Or..you can invest in an additional 2 Qrt of oil to flush out the old oil, before adding in the standard 4 Qrt..I do and notice that the drainage is alot cleaner looking than if I did not (dark black)....only cost me $2 more for the oil change ($1/Qrt specials)

 

Hey all, thanks for all the tips! I want to do this myself soon (hopefully I can master the art of putting her up on ramps ). Just a couple quick questions if you don't mind -

1) I see alot of people using 5W20. I was under the impression the manual recommended 5W30? Or am I way off? (Sorry, I can't seem to locate my owner's manual right now....)

2) I will occasionally be doing some "winter" driving to upstate NY (possibly as often as every week... for this http://www.icerace.com/). Anyway, should cold weather driving affect your choice of oil at all?

-D

 

mazda specifies 5w20 for the north america market

however, 5w30 is compatible as well.

 

Danke... The key word here is north american market... I've been reading too many French and Russian sites -_-

 

I changed my oil this weekend for the first time at 960 mi. It was a piece of cake . . . except that some gorilla cranked the oil filter in place way too hard and I could not get it to budge. I tried both hands, with and without gloves, a strap wrench and the size F filter wrench. Nothing budged it. I have to take it to the dealer now because the outside filter casing is somewhat mangled. No leak, but I dont want to push it.

Access to the filter is not bad, but you have very little room to get leverage, so I cant remove it. It's a heck of a lot easier to get to the filter than in my miata, which requires a bit more limb contortion to get to. Getting the oil pan bolt on the RX-8 is easy.

My oil was somewhere between black and olive green, looked bad, so I'm glad I changed it. Now I'll probably change it at 2k mi too, because of the dirty filter.

 

I would like to thank everyone who contributed to this thread! With your great instructions, changing the oil on the 8 for the first time was a piece of cake!!

I put the car on ramps (one of the benefits of no body kit ). I slapped on a PurOne PL14612, and fed her some Castrol GTX 5W20. Removing the filter was not too hard (it wasn't torqued to death), but I did spill some oil out of it, even though I had punctured the top first.

For fillup, I first poured half a quart and let it drain back out, to try and some more of the old oil outta there. Put the drain plug back in (with a gasket from Advanced Auto Parts that has a slightly larger OD than what was on there previously... not a big deal, the ID is the same), then poured the rest of that bottle, and 3 more. Check the oil level, about 4/5 of the way up the dipstick. Open up the 5th bottle, pour about 1/4qt, measure again and it's spot on. Thanks to whoever it was that posted the diagram about how the dipstick scale is not linear.

Cap back on, let her idle.. No leaks. Pack everything up, put the old oil in a gallon water jug, and off to AAP again to have it recycled. On the way back, I test it out a little, and I can feel just how much more eager she is to rev!!

Now, I have a couple questions:

1) For those of you that do track days / autocross / drive like crazy around town. How often do you change your oil?

2) Where do you buy oil? Online?

The GTX was over 3$/qt at AAP / Pepboys etc. Is this a decent price? Can it be gotten cheaper? (Fortunately for me, they only had 3 bottles of 5W20 left, so the guy at the counter just gave me two more out of his trunk - they "gey it for free" ... Thanks!).

Peace,
-D

 

Pep Boys regularly has specials on Castrol in southern PA. Price after rebate is $1.59 per qt. Watch the sunday paper inserts for their fliers. Or check in at a store periodically.

 

Wal-mart/Wally World usually have Castrol GTX in 5qt jugs for about $10, best price I can find w/o using any rebates.

personally i use Motorcraft 5w20 semi-syn, same price as GTX in a 5qt jug, but with proven higher grade base oil (grp III + II)

 

Thanks for the tip. I saw your previous couple posts about walmart.. My closest one is a little ways away thou (will go there next time, but today I was tired of running around after having stopped by Sears, Pepboys, then AAP). I'll get a 5qt jug next time, and keep the little 1qt one in the trunk for refills.

Someone mentioned on here that the storage thingie that opens into the trunk happens to be the perfect size for a 1qt oil container. I would like to add to that - it fits perfectly, a 1qt bottle, a half-full roll of paper towels, and a funnel (one of the long blue ones from Pepboys) Now I don't have to worry about running out of oil

So does anyone order oil online? I guess 2$/qt is good enough.. Although with the filter, that adds up to almost 20 bucks per oil change. Still better than taking it to Jiffy Lube. I would rather get than take my baby there....

