgable people are and who are not.

Ken

The only time you should have to wait 5 minutes before you start driving is if its really cold outside and you should allow the engine to get warmed up a little. This applies to shutting it off in cold weather as well, make sure the engine is fully heated up somewhere near the middle of the engine temp gauge to keep your engine from flooding.

And to my knowledge the regular piston engine does not have to be redlined ever... i think its bad for their engine and good for ours so yay us :)

ps. keep in mind I'm no expert and am not liable for whatever happens haha.

Best new owner with questions thread I have ever read... Good job on your research. Just by doing that Im sure you will keep good care of the car, keep the oil topped up. 5w 20 is fine, but 5w 30 will be a bit better if you are in hot climates, use 91 and redlining it in first or idle will do the job just fine, no need for second or third becuase you are right... that is getting the speed up there. And as for the warming up... its not a big deal. You can start the car and go just keep it under 4k for a little while, and make sure the engine temp needle is a few bars up before cutting the car off and you will never have a problem with it. If you move it a spot in your driveway or something just leave it running for a few minutes before you cut it off.

Welcome to the addiction, The 8 is an amazing beast.

Welcome fellow Socal RX8 Owner!

- Warming up the car doesn't necessarily mean let it idle for 5 min, 10 min, or another theorized time. Just stay under 4000 rpm (it'll be hard....trust me) until the about 10 minutes AFTER your temperature gauge hits the 11 o'clock mark. I like to wait out about 10 minutes of continuous driving after the needle hits that mark because our oil temps don't come up to par as quick as our water temps.

- Do the DIY coolant by-pass. I did this "mod" about a couple of weeks ago and it really helped with my car car being not-so-sluggish anymore in the California heat. It's a $10 mod and can be done at home using standard tools.

- The oil weight thing is a VERY subjective subject. You WILL GET FLAMED for posting questions like that. However, I'll let you know what I use in my car in California summers. I currently use Castrol GTX 10W40 Dino Oil. Why? It has clean burn characteristics and I felt that the extra weight of the oil would offer more protection. My MPG has suffered a tad bit from going to this weight of oil. During the winters, I plan to switch back to either a 5W30 oil or possibly 0W30. Again, this is all preference.

- Run premix. I run it because I plan to keep this car for a while. We all know that the OMP system is flawed from the factory. I got my car (also an '05) with 21k miles on it and IMMEDIATELY made sure I had the latest flash done to increase the OMP flow rate. I still felt that (because of the nozzle location) that premix would alleviate some of these flaws. I currently run Protek R, but I have a case of Idemitsu when it runs out.

- REV YOUR CAR!!! Cleans the carbon out and it works! I've also done this on my S2000 - engage VTEC once in a while keeps the carbon from forming. Well....the same thing applies to rotary if not even more. Rotary engines are notorious for carbon buildup and this is one of the joys of owning one - REV IT!!!

- I always run premium gas. No exception. It said that in the manual so I'm just going to keep using it. Some members premix and run 89 or 87 even, but I doubt that it's going to be good for a car with high compression numbers from the factory.

Anyways,

Good luck with your car and glad to have you on board.

SOCAL!!!! your are wayyyyy lucky! us socal 8 owners are WAYYYY active and we like to get together all the time, check out the west section of the forums...

oh and WELCOME TO THE ADDICTION

Just want to comment on this part.

Reving it in neutral does nothing but make yourself look like a ricer, or someone with a broken accelerator :lol: The engine needs load and heat to be able to clear the carbon out, so doing it in gear is a MUST.

Welcome to the addiction
Pics or it didn't happen...

and seem like everyone has all the facts down...and you are lucky(as dozer said) they meet up alot in the socal area...
Also use 5w30 oil at the THINNEST 10w30 won't hurt anything....some on the boards here use 20w50

Welcome to the club! Just remember to use the Search function as much as possible :) and there are a LOT of VERY knowledgeable people here that I myself have learned TONS from just by reading around a lot.

Willkommen!

Welcome aboard!

started this post a while back because i was in your same shoes

https://www.rx8club.com/showthread.p...facts+straight

hope it helps, welcome!

some are still using 20W50? those are some sweet words there. that all i use in my RX-7's and was moderatly questioning the use of the thinner oil in my 8. i've been using 5W30 but was curious if 20W50 would suffice. i'm guessing that it may not be completely reccomended due to tigter tolerances.. if many are using it with good results i may switch over..

Thanks!!
 

Thanks for all the useful tips and welcomings!!
I will keep that tips in mind and hope my rx8 to go long run :)

BTW, I redlined my rx8 yesterday for the first time, and i think i'm going to fall in love with this sexy beast

^ you will trust me its addictive :)

go cali!!! to bad nothing really goes on in norcal

drive like you stole the thing!!

redline a day!

Between all the technicalities, if you didn't get the engine to fail by 60k you're not driving it hard enough.

Mine failed at 26k. All you 60k guys must be sucky drivers.

40k is ideal, 26k is overdoing it. Didn't you read the manual?

I distinctly remember reading on this forum that the manual is for women and sucky drivers.

In fact, the cover of my manual actually says that.

Oh you big manly man you. Don't forget the 710 sauce.

im on 20w50 from day one and it runs great, i even put regular gas and its just fine

For now....You can't base anything off a limited amount of time and one car. Not that I'm saying you are wrong. That's just like saying, "I have eaten at McDonald's for the last 2k meals and I am still going strong." Way too many variables.

IDK if there is MANY but I know there are some out there....I believe it's mostly the SW area ppl where their daily temps are well over 100 degrees in the summer....