jsgates

I am so pissed. I just got done looking at my receipt for my oil change last week, and they used Pennzoil 10W-30 oil! I told them that the car took 5W-20. It's pretty sad when you have people working for you who are too stupid to change oil! I got it done at a local Express Lube type place. I always changed my oil myself on my '01 Mustang, but decided just to have it done on the RX-8 since it is low to the ground. Looks like I'm going to have to buy a set of Ramps and do it myself from now on! I'm not driving all the way to the dealership for an oil change, and they are too expensive anyway. I'll just do it myself from now on and use Castrol GTX 5W-20. So now my question is: Should I dump the oil I just paid $28 for last week and replace with 5W-20? Or should I be ok for the next 3,000 miles? I drove this car off the lot with 13 miles on it! It only has 2500 miles on it now. What would you guys recommend? I'm definitely writing a letter to the owner of this business complaining (and I'm not usually one to complain.)! I specifically said 5W-20 oil.

bascho

I think you'll be ok as long as you get another oil change before winter time. I believe the recommended oil is 10W30 for the RX8 in other world markets.....just not the US.

Silver_Surfer

Wow! I thought they did the no-no and put the evil syn. oil in your 8

StewyRX8

Uh-oh, don't start another synthetic oil debate. How did they miss the 5W-20 on the oil cap?

Easy_E1

iTrader: (2)

I agree with Bascho ,,you will be OK just change it to 5W-20 next time.
I only pay $19.95 at the dealer for an oil change,,, thats less than you just paid at the Speedy Lube. Be careful at those places that they don't fill it with oil to FAST. It will end up in the intake tube. One of the local guys had that happen and it cost him an engine ,should say them an engine.

ken-x8

I just had this conversation with my wife, when I told her my chores today included changing the oil in her car myself, and she asked why I didn't just take it to Jiffy Goober.

A few years back, when I was just too busy, I had my daughter take her '86 Honda to Goober, where they put in 5w30 instead of 10w40. I saw the receipt, and called them to say she was going back for the right oil. Goober said 5w30 was what Honda recommended, but kind of went "Duh..." when I asked if he had a service bulletin saying to use that in the older cars.

If you go to the DIY threads and look up oil changes, you'll see that bashco has it right about 10w30 being OK in the summer. 5w20 is specified in the US to help Mazda meet CAFE requirements. If it was me, I'd follow his advice, and not even bother going back to scream at the EL guys.

I'm getting free changes from my dealer for the first two years, but that didn't stop me from doing a thousand mile change myself. I was able to do it without jacking or ramping the car. I used a long extension on the socket. I re-started the drain plug by hand. My height probably helped reaching it (I'm 6'), although my girth (42" waist) didn't help. Read the DIYs for tips on doing the filter without making a mess.

Now get out and drive your 8! You've got 3000 miles to do before fall. :-)

Ken

kartweb

You're giping about some discount lube place using 10W-30? Try this on for size;

I let the morons at an Arlington TX dealer change my oil - it was 3 qts overfilled and to boot - the bill showed they used Quaker State SYNTHETIC. That was the first oil change at 2000 miles. They will never see mine nor about 30 other Mazda's again.

I think they must have filled the oil until it ran out of the spout. It ended up cracking the plastic filler spout not to mention blowing oil out. I've retained the oil in a bottle and taken a boroscope photo of the intake so in case it needs to be replaced at a later date due to coking they will pay the cost of repairs & the cost of proving they caused it.

jsgates

Thanks for the tips. I've always changed my own oil in the past. I paid $28 to get it changed this time 2 blocks from my house. The dealer is like 30 min away so it's not worth the drive out there.......................except if the EVER get my replacement driver side sun visor in! We're going on a month now and the damn thing is STILL on back order. Mazda needs to send some to the parts warehouse. I know it's not the dealers fault, but this is rediculous. I'm not as upset because I've had good experience with Mazda in the past. Thanks for the tips on the oil.

