When to Add Oil - I gotta stoopid question...
 

Okay, I'll be the first to admit that I'm a complete idiot when it comes to all things mechanical. I walk through the house with a toolkit and my wife nearly tackles me I'm so bad.

Now for my stupid question and yes I did do a brief search, but I guess I'm bad at that too! Simple question: Do I add oil when it's a full quart low or should I add some before then. Right now it needs about 3/4 of a quart - which makes me nervous I'll overfill it.

Thanks.

I would never let it get a quart low. I try to keep the oil between the top dot and top line on my dipstick. When adding oil add a little bit and check the dipstick again and go from there. Repeat until the oil level is right. After some time you will just know how much oil to add. Rule of thumb is to check your oil every second gas fill-up. And do not be worried if you did not burn any oil it all depends on how you drive.

A quart low should be no problem, as the "low" mark on the dipstick is 2 quarts. That said, I check / add oil to mine every 1000 miles, and it usually needs about one third to one half quart. Mine is an automatic, with much higher gearing than the manual, so it probably uses less oil than a manual would.

that is almost close. between the top of the full line to the bottom of the low line is 1.75qt.

beers :beer:

Well, then Mazda is "almost close", but what do they know about their own product...

http://www.mazdausa.com/MusaWeb/musa...010_RX8_QT.pdf
(page 16)

just add a little at a time and constantly check it, I always top off at fill ups

Not a stupid question really. There's no hard-and-fast rule that I'm aware of. I don't really feel that I absolute have to add oil until it gets down to below half. But I usually don't let it get that low.

A quart low shouldn't be a problem. You don't have to keep the oil topped off all the time, but one advantage of adding bits of oil often is that you dilute the existing dirty oil with new clean oil.

Everyone know that reading the dipstick can be a pain in the ass when the oil is clean.

Some advice - Take sand paper and scuff up the the bottom of the dipstick. this will make reading the oil level much easier to read.

is the 09 the same as the 10? really dont know. shocking they made the low 2 qts down.

but really the info is that easy to find.. :)

beers :beer:

The 09 & 10 are the same. I don't really find 2 qt low as shocking. It's not like a piston engine with splash lubrication and other configuration issues to consider. It just needs to be above the oil pick-up when the motor is running. Of course 2 qt low isn't ideal for oil cooling, but enough to maintain pressure.

Every other car I've owned I've topped off at one quart. But the oil filler has always been in a sensible place, not in the back.

With the RX-8 I add when it's half a quart down. I'll pout half of a fresh quart into an empty. That way I have one or two bottles with half a quart on hand. Way easier to not spill any when working from a half quart rather than a full bottle.

Keeping on top of it like that is dictated by a) the desire to not spill oil nor deal with funnels, and b) the enjoyment of looking under the hood more often than I really need to.

Ken

So your one of those that believe in a half full glass?

since we are on the subject of "stupid" questions i have one of my own. i always check my oil when the engine is cold which is, from my understanding, the correct way to do it. im gonna be driving from cleveland to tampa next week and im sure im gonna have to add oil along the way (im getting the oil changed the day before i leave and again when i get back) since the engine will be hot what should i use as a guide since all the oil wont be back in the oil pan to give me a correct reading. i dont want to over fill it.

You should be able to drive that distance and not really need to add much. Even with the engine hot, you can check it well enough to see if it's really getting low. If in doubt, add half a quart about 2/3 through the trip, you should be fine. You won't be burning a whole lot of oil during highway cruising.

The correct way to check your oil is:
1. make sure you are on a level surface
2. warm the engine to normal operating temperature
3. turn off and wait 5 minutes for the oil to return to the oil pan
4. pull out the dipstick wipe clean and reinsert it fully
5. Pull out the dipstick and examine the level

Yeah, just check it every other fill-up and add 1/2 qt if it gets about halfway between full and low. That would still put you down about 1/2 qt and in a safe zone to account for it not being cold and all the way back in the pan. If you stop for any real length of time to eat or something(for like an hour or longer), then you could get a more accurate read and fill accordingly, but you won't be burning all that much.

BUT............check it anyway! Better safe than sorry.

If you check your oil dipstick when the car is cold and then check it when it is at normal operating temperature, there will be more oil on the dipstick when the engine is at normal operating temperature. Oil expands when heated. So if your oil level is at the full mark on the dipstick when cold then when the engine is at normal operating temperature the oil level will be above the full mark.


This is right out of the Mazda Manual
The correct way to check your oil is:
1. make sure you are on a level surface
2. warm the engine to normal operating temperature
3. turn off and wait 5 minutes for the oil to return to the oil pan
4. pull out the dipstick wipe clean and reinsert it fully
5. Pull out the dipstick and examine the level

Yes. But it's even better than that. It's half empty at the same time. I can be either an optimist or a pessimist, as the mood strikes. Or not. No more decision-making stress.

Life is good, if you decant it the right way. :)

Ken

Third option: The glass is just to big.

On my '09 the difference between the top mark and the bottom mark is two quarts. Must be they made the oil reservoir a little bigger on the newer engines.

I just top mine off whenever I think of it. It's never been more than a half a quart below full.

I wait for the light to come on and dump 2 quarts in. Yes I'm bad, no I don't care.

For flame-proof'ing purposes, I've pulled the dipstick when the oil light comes on, and it's always more than 2 notches above empty, hence why I don't really care to check it and just wait for the light to bitch at me.

I've also noticed a quart usually lasts me about 850 miles, give or take 50 miles.

hmm, interesting idea. will have to try this. thanks for the tip :icon_tup:

we won't flame you.. Just laugh when your RX8 breaks :)

His engine won't break. I've been doing the same for the last couple of years since the last ecu reflash that resulted in more oil being injected to protect the apex seals. Since that reflash, I've noticed oil being used up a lot faster than before. Also, I've been making more of a concerted effort to redline lately.

So the result is my low oil light goes on a lot in the last 2 years, at which point I add 1 or 2 quarts. If you're diligent about adding oil soon after the light goes on, nothing will happen to the engine. Think about it. Why would Mazda have the oil light go on JUST AS your engine is fucked?

Where's NYGPS when you need him? LOL.

Considering there's 3-4 quarts in the system, and then the additional contents of the oil pan/reservoir.. that's highly unlikely, especially given the fact there's always ~2 quarts in the pan when the light comes on.

Like was said, if the light came on right as the engine was nuking itself, Mazda would get sued out the ass for it as your average consumer probably wouldn't even bother filling up on oil till another 500miles or so after the light started blinking. :rolleyes: