^^ LOL.. So last night i just switched over to Synthetic Motul 5W40 Oil for the engine.. the car runs great so far.. was a little bit doubtful when i heard the japanese mechanic putting in synthetic.. but apparently thats what they've been doing for all the Rotaries.. including the Previously worked on Twin Turbo RX-8 Project Car..

so.. i guess its good :)

I actually switched to that in the passat and as soon as we did it started eating dubbious amounts of oil. Not saying the switch was the problem but strange none the less. The passat went from no oil use to about a qt a mth. Weird thing is usally with that much oil comsumption you'll see smoke coming out the pipes, see it on the floor, or smell it burning off on the motor. I never could figure it out so the car was sold asap.:scratchhe

About a year ago, I guess, I switched from Mobil1 5W-30 to the Mobil1 0w-40. I haven't done any used oil analysis in a long time, and I doubt I will ever start again. I'm just going on general principle and from whatever evidence I can glean from what goes on around here. Engine still runs. Life goes on. :)

your engine blew cuz it does not want to work for you.

I haven't made my plans for the RX-8 yet (just got it a month ago and still trying to wade thru all the info), but before this i have used Mobil 0W40 for 7 years. I started with my 1.8T because they were known for sludge. Worked great in there and about 3 BMWs since. I have had two BMWs that burned a lot of oil, so that is 2 out of 6. i don't think the oil caused the problem - it has a great rep.

The very strange thing is that in the last BMW with 150k, i ran three oil changes on conventional during the last year i had it and it hardly burned any conventional. At first i thought it was because i was babying it, but the 3rd time, i drove it like I usually did and it didn't burn any. Very strange.

Again, i don't blame the oil, but if i hadn't sold that car, I would have changed to something else. For any car without such an issue, i would be very comfortable with Mobil1 0W40.

I've read around about synthetic oil quite a bit but i just cant make a decision so i need some suggestions from some of the more experienced folks in the community.

My car has 64k and i've owned it since 19k. The first 5k or so i put on the car i used Casterol GTX 5w20 just because i didn't know any better. After that i switched to Casterol GTX 5w30 and i've been there ever since. I've changed my oil myself every 3k miles and i use Atkins Rotary filters.

This last spring i started autocrossing and tracking the car. I did 4 track days and countless autocross runs but i always used the same oil. I lived in Washington where we had pretty mild winters and summers temps which swung between 30-80 degrees throughout the entire year (with a few exceptions obviously) but i always used 5w30.

I recently moved to Norman Oklahoma which is currently 24 degrees and snowing but can reach 110 degrees in the summer. I also plan on doing more track days and autocross events during the up coming season and i feel that i need a appropriate oil to accommodate for the change in climate and increase in high performance driving.

Also, FYI, i've recently started pre-mixing with Idemistu. About 6 oz per tank and the car is running better than i can ever remember.

I guess my question is, i'd like to switch to synthetic and i'm curious what you guys recommend for me given what i've said above. My main concern is what weight oil to use but if you have suggestion for which brand it would be appreciated as well. Right now i'm considering Amsoil, Royal Purple, Red Line (i'm really happy with their Tranny and Diff oils) and there is one more but i cant think of it. I'm not really considering Eneos because of the cost and i dont know much about it.

I need to change my oil in 200 miles so i need to place an order stat ;)

Thanks

Ive read the Mazmart threads and Rick Engman (sp?) recommends either 5w/40 or 10w/40 for street and 20w/50 for track days.

Ive swithced to 5w/40 Castrol Syntec.

Was using 5w/30 Syntec blended (half synthetic).

For first 45K was using Castrol Syn blend 5w/20.

I run Royal Purple 5w30, but I don't have anything specific that convincingly proves it's the best choice. Many would say it is not.

I'm going to switch to Redline 5w30. My logic, flawed or not, is that it has the same HTHS (high temp, high shear) spec as regular dino 15w40 or 20w50, but is thinner at lower temperatures. As an autocrosser I particularly like this, since it is very hard to ensure your oil is fully up to temp on that first run. So, when the oil isn't fully hot, I'm not running a super thick oil through the bearings, but when it is hot, it protects as well (theoretically) as a "regular" 15w40.

However, if I were going to track the car in a hot climate, I'd probably move on to a Redline 10w40 or something, to ensure the car is properly protected at high temps. Redline has lot of good info on their various weights.

My .02.

George

That's about what i was thinking. I just ordered a case of Royal Purple 5w30 since it will be a while until the track days kick in again and it wont be hot for quite a while. Maybe for the 2 months it get's real hot here i'll bump it up to a 10w40. I'm liking what i'm reading about Redline oils but it'll be good to try out RP too.

^Sounds like a good plan.

Personally, I'd say stick with what you've been doing. 64K is well into middle-age for this engine, so you're doing pretty good. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Is there any real reasoning for this or just a hunch?

Last year was the first time i'd done any high performance driving so now that i'm planning on running the car a lot harder on a regular basis i'd rather have the best protection possible.

I guess I'm gay for using 15w50 mobil1 with 1200ppm of zddp. ...

15w50 m1 ftw!

10w30 Idemitsu Racing Rotary Full Synthetic. 44k miles and no problems.

I would like to use that also, but I'm concerned what that level of zddp might do to my catalyst...

Stock CAT can fail even without the help of ZDDP.

So tell me, what does it really matter ?

what ZDDP additive are u using, and how much to get that concentration?

It matters if I want to optimize the life & function of the catalytic converter, avoid any related performance losses while the converter is prematurely deteriorating, and pass my smog test every 2 years without extra hassle.

ok so i live in miami, ive been putting 10w 30 full synthetic in my car for 3 years. not one engine problem. i guess ill just keep doing what i do. any other weight recommendations for miami weather?

One thing resurfaces in my thinking every now and then, just often enough to make me nervous. Brian Goodwin, who should know something about the subject, remains adamant against synthetic oil for our engine only. You probably all know his reasons. Racing Beat and others are equally strong with pro-synthetic oil views (could it have something to do with racing applications being torn down to "clean" status frequently and also not using catalytic converters?). I guess we are never going to have definitive answers.

For those of us who still have functioning nervous systems, could you give that little decapitated-head-on-speed a temporary vacation?:crying:

Originally Posted by rxrocks

Castrol: We cannot recommend the use of Castrol SYNTEC and SYNTEC Blend in Mazda rotary engines because we respect the decision made by Mazda.

Go figure this shit out!

BTW, the Castrol Syntec Mazda RX-8 car just won the Datyona 24-hour race. How do you suppose the reason that one out?:SHOCKED:

Get a SOHN adapter, you can run whatever synthetic you like. All I can say is my UOA for my Mobil1 0W-40 at 2500 miles was much better than my UOA of German Castrol 0W-30 with only 1500 miles on it.

It's like trying to figure out how many licks it takes to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop.

http://ruggerjay.typepad.com/photos/...ie_pop_owl.jpg