took it in yesterday.......knowing full well from reading these forums what to look out for. welll, neuralogical flatulation kicked in and forgot to check while i was there.

didn't realize until i pulled onto base this morning and noticed that little reminder on the windshield, 10w-30!!!!!!!

i'll be checking at lunch to see if it's overserviced as well! then they'll get a call from me.

will it be fine, probably, but it annoys me nonetheless....

also asked them about the clutch bearing noise while sitting at idle, they say it's normal even though I had the dealer start a new one in the lot and you couldn't hear that one??!?!?!?!?

i originally took the car in, aside from the oil, because it stalled on me. Yes, that's right, stalled at a traffic light, no reason. started right up, then almost stalled again a week later. they said my car was due for an ECU reflash for whatever reasons, so i'll see if that takes care of the questionable idling!

sorry this post seems off the hilt, i'm kind of not thinking straight right now!

l8r

Ed Morse MAzda Service, Port Ritchie, FL...for those that care.

 

For what it's worth, Oosik, I got a printout from my first oil change/service (free, because I got the free-service-$500 deal) that said 5-30 had been installed. The service manager said they just had a standard form, but that the proper oil for each car is used (5-20 for the 8, of course).

 

You know, from reading the Techincal Service Bulletin concerning the spark plug upgrade, I got the impression that the new plugs were to prevent stalling in cars owned by drivers who seldom get the car moving very fast. I find that my poor 8, which is stuck in city driving most of the time, loads up pretty badly and stumbles at idle. Could be an ECU reflash; could be a spark plug thing. Just a thought.

 

what?

 

I wonder if the service manager is giving the same answer to other people who drive the MPV or V6 Mazda6. Those Ford Duratec-based V6 use 5W-20 as well for emission purpose.

 

mazda in oakland also changed mine with some other weight oil.

james

 

Well, i called them up the following day, not indicating they had just worked on my car and asked "what weight oil goes into the RX8", their response, "that's a good question" WTF!

They then proceeded to inform they put 10w-30 into all the cars, i mentioned 5w-20 they said that was primarily for those that live in colder climates to help with starting and that MAZDA says it's fine?!?

I'm going to e-mail mazda myself I guess, so I can get a printed word on what their stance really is.

No more stalls or almost-stalls, though, the idle feels rough to me there is no negative indication on the tach. You know how you can become so intimately familiar with how you vehicle rides, that if so much as a pebble is stuck in a tread, you can sense something isn't right. Well, that's what this rough idle thing is with me, not constant mind you, just feels like there is a slight "bog" to engine now-and-again. Maybe it's just me....

 

Oosik, please don't let the dealer get away with this outrageous combination of ignorance and unresponsiveness.

These idiots don't even know what's in the manual -- how can they be trusted to know all the more complicated technical materials they are supposed to use to repair your car? If at all possible, I would find another dealer.

The manual says that 5-20 is right for ALL temperatures. Even if 10-30 were not so bad part of the year, that would be summer, not winter. You are hurting your car turning it over from cold start with thicker oil. Call Mazda and tell them you are having it changed right away, and they owe you the cost of doing it. And ask them what they intend to do about this unacceptable dealer.

 

I have wondered if possibly that some of the engines that supposedly failed were serviced with the wrong oil. We were told it was injector failure.

 

More thoughts about 10-30 oil.
I was so outraged by the dealer misstating Mazda's own advice in the manual that I didn't notice you were writing from Florida. If all your driving is there, 10-30 probably will do no more harm than making fuel consumption a trifle higher. In fact, I was surprised when I read the manual that Mazda made no mention that oil thicker than 5-20 would be acceptable at high temperatures.

So is everything fine? I don't think so. If Mazda has changed its mind and decided the manual was dumb, they should say so in writing. This is just one of many examples where things are more confused than they should be, because Mazda either says nothing, or says contradictory things.

 

Oosik, any idea what they meant by that? No car is "due" for a reflash in any sense that I know of. That almosts sound like a certain VIN range is supposed to get it. From your later post, it sounds like it cleared up your idle/stall problem so I guess it worked. Can you give more detail on the nature of the reflash?

 

Interesting how poorly trained and inconsistent the service techs are about oil. Based on comments I read here, when I picked up my car on Thursday I casually asked my service rep what kinda oil they used. He said, "10W-30 absolutely, that's the right grade for San Diego." I said, well the owners manual and mazda specify 5-W-20. He says trust me, I've been doing this forever and owned two RX-7's, you want 10W-30. So I carefully read my 3-page service invoice (I had a lot done to the car) and on page 3 its says they used 5W-20.

