i'm about to get an rx8. and through contacting an expert on the matter, i've concluded the oil i'm GOING to use. i keep SEEING the phrase "change your oil." this confuses me. everyone here seems to say to keep topping off your oil every 2nd or 3rd gas tank.

if i keep topping off my oil, and considering the engine CONSUMES oil... what purpose would it serve me to go to an oil change place? other than the oil filter that is.

what are the proper steps i need to worry with?

Ive read that synthetic oils are bad for the engine b/c of the way it burns. it can cause the engine to stall out more. Also the rx-8 burns oil quite quickly. Mine ate a quart in about 2k miles believe it or not

um lol.

The RX8 oil system is 7.1 quarts of oil total. The reason it's important to change your oil every 3,000 miles is because you will always have dirty engine oil in the oil system. Only changing the oil filter means you'd also be injecting seriously dirty oil into your motor.

I doubt the outcome of that would be positive.

Proper steps are to check your oil level every 2 to 3 fillups, top off as necessary and change your oil/filter every 3,000 miles. Period.

The engine doesn't "stall" cause of oil. One argument is synthetic oil isn't good for the motor because it is more resistant to burning than dyno oil. There are various synthetic oils advertised as being safe for rotary engines including Royal Purple and Idemitsu.

If your RX8 burns 1 quart every 2,000 miles then that's good. Burning more oil is better than burning less.

I have a few NEW Containers of Mazda Australia's ROTARY ENGINE OIL...

A little history, Mazda Australia enforced the belief that you can not use Any Synthetic oils or Blended Synth oils in ANY ROTARY...

The latest back label on my MRO states the following...

"Synthetic or Blended Synthetic Oils are not recommended for Pre-RENESIS Rotary Engines"..

SO does this mean Mazda Australia has changed their advice as this label was not on earlier MRO supplies?..

To me it is saying Synthetic or Blends are OK to use in RX-8's.

The cars Hand Book/Owners Manual still says not to use any Synthetics but only Mineral Oils, or buy MRO from your Mazda Dealer!..

IMO the 5W30 spec MRO Mazda Australia sells is a blended oil, more than likely Castrol Magnatec 5W30, as the original white packaging from Mazda Australia was in a white CASTROL embedded container.

As far as I am aware you can not buy an ALL mineral engine oil that is 5W30 as they can not get an all mineral that low (5W) without blending some synthetic with it.
I think the lowest an all mineral is a 10 or 15W30/40.

Talk about confusion.

I thought this whole thread got the end, when the attached advertising came out earlier. Mazda Motor Corporation prefers his full synthetic oil for the Renesis. Are there more question?
Synthetics are fine in the rotary. RG says it for 4-5 years (as I remember), now the company told the same.
( I run on 0w-30 since the beginning for 25000 miles, without any little problem)

^Why go from 5W to 0W?

Whats Proteck-R do? and when should you start using it?

Better cold start protection?

The only time the first grade is usefull is while the engine gets up to temp.
Might as well go with the lowest number possible, as most engine wear occurs during that time.

^Sweet. Thanks man.

Protek R is a pre-mix oil from Pettit Racing designed for rotaries.
Any good premix oil in the gas helps the Apex Seals to last longer and seal better, which means more vacuum and power too. (My car actually smokes I put so much pre-mix in the tank)
I use about a half quart of 50/50 mix Protek R and leaded 130 Octane boost (I am catless) per tank.
Vacuum is way up, around 22 at idle, 20 at 4K rpm cruise and 28 on deceleration.
(and negative 13 vacuum under load) :)

I have been using Idemits back from when I had my AT. Just did not know what Protek R is.
Thanks.

So if I have 48k miles on my 8 do you guys think its to late to swap to syn oil?

Premix is more like a coat on the housing surface to prevent Apex eating them alive :)

Because some areas are really really dead cold.

5w does not flow fast enough at those areas.

Keep in mind tho 5w's flow rate is pretty "good" already, so if your weather never really drops below -10 Celsius or so. 0w doesnt really mean anything to you.


Its all up to you.

Use heavier ones for Summer (anything above 60 degrees) like 20w50.

and use 0/5/10w40 for winter (depends on how cold your area will get)

^we dont get very cold out here. No show. Seams all the RX-7 guys use 20w50

Well you're in Vegas So. just use 20w50.

0w even means that the oil is a real full synthetic. Of course an 5w can be full syn but not exclusively.

Is there any evidence that 20W50 during spring and summer may be too heavy and has caused damage or excessive wear during startup? I've been running 10W40 and am considering going heavier for the summer.. and back to 10W40 for the winter. ( Am in NY )

I Idemitsu premix here.. and currently still on dino.

That is true.

for 5w based oil, you really need to check with its data sheet to see "you get what you paid for"

Nope. 20w50 is good.

I've always used Synthetic Oil in all my cars. I'm using 5w30 Castrol Full Synthetic now for the '8. My wife's mommy-van, '03 MPV has over 107K miles on it. Nothing but full Synthetic. I also ran full Synthetic with my Mustang GT Convertible. Never had a problem. I don't anticipate having a problem running it in my '8. On another note, my wife is seriously considering trading in the van and getting an '8!

failed

Syntec lineup are all fake full synthetic oil EXCEPT 0w-30 version.

0w-30 is PAO based(last I checked it was) the rest are hydrocracked (group III) oil.

i use Castrol 20w-50 conventional w/K&N HP filter works great

Mazda reman uses conventional 5w/20 obviously, I asked supervisors why not synthetic and there response is the motor is meant to burn oil and synthetic doesn't break down like conventional and it should in this motor. Also on a small note Mazdaspeeds rx8 previous to this season used conventional oil, they even used it in there daytona 24hr win last season with a huge castrol synthetic ad on there car, I dont know if they switched to synthetic this year since I haven't seen them yet at work. Personally my opinion is it wont make the engine last any longer, why spend the extra money to run sythetic when chances are it will eventually build up too much carbon and have low compression down the road. But do what you want, its your car.

they use conventional because .... TIMES ARE HARD MAN !!!! :lol:

they use motor oil like water in races. think of this, even Honda is out of F1 races. it might be a good idea to cut some cost here and there :lol:

Ahh I would agree but since there the sponsor, the oil is free to use more then likely.