 

Let me add to this thread by stating that I wish someone would add suregrip to another filter besides Fram. I was using the Frame on my old engine every other oil change (the mobil 1 filter was getting expensive) and it was a damn cinch to get of compared to the Mobil1. Now with my new engine I decided to just use good ol' GTX 5W20 and a WIX filter. I have heard good things about WIX filters but what do you guys think?

 

Oh yeah, that reminds me - how often do you change filters? Ever oil change? Every other? Let's put it to a vote

 

afaik Wix makes good filters. Why dont you guys just use the Mazda filters? Even at the walmart sized dealer that I buy filters from they are only $6.50. Then you have no problems with mazda in the future either?

I dont think any of these filters is any better than the oem.

I change my filter EVERY oil change. Why not?

 

^yes Mazda OEM filter is quite good, that's all i use

I actually bought a 10-pack special from Rosenthal Mazda Arlington for $52.50, they're a very good vendor on the forum and happen to be 20 minutes from my work, so I go there to pick up stuff at their internet price A LOT

 

Whats the OEM part no for the Mazda oil filter?

 

http://www.finishlineperformance.com...n&key=RX8M1000

don't know the part # off my head, but it's the one ALL older Mazda 4cyls and rotaries use.

 

Just for the record, I took my car to the dealership to have them remove the filter. Several guys tried it and they also couldn't budge it. They ended up having to use a tool - I think it was a permanent mount F-type filter wrench.

They told us that mazda uses some sort of vacuum sealing process at the factory - presumably after the engine is finished they do a pressure leak test. The filter overtightening is a common problem.

 

Just did my first oil change and it was a snap. I didn't even need an oil filter wrench or jack at all. Socket wrench and oil pan. Thats it. Just reached down there and started budging the filter little by little until it started really unscrewing. 25-30 minutes tops. Including waiting for all the oil to drain.... pretty good for no lift and never even touching an RX8 before.

 

I forgot to post here again...da-hur

I had my first oil change with the aformentioned Fumoto valve...and all I can say is WELL WORTH IT!

I didn't even need to turn the wheel to get under it, MUCH LESS put it on ramps! I've never been so pleased with such a simple little investment! Highly recomment it...even over SureDrain, mostly because of it's lack of ANY tools to be needed.

I think i've FINALLY figured out the trick to getting the filter off without getting your engine soaked in oil. As others have said, wrap a towel or something that can absorb the oil around the filter and loosen it up. Right before it comes off, allow the towel to absorb a great amount of the oil. Poking a hole or not, you WILL have some oil that still comes out.

After that it's simple...carefully removed the oil-soaked towel, then remove the filter and voala! simple oil change in less than 15 minutes!

I couldn't have been more pleased.

 

I did an oil change on my 07 rx8 yesterday, the second in the cars life, at 7000 miles. The filter is in an...odd position, but I managed to twist it just enough to get it going barehanded. I let it cool for about 30 minutes, to let the oil settle in the pan as well. My arms are long enough (I'm 6'3") that if I just lay on my back I can look through the wheel spokes and reach the drain plug with my right arm extended. THe bolt came off smooothly and easily, along with the crush ring, which I reused, but will replace at 10k miles along with a magnetic (or more magnetic I should say) drain plug. Filled up with 3.7-4qt's of castrol 20 weight and it settled just at the top of the 'full' dipstick mark.

I've never had a car where fresh oil makes so much difference in the sound and vibration of the engine, its crazy. I drove to Montreal on the last batch, but damn, it feels like I poured melted butter in there.

oh yah, rotated all four tires, which was ******* fun. not.

 

great...

 

HINT: If you raise the left side of the car (or lower the right side of the car when the wheel is off) you will drain nearly an additional qt of oil from the engine. More oil out=more fresh oil in, and when the total capacity of the system is about 7 qts, it's important to get as much old oil out as reasonably possible.

 

I have been doing my own oil change since i got the car last year and use that tip that swoope wrote about before... i usually get close to 5 quarts out and one time almost 5.5... much better than the 3.5-4 a dealer would get and 3 qts are bad oil

I have only used OEM filters and change them every time... i think wix is good too though

 

I used the Mobil1 110 filter, not the 101. Next time, I will jack up, or park on a steep driveway on the left side to get a full 5 quarts. Since that is the amount in the Castrol jug to begin with.

 

nope, the fumoto valve comes with a fiberboard crush washer, and once you install the valve, you'll never need to replace a crush washer every time you change oil! one less thing to worry about!

 

have you tried looking online?