Oil plug came out after dealer oil change
 

I own a 2010 RX8 Sport, 25,000 miles. WE LOVE IT, ZOOM-ZOOM, lots of good twisty roads in the NW.

Have always had the dealer we bought the car from service it (only regular oil changes needed so far). Recently had the oil changed, on the way home my oil light comes on. I pull into a parking lot to check it out & the oil is running out all over the parking lot. Car went back to the dealer, he confirmed the oil plug had come out. Other than some residual oil on the flatbed, the oil pan was empty. He kept the car for the day, ran it, cleaned it & brought it back saying everything was OK. Of course I’m concerned there’s unseen damage that won’t show up until later.

When I noticed the light, I pulled over right away & shut it off, but wonder how long the light might have been on before I saw it (it was solid not flashing) I didn't feel anything or hear any funny sounds, but the oil that leaked out was only 1 to 1-1/2 qts, nothing like the 5 quarts it should have been.

The dealer has always been good to me, but don’t want to take his word for it that everything is OK & then get screwed later. When I got it back, I ran the car fairly hard a few days, I didn't notice any issue, funny sounds, change in performance etc. Do you think a good rotary engine mechanic would be able to find hidden/internal damage when there are no noticeable problems, without having to tear down the engine?

I also want to document what their dealer did with Mazda NA. Does anyone have a contact they might suggest? I’m sure I can find their list/contact info, but thought I’d throw it out here to see if someone had a contact they don’t might sharing of someone at Mazda who might actually care.

I’ll deal with the dealer when I’m ready, but was mostly looking for any input on how likely it might be to detect if any damage was done.

Garf

Get it on paper from the dealer.

Wait 100 miles or so, then have the oil drained and checked for metal shavings. The main problem point that would be affected by this is burnt/scored e-shaft bearings, so chrome and copper are the two main metals that you might see. If it's still clean, you should be fine.

You definitely did the right thing of getting the car shut down asap, and that probably saved the engine. :) :icon_tup:

If the oil pressure light went on, its usually too late... the damage has been done!

But make note of it... keep ALL receipts for the car, make Mazda NA aware, follow all manufacture services (DO NOT use Synthetic, it could be a factor in court), if you have premature engine failure request a NEW OEM engine (not a reman) if they dont play ball go after them.

Thank you RIWWP & Mr. Mango.

First thing I did was request a copy of the work order so I could document the oil change & then my RX8 being towed back to the shop 20 miles later with the oil plug missing & no oil in the oil pan.

Mr Mango hit my biggest concern right on the head. At least with Piston engines, usually having the oil light come on means it too late. Just don’t know enough about Rotary’s to know if damage is as likely & occurs as quickly. From what I’ve read, the light is a LOW oil level indicator, not necessarily low oil pressure, but either way it can’t be good.

Definitely going to take RIWWP’s advice & have the shop who’s maintained ALL my other vehicles for the past 20 years drain/screen the oil & look for ANY debris.

I thought I was doing the right thing by deciding to have the dealer to all the maintenance on my RX8, I should have know better. One thing I know for sure is that they’ll never touch my 8 again.

Think I've decided I’ll give the dealer the “opportunity” to refund me the “Lifetime Oil Change” I purchased. If they refuse, I’ll just take them to small claims court & go after the Lifetime Oil Change as well as “diminished” value that will reflect on the vehicle history completely a result of their negligence. Will still hold them accountable if the engine fails prematurely.

Should have trusted my RX8 with my own mechanic from the start. Went with the dealer because it was a rotary engine, what a mistake! If I were younger, skinnier & had a good place to do it, I'd take care of my own oil changes, unfortunately I have to put my trust in someone else.

Did you notice what the oil pressure gauge did when the light came on? The gauge is essentially an oil pressure idiot light. If it didn't drop, then the odds are in your favor. Of course, it would have been kind of hard to scan all the gauges while you were reacting to the light coming on.

Be careful about just getting a refund on the lifetime changes. They could latch onto that as representing a full settlement for any consequences of their screw up.

Ken

In your first post you say that only1 to 1 1/2 quarts came out. Then you go on to say in your last post that it got towed to the dealer with the oil plug missing and no oil in the oil pan. Am I missing something?

There is not an oil pressure gauge on the Series II.

Yikes! Did not know that. So if oil pressure is gone for reasons other than it being too low and the pump sucking air, there's nothing to let you know? Scary.

Ken

Sorry for being away so long, long days, little extra time at night has made it hard to carve out time to log on.

RIWWP, you save me immense amounts of grief and frustration, thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!!

After putting about 500 miles on my 8, I had my regular mechanic, drain the oil and run it thru coffee filters.They came across a few flecks of metal that could be seen sparkling when a flashlight shined just right.They dropped the oil pan & sure enough there was some metal flakes stuck to the magnet, shavings you could see sparkling in the oil pan & in the divots of the oil pan you could see a liquefied metal sediment that would slowly run when you tipped the pan!!!

Called the Mazda dealer & told them we have a problem, they need to come down & see what my mechanic found. The Mazda guy showed up, inspected, took photos, talked with my mechanic & then asked that I bring the 8 up to the dealership so they could look more in depth themselves, do a compression test etc.


The Service Manager called me the next day and told me the compression test came back strong. I was getting ready to rebuff, it had already been talked about with my mechanic, and was the result we expected, but he went on to say he was still going to recommend an engine replacement, he just needed to run it up the chain of command.

Later that afternoon he called back & advised they had decided in view of the results of the compression test, an engine replacement wasn’t called for and instead they wanted to clean everything out button it back up then have me bring the RX8 back in 1,000 miles so they’d drop the oil pan again & inspect for any additional evidence of metal shavings. I made it clear I wasn’t OK with their decision & he needed to have the GM give me a call so we could discuss the engine damage, premature engine wear & loss of value to my 8. The next day the Service Manager called back & let me know he was ordering a new engine.I did confirm it would in fact be a Mazda factory engine which he assured me it would be.

Except for RIWWP’s advice, I probably wouldn’t have taken the steps to run my 8 for a bit, have the oil drained / filtered & ultimately drop the oil pan to identify the damage that had in fact taken place. Can’t say as I’m thrilled about having to put a reman engine in my 8 after only 25,000 miles, but considering the options I think it’s the best route to go.

I was fairly impressed with how well the dealer and the Service Manager responded, it’s clear they weren’t thrilled about having to replace the engine, but after a little posturing & squealing they are stepping up to make things good after their blunder.

911SC – from the time I noticed the oil light & got it pulled over, in effect ther must have only been about 1-1/2 quarts of oil still in my 8. What oil had still been in the pan all drained out as I parked & got out to look for a problem. By the time the flatbed showed up to take it back to the dealer , any oil that had been in the oil pan was completely drained out.I suspect the drain plug must have dropped out just before I pulled off the road.

Ken-X8 – at least according to the manual, if there is a “malfunction” in the system, which I assume would include a loss of oil pressure, the check oil light should be flashing rather than remaining solid as it did in my case. Whether the light is solid or flashing, as I found out, it’s going to warn you after it’s too late.I really thought I had caught it fast enough & got the engine shut off before any damage had occurred….boy was I WRONG!
According to the dealer I should have my 8 back late next week. It won’t ever be quite same, they ripped a part of my RX8 away when they screwed this up, but I’ll have my baby back with a new heart to send racing thru the twisties.

Definitely a bummer, but at least the dealership realized their mistake and are taking care of it. Much better than the story of my first 8 and the dealership I bought it from.:icon_no2: