Survey on oil consumption
 

Hi all

I am new to the rotary engine and I am planning to buy the RX-8 in the near future when I have saved enough moneys.
I have read that rotary consume oil during operation and the RX-8 oil consumption is less compared with earlier rotary engine such as RX-7 I, II & III generation.

I would like everyone to input for the RX-8 its oil consupmtion figure along with milage and mpg as well .

I expect a positive correlation between oil consumption and fuel consumption. Also I expect the oil consupmtion to be high during break-in and lower after break in period.
This small survey should give an idea about the true oil consumption.
Thank

will cross 600 miles today on the way home. just under 16mpg for the first 2 tanks of gas. checked my oil for only the second time yesterday, the first being when i picked up the car 2 weeks ago. it's only about a quarter of the way down from the "full" line to the "add" line. i'll top it off when it reaches the half way point.

It's gonna be hard to make any type of guess as to oil consumption on the '8 right now. New engines use a bit more oil as they're breaking in.

If it's less than the RX-7, oil usage will be negligible. By the time an oil change comes around (3000 miles) it will be about 3/4 of the way low. Big whoop. It's not even anything you have to be worried about - just change the oil reguarly and you're fine.

Hell, there's a low oil sensor that will light if the oil level gets too low - when it lights, you've still got plenty in the oil pan - it's a good early reminder if there's some sort of problem (oil leak or the like).

Dale

My car was 1/2 quart low at 1482 miles (yesterday). I was going to change the oil but it seams that the strongest man in Japan was hired by Mazda to tighten my oil filter. I topped it off and ordered the wrench to remove the filter next weekend.

I'm now a little over 1,800 miles and the oil has only gone down a tad. Not even enough to add.

As for gas mileage I just got 20.6 mpg on the last tank that included 90% hwy miles. Most of that was at 85 mph. My prior, mostly city driving was averaging 19 mpg.

LOL LOL :D

When this happens on my current car (POS 4-banger) I use a flathead screwdriver and a small hammer... works everytime. But be careful, you WILL puncture the oil filter and then you HAVE to take it out no matter what.

At 600 miles (woo-hoo break-in is over!) I was still at max line.

Just filled it up with 3/4 Qt of oil at the 2k miles mark. Redline occationally, LA traffics, and high speed freeway sometime. Last tank, I got about 17MPG.

Just an FYI - I had the same issue (on ALL of my Japanese cars) with how tight the filter was. I own the oil filter wrench that Mazda sells (2 previous Miata's) and it doesn't fit!

I questioned the dealership parts man, and he said they are the same part number (oil filter), but they have become smaller diameter than the "old" ones (I still have 5 or 6 of these). I asked to buy the "new" diameter wrench, and it's not available yet (with NO ETA).

I had the dealer remove and replace the OEM filter with an "old style" filter (that my wrench will fit), it's been fine ever since (2 oil changes now). They charged me $4.95 ($3.80 for the filter). If you DO happen to get the "new" filter wrench, would you PM me with the part number?

I'm just under 600 miles, and we're still at the max line as well.

Oil filter removal
 

How does one remove the sort-of vertically mounted oil filter without coating that area of the engine with used oil? If the filter screws onto a mounting plate/bracket, looks to me like there will be a real mess after removing the old filter.

(A repairman {independent garage} told me he would create a hole in the top of the filter with a punch/screwdriver and hammer so any vacuum is broken and after about five minutes the old filter 'self-drains' and then can be removed without any used oil dripping onto the engine or surrounding area. Is this a procedure the Mazda techs at the dealership use??)

Use a couple of shop rags to catch oil drip from oil filter.

Do not let any brainless mechanics, who insists on punching holes, to work on your car.

At roughly 700 miles I checked oil level and it was smack between both hash marks (50%). Checked oil today at 1900 and the level dropped to the first hash. I ended up putting a full quart and now the level is at 65% betweem both hash marks.

Oil use........
 

When new, my dipstick level measured just over 2/3, (say 70%).
At 1000 kilometres, it was still over half, (55%?)
However, at 2750 k the oil light was coming on occasionally, while the dipstick still read about 1/4, (25%)....I added half a litre, and the light went away, so at least on this dipstick, the warning comes in long before the 'minimum' mark. I will have to mark the metal where the light comes on again.....
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doc

What kind of oil???
 