DOMINION

LOL one Mazda dealer out here tryed to charge me $50 for a Oil change I did this in his face then walked out.

Low Fly'n 8

This car holds 7 quarts of oil but you can only get about 4 quarts out during an oil change. The other 3 remain in oil coolers, oil lines, etc. So you really have something like "8W25" in there now lol. It should be fine until the next change, especially if you're in a hotter climate. You might want to take a look around the base of the oil filter to see if Jiffy Goober left a puddle of oil there. Check out the DIY section - "Oil Change for Dummies".

valpac

iTrader: (2)

Sorry to hear about your misfortune. I never use any of those "jiffy" oil swap shops. The job those high school dropouts do is not jiffy, more expensive and frequently wrong! I would put the correct oil in my car ASAP. (but thats me)

joeman

we use a goober down the street for out fleet of trucks. i have our drivers check the oil before they leave for the day. one time, guess what, NO OIL at all. another time, they didn't drain the oil, just added more. loose filters, loose drain plugs. you name it they have done it. so i said enough. each driver has to change his own oil in the trucks. it takes them an average of an hour+ to do so. so i am 15.00 in the hole just from the beginning and they make the same dumb mistakes.
the only way you can make out is if you stand there and watch and ask question as they work. hey are you using 5w20. hey are you using 5w20 .hey are you using 5w20. can i see the oil lables. did you use a washer on the plug, ect.ect.

RX8PDX

Personally, I would take it back, and have them re-do it free of charge.

And they may give you a coupon for a free-be.

ken-x8

I did that when Jiffy Goober put the wrong oil in my daughter's car. No freebie, and I don't think they really changed the oil again. The next time I changed it myself the oil seemed pretty thin.

A coupon for that place wouldn't have done me any good - I wouldn't have taken a car there again anyway.

Ken

RX8PDX

True.

And if you do take it back, just watch them do the work.

Not too big of a deal really.

I went to one once with my previous car. There was a lady in the stall next to me, she had just brough her car back on a flat bed. Not sure what the work was, but someone had left a rag on the oil pan....... and it had gotten chewed up in the crank..... boy was she pissed.

Needless to say, I got out and watched them doing the job on mine.

matisken

Hi, as a Mazda dealer in Belgium i can tell you this. The one and only good oil brand is Total, sold here by Mazda Dexelia Ultra 5W30 !!! (ACEA A5/B5) check it out, NEVER USE SYNTHETIC OIL !!
When you change the oil by this type, also chande the oil filter !
Good luck !

Raptor2k

As a Mazda dealer, you should know there's nothing wrong with synthetic.

matisken

Wrong, i have the product support note here in front of me ! I'll try to most it ont this forum, but it is in dutch, but you can see on the pictures what happens when you use synth.
Just haven a look ont he pdf file !

Raptor2k

dot dot dot

Ericok

Notice that they recommend 5W-30 NOT 5W-20 by the way.

ken-x8

5w20 is a US thing, for fuel economy. CAFE and all that.

BTW - just for chuckles, I went through the part of Valvoline's web site where they recommend which oil to use. If I told them the RX-8 was not a performance car, they recommended one of their dino oils. If I said it was a performance car, they recommended synthetic.

Ken

Nubo

I wouldn't. Minimum-wage goobers don't care about much, but trying to FORCE them to do a good job gives them a spark of ambition -- to damage your car.

Torchmonkey

A buddy of mine went to Express Lube and they stripped the oil plug (not in an RX-8, thank goodness) and he damaged his engine. They of course wouldn't take responsibility and he didn't feel it was worth the time to take it to court...bastards.

Nubo

Babelfish translation:

CarAndDriver

I would go back to the oil change shop and have them change it out.

After this whole hot weather and recall fiasco, I am going to start putting 5W-30 in my car. It clearly is okay for the RX-8 since its recommended everywhere except the US and Canada and it has better high temperature lubrication ability. So I get .2MPG less than I did before for better margin of error.

Not sure what dino oil company to stick in though. I guess as long as they meet all the SM and GF-4 standards.