I brought this to his attention, and he was way surprised. So we go outback, find a coupla mechanics and ask what did they use. They say, "We always use 5W-20 on the 8's." My guy is way surprised, he says show me so they take him to one service bay where they have 5W-20 in bulk. The sr service rep didn't know, and he doesn't even know who ordered the bulk oil it just "showed up." But he learned something new, apologized for the bum gouge, and promised to use this info for all future RX-8 servicing.

Edit: This was John Hine Mazda in SD; the service rep is Kenny.

 

It doesn't surprise me that the techs knew about 5w20 while the writers are winging it. The writers rarely see the engine with the cover off. But if you take the cover off and look at the filler cap, it's awfully hard to miss. 5w-20. Says so, right there.

I once had a God-awful '77 Ponitac Sunbird with a Borg Warner 5 speed manual. The trany clanked from day one and the dealer tore into it twice. The second time it was a little stiff shifting. Then the hard freeze came and I couldn't shift without bearing down with all my might. I finally pulled the trany myself and turned it over to see what they put in it. It was green, folks. green. It's supposed to be red. The Borg Warner 5 speed took ATF. It would indeed by nice if we could count on the dealers to put the right stuff in, wouldn't it?

 

hey, it was a 77 Pontiac. What did you expect? If it wasn't green trannie fluid it woulda been something else. ;-)

 

OT -

>>hey, it was a 77 Pontiac. What did you expect? If it wasn't green trannie fluid it woulda been something else. ;-)
<<

Eventually it was. Maybe it was everything else.

How's this for a nightmare: The first time the dealer took that transmission apart the mechanic quit in the middle of the job. They had to wait two weeks while they sent another mechanic to train up and mine is the first car he worked on when he came back.

GM is oblivious to the fact that I never bought another GM car since then, but I feel just a little better knowing that I've been punishing them for the next 27 years. that'll learn them!


I see in your other posts why my stiff shifter might have interested you. I doubt seriously, though, that your dealer could have done a stupid thing like refill your transmission with the wrong stuff. I personally like the air-in-the-hydraulic-line theory myself.

 

It's loosening up. I think maybe it was just a break-in thing.

 

Experience is a wonderful thing... and the techs have very little with the 8.

 

honestly no. why i didn't ask, who knows. the manager was talking at mach 1 about everything I had listed that I wanted done, guess I just lost consciousness or sometihng. But he did say my car was due for a reflash.

I sent an e-mail to Mazda NA AND the dealership website in regards to this oil issue so I shouold hear something this week, maybe then I'll ask about the reflash or maybe just call them and inquire. If i di'nt hear form them by wednesday, i'll call them(Mazda NA).

Yeah, it's not running like it was so maybe it did something....

OH JUST REMEMBERED....when he said reflash, in the same sentence, he said, to take care of some horsepower issues and other things........? Not sure what that means.

Also, he mentioned my car was due for the oil pan TSB, so maybe i'll have them do that then put the right oil with another filter in, provided i get the response I want from both Mazda and the dealership.

 

I'd be real careful around this guy. He has no clue what he's talking about out. That's bad enough, but he's trying to act like he does know, and that makes him dangerous. There is no ECU reflash to take care of the HP issue, so who knows what he plans to do or if he will ever honestly tell you what he did.

 

???? Huh whats the Low down on this 5W-20 ????

I though 5W-30 is the correct oil to use ?????

 

Maestro, 5-30 may be correct for new zealand and australia. I think the others are discussing North American auto's. Check your own manual for the correct answer!

 

Yeah, in North America both the owner's manual and fill cap say 5W-20. It doesn't say "recommended"; it say to use. Interesting that it might be different in your country. That suggests it wasn't a question of auto mechanics, but product liability or something else. Can you confirm 5W-30 is recommended in NZ?

BTW, nice country. You have a lot of fans here following Lord of the Rings movies. ;-)

 

I just added oil today too and noticed the 5W-20 indentation letters on the oil fill cap. There is absolutely no excuse a dealer could have for using anything other than 5W-20. Maybe I need to get a Sharpie and fill in those indented letters so that even the dumbest mechanic can't make an excuse. Black letters on a yellow cap are pretty hard to miss.

 

It seems that it is indeed different for Australia.

https://www.rx8club.com/showthread.p...light=oil+type
https://www.rx8club.com/showthread.p...light=oil+type

 

Most puzzling indeed. Can anyone explain this? It can't be an issue of climate since Australia, US and NZ have equally diverse climates. Is there something mechanically different between our cars? Or it is something else like politics or liability?