You could switch to a synthetic and not have those issues. Mineral oils require VII's which break down over the use of the oil.

Do they have any UOA's that you can post for the rest of us?

 

i ran royal purple for 2 yrs --10w30--when i tore my engine down the front bearing was down to the copper.
here are some oua's
1706 image is from havoline 10w/30
1707 is havoline 10/40
1708 is from castrol 10/40
1709 is from Shell deisel oil 15w/40!

http://garx8club.com/v3/download/file.php?id=1706
http://garx8club.com/v3/download/file.php?id=1707
http://garx8club.com/v3/download/file.php?id=1708
http://garx8club.com/v3/download/file.php?id=1715

take note of the viscosity readings at the bottom.
kenny fc is a good guy that has been and continues to work on oil issues and solutions. He presently is working on a safe zinc/phos additive.
I am sold on diesel oil
olddragger

 

Unable to view any of the pix.. getting an "you are unauthorized to view..." message.. Register to view??

 

dang sorry about that-- i will try again,, but just for your knowledge it is on the Georgia RX 8 club site.
sorry cant get it to transfer any differently.
i tried.
anyone know how? they are jpg files.
OD

 

you should be able to go to the album where the pics are stored and copy the picture's URL code. Then reply to the thread, click the yellow square insert picture icon, paste the URL code in the field, and submit. You may need to create an album in your profile and upload the pics there for it to work. Hope this helps!

 

you know when i double click on the files listed they come up fine for me.??
OD

 

That is because you are a member there

I get this message" "You are not authorised to download this attachment."

they spelled authorized wrong also...

 

oh---i am a dumb old ***--sigh---yall join up then--hell its only a registration for some interesting data.
OD

 

No you guys spell it wrong, Z is not correct.

The ENGLISH who invented English don't use the Z....S,S,S,S,S,

HERE are OD's Pics..

 

Hey THANKS Ash!
Appreciate that.
OD

 

Soright...

 

Yay ! I guess Im correct ---- at least 40 weight oil !

 

yep 15w/40 w diesel oil.
OD

 

I second this sage remark.

 

I third it..

 

4k into my new-to-me '04 w/ now 40k on it. Second oil change, I've changed to 15w-40 Rotella diesel. First change was from the 5w-20 in it to 10-40 castrol dino. The engine feels instantly great after each change, but I'm not sure if it's just from the change of oil after 2k, or from the change in oil weight. Keep in mind, I'm in the second hottest place on earth, so it's probable that it's the change in weight.

oldragger, are you using 15-40 in winter too?

 

What kind of oil temperatures have you been seeing?

 

I don't have a gauge for the exact oil temps. But I can tell you that when I was running with the 5-20, the fans would stay on after shutdown almost every single drive. The switch to 10-40 changed that and they now only stay on if I'm driving the rpms hard - I actually thought for a couple of days that my fan relay might be dead. Even with the 10-40, when the ambient temp was up around 115, I could go out to my car at lunch which is 3 stories underground (but with ambient air), the gauge would show that the car was already at operating temperature immediately on startup. The 15-40 with the current ambient temp of about 108 requires a minute or two of driving to get up to operating temperature.

For my recent change, I lifted the right side and then the left to drain the coolers as much as possible, and I also added 4 oz of MMO to the crankcase which I figure should be okay since the oil is so much heavier.

 

your right on this, because i run 20w40 and the fans never turn on, 5w20, it was on almost everytime i drive

 

The fans staying active after the car shuts off has little to do with the actual oil temperature of the vehicle. The fans are activated by your coolant temperature and I've seen enough variation in when they stay on or off that it's not capable of giving much information.

Unless you have a gauge capable of reading oil temperature you could have something else going on and never know it.

 

I understand that but, when the engine heats up the coolant gets hotter, right?

 

Of course. The connection I felt you were trying to make was that switching to a heavier weight oil somehow lowered your coolant temperatures because the fans were not running as much or at all when the car is turned off.

In most cases the oil and coolant will run at the same temperature because they both serve as a cooling source for the engine. However, without the ability to monitor either your water temp or oil temp there is very little information to make any conclusion about.

The dummy water temp gauge hits middle between 165 and 180 degrees. After that it doesn't even begin to move until your around 215 or 220 degrees. And of course there is no oil temperature gauge built in.

The point is, you can't make any objective decisions about your operating temperatures without having an ability to measure them. The dummy stock gauges don't tell you much of anything.

 

Unless you have a coolant temp and oil temp guage there is no way to prove that a heavier oil weight lowers your engine temperature.

 

to bad that Mazda didn't feel like installing a real guage for people, kinda makes me think, WHY!

 

Well, an oil temperature gauge really isn't necessary only for the fact that most people are not going to be using their car in a manner which would cause excessive oil temperatures. Normal cruising even as much as 112+ degrees I don't see oil temps above 200 degrees. Sitting in traffic is a different story.

Oil presssure would freak people out because they wouldn't know what it means and in the past too many people complained their pressure gauge went up and down all the time.

Coolant is much the same thing. The average driver won't know what to make of the information so it's just a dummy gauge.

A set of electric gauges, pod and sensor adapters would run you about $350. It's a pretty worthwhile investment to have that information on tap.