What kind of oil needs to be put in the 8??? I was told by my salesman that I could use 10w-30.. and the oil cap says 5w-20

im off to go wash her :)

Damn, bro -- your burning oil. Is it possible the level was low when you bought the car? Otherwise, you've got a problem.

For me, over 2000 miles now. Oil is down 20% from the high mark to the low mark. Looks like I won't have to fill any between oil changes. I'm starting to shift now at 3000 rpm (used to be higher); i'm getting 17 mpg using regular (87 octane), last tank was actually 17.5, starting to move up.

I believe the owners manual says that the 'full' and 'add' marks are 1.5 or 1.7 litres apart.

On my road trip, the oil level was down to just below halfway between full and add after 3000 miles. I added 1 litre at that time.

Regards,
Gordon

AT 1865 miles, mine was halfway between HI and Low. I put in bout 1/4 quart, and it moved about a 1/4 of the way up, so I put in another 1/4 for a grand total of 1/2 quart. I've been getting between 17-19 mpg - redline a couple few ten times per drive...:D

Well with the 7 the harder you drive the more oil is injected.. so if you drive hard you open up the oil injectors and use a lot more oil.

A normal track day seems to use about a quart of oil.. so that's about 1 tank of gas and a full quart gone.. so if it's anything like the 13b then you will use a lot more at high revs.

I'm very happy that you are learning about the rotary and it's quirks.. so many people know so little about it. "So that's got a rotary engine right? How many pistons does it have?"

So anyone with an 8 disabled the OMP and start premixing yet ;)
I feel so special pouring 2 cycle oil into my gas while everyone watches... "What's he doing?" "Is that motor oil" "He is going to ruin his car!"

*snicker*

Just crossed the 1000 mile mark.. Driving home at about 90mph for a couple minutes and the oil light comes on.. Slowed down to 65, light turns off. Oil was checked and I'm about half way - MPG is roughly 13/15 mostly city driving.

Is it normal at high speeds for a long period of time for the oil light to come on??

You want to check out other posts about the oil light. Yes mine comes on when I exceed 85 mph for extended time and goes off when I decelerate.

As far as consumption goes I am now at 2,300 miles and I just added my first quart.

My auto RX8 just turned 1,300 miles. I checked the oil and it was full, all the way to the top mark on the dipstick. I drive in LA, about 75% freeway and 25% city and my mileage has been awful. I am averaging 15 (low) and 17 (max) and am very disappointed with this consumption. Even though I have read on this forum that this is a sports car and that gss mileage should not be an issue, well I believe that if a car is advertised in the 18-25 range it should get somewhere within that range or close to it. Therefore maybe something is wrong! I have not driven the car fast yet nor redlined it and as I stated am disappointed in the lousy mileage. Otherwise, it is an awesome car.

Anyone else getting lousy mileage?

I am curious about what weight oil everyone will be using. I know the cap says 5W-20 but I seem to remember from my RX-7 days using different weights for different seasons. I think I used to run 20W-50 during the summer on the 7's. Anyway any thoughts?

Low oil light came on at 1700 miles. Not being a prior rotary owner, I was a bit peeved about the knowledge of now owning an oil guzzling car. I'm still on the fence about owning it based on this, the MPG, and the current price of premium fuel. It's almost as "high-maintenance" as my wife.

I'm gonna use the factor recommended 5w-20. In my younger days, I thought the thicker 20w-50 would be better for my high revving engines, too (motorcycles, RX-7). But I think that way of thinking about which oil to use is rather old. I don't see the point in making your engine push around any thicker oil than necessary. Looks like to me over the long run it could cause undue stress on the engine if it wasn't designed for it. I think the process of oil refinement has probably raised the quality of the final product over what it used to be, too, so thicker oil is not necessarily better oil for your engine. If Mazda specifies a particular weight, then the engine was probably designed to run with that. So I'm sticking with the recommended 5w-20.

Just my opinion. I'm by no means an authority on it.