Not really sure what that light is cuz i dont have it on my 8.. But from your avatar it looks light you got the GT trim since it has the GT sideskirts. Unless its just a base model and the previous owner put the kit on afterwards.

Glad to see someone that enjoys working on cars. Especially the 8. Its sad to see some people take such bad care of such an amazing car.

 

Looks like some sort of aftermarket switch.

 

it seems like i have a few aftermarket stuff in my pre-owned rx8. i was told i have a aftermarket clutch cause it grips really firmly but i can't tell cause its my only rx8 i've driven. i have mazdaspeed carbon fiber window side panels. that weird switch that doesn't do anything when vehicle is on or off. and to the right of the picture is a on/off switch with red led front cabin feet lights(which matches the car at night very nicely). i also don't have the renesis engine cover, which i don't mind cause i love looking at the engine after a nice drive

 

I'm trying to learn and read up on the best oil to use. it seems like its a up and down debate.

i wanna try 5w-30 synthetic oil

 

Some says synthetic oil is no good with the rotary engine. I use 5w-30 conventional oil and never had problems with it.

 

I also use 5w-30 conventional. But its all his choice, his own opinion. Like we all have our opinions.

 

I was an ASE Master Certified auto technician for a dozen years, before I transitioned to my current career in semiconductors, and I've seen success and failures with every single brand/type of oil.

Even just taking into account the debates on this board, there are so many varying opinions about oils, and everyone has success stories... Something tells me that the actual brand/type isn't so crucial.

 

Not a certified mechanic or anything but i really like your answer

 

How is OEM coil crap ? Would you mind to explain them ?

most can go 30K miles without issue. It's just that most people "ignored" it, went over the service interval and things go wrong. I won't blame it to people cuz Mazda said a word in the Owner's Manual.

Not to mention, you can get 3rd party OE like Coil for 23 bux each after coupon and it comes with Lifetime Warranty. and before you say anything about "It's not the same as OEM," well, it came from Japan, has the same part number, works exactly the same. Hmm, just like getting a KYB shock instead of another OE-shock which is really just tokico.

 

Use something heavier, 5w-30 is bare minimum.

10w40 is a better choice. Synthetic or not. I personally use 20w50 Synthetic.

Why I said that? a good Synthetic (Ester) will have film strength that's about the same as 20w50 Conventional.

and try to use SN or SL oil instead of SM.

SN is formulated to fight deposits slightly better than SM, at least on a piston engine.

SL is better at lubrication.

 

If they only last 30K, how can you say they're not crap? Over the half century that I've been dealing with cars, before the 8 I've only had to replace an ignition coil once. And that was a Lucas coil in an Alfa. My wife's '94 Camry, with over 100K, is still on its original coils.

Does the maintenance chart in the owner's manual specify a replacement interval for coils?

Ken

 

Have you found your spare tyre yet Pepsi ?

I read my manual and it refers to a spare tyre, damn near took apart my boot and back seats today trying to find the blasted thing, so jumped back on these forums and searched and discovered that there isn't one unless the previous owner bought it as an option (should say that in the manual rather than talking about a spare tyre and there not being one grrr)

What a croc ... off to the wheel shop tomorrow to see if they have any 18" spares lying around going cheap errrr, wonder if that will even fit in the boot though ???

PS: the light, could it be your car alarm ? I know my car has a light for that ...

 

It will fit, but won't leave much room for anything else. The optional spare is a donut, which also consumes a fair amount of space. The car comes with an air pump and an aerosol of goop. Those of us who think that's not quite enough, but don't want to sacrifice the space, usually get a plug kit and/or join an auto club.

Ken

 

i havent figure if it comes with a spear or not. it sounds like theres a spear when i hit the bottom of my trunk, lol.

and the button doesn't do anything that i know of. light stays on, on it. and i tried messing with it when the car is locked. im just a stump. im thinking of tracking the wire with a toner. and see where it leads me.

air pump? where!?!?!?!

 

Not quite true!

Our cars use oil to lub the seals. Piston engines do not do that. Guess where that oil comes from. Most people confuse that with burning oil but the bottom line is our cars use more oil than a Piston one.

 

Spear? Spare tires are not standard with our cars. The spare, if you have one, is in the trunk. You cannot miss it since it fills the trunk up. It goes/comes inside the trunk not the bottom. Inside the cars trunk not under.

 

ah see. i thought it was hiding in a secret volcanic layer inside my truck. thank you sir

 

Piston engines also use oil to lube the seals - the rings. It's just that in a piston engine the oil is squirted up from the crankcase onto the cylinder walls on the back side of the piston, then drains back down into the crankcase. In a rotary the oil is sprayed into the combustion chamber, and gets burned and blown out the exhaust rather than recycled.

Ken

 

I was wondering if when replacing the spark plugs to OEM NGK plugs and wireset do the specific wires matter which order you place them in. On the wireset there are two sets each with 1,2 on it. Can these go to any plug as long as the Leading and Trailing plugs are in the proper place?

Thanks!

 

Each specific spark plug wire is just a shielded strand of metal. There are no smarts to it, so each plug wire could in theory be exchanged in position with each other wire. However, due to the differing lengths of wires, some won't fit in some positions.

The critical part that matters is which coil is connected to which plug via the wires. You do NOT want to get your wires crossed. If the ECU thinks it's firing one plug, but you crossed the wires so it's actually firing a different plug, at best you are going to have problems. At worse you can damage the motor.

Keep them correct:

 

(all thread I know)

Not necessarily.

It depends on driving habits, engine load, health of the oil lines etc.

During normal driving, I just can't see how anybody will burn a quart every 1,000 miles unless there's something wrong with the engine.

Driving on the upper RPM range ALL the time, sure. The engine will drink the oil accordingly.

Mixture of normal driving and pushing it on the upper RPM range as needed for highway pleasure, then a quart between oil changes would seem normal or typical.

The owner's manual states the typical oil consumption is about a quart per oil change. And Mazda's recommended oil change interval is NOT 3,000 during "normal" driving conditions. My local dealer keeps telling me that I should change my oil every 5,000-7,0000, LOL.

Point is...oil consumption is based on multiple factors not just miles.

 

Yup.

 

Last I checked my parent's MY2000 GMC Yukon was on its factory ignition coils. They have had it serviced by the same local mechanic since it was bought and it now has over 150k miles. Still runs great.

Lets be honest here man...

 

As a point of comparison, your parent's Yukon probably has an driving average RPM of ... 2,000rpm? Lets round up for the benefit of the doubt and call it 3,000rpm.

The 2000 Yukon uses 1 coil per cylinder. At 3,000rpm each coil is firing 1,500 times per minute.

If you estimate an average lifetime speed of the Yukon, including idle time, of about 30mph, that is about 5,000 hours of run time. Each coil has fired about 450 million times.

An RX-8's live it's life with an average RPM of probably closer to 5,000rpm. We will use 4,000rpm as the average however. At 4,000rpm, an RX-8's coil is firing 12,000 times per minute. (1 e-shaft revolution fires each of the 3 faces). The RX-8 only needs about 625 hours at this rate to hit 450 million firing events on each coil. Even at the same average speed of 30mph, this is only 18,750 miles.

The RX-8 coils are actually pretty good by comparison...




But yes, they still suck for the environment they were put in

 

Well, I sure can't argue with that logic. Then again, try and tell that to your average consumer. Perception IS reality. Something the business world keeps unkindly reminding me each and every day.

Anyway, sorry about the thread jack!