Maintenance Question/Experience
 

Anyone have any feedback or insight on with wear and tear/maintenance on their 8's. I got an '05 with close to 52k and I've done the factory scheduled maintenance (30k, 45k oil changes etc) and I recently had my brakes/tires replaced as well as my ignition components/air filter but I'm wondering if theres anything I should be looking at servicing to prevent future problems. Maybe those of you with higher mileages have some advice to keep my car running 100%. I appreciate it.

Read the stickies.

Clean the MAF and redline once a day.

I personally do 3k dino oil changes, 5k just seems to long for my taste.

-Shawn

Check the threads in my sig. Especially for one that old. The $100 is stuff I learned the hard way.

Good luck.

thanks for linking me the info, I've been an owner for a while but I'm trying to get more 'in tune' with my car since the mileage isnt getting any lower, very helpful. thanks team.

Replace the MAF sensor instead of cleaning it. Your cars over 5 years old. These sensors are built like filaments. Just like the kind you find in a light bulb. They are extremely delicate and wear down over time.

since were on the topic anybody have a secret place to get an OEM MAF sensor for a better price than the dealer?

Use 10w30 at least, and change the oil by 3,000. The engine seems to like sheering the oil down in weight quickly, so if you use 5w20, it can thin out pretty badly.

blackstone labs can tell you if your oil is holding up or not.

I didn't read all of them, but it seemed pretty consistent in the UOA thread that they did. I'm sure that happens in all engines though?

all oils will break down of course, the question is if you are using the proper weight for the age of your engine. As they naturally wear you will need to use thicker oil. Also the climate. Here in texas its warmer year around so the use of a thicker oil, vs up north where its colder year around so the oil is not as thin at start up.

Read the Owner's manual...it's all there.

well in the chicago area its usually pretty mild but it gets pretty hot in the summers. Should I be changing oil type based on conditions. My car was manufactured and delivered in june 2005 and has about 52k.

Not really.
5w30 or 5w40 should do it all year around.
Change your oil every 4-6k miles and the spark plugs every 20k or less.
At that mileage check your cat and replace the coils.

Also it would be a good idea to decarbon the engine (seafoam or zoom zoom).

you used to "winterize" the vehicle. If you want to go that route you can get straight weight oil which is much better for the engine. It runs cleaner, stays cleaner, and burns cleaner. What we are using is multi viscosity oil.

If you run straight weight oil then you have to pay attention to the changes in the season. But you would notice a huge difference in the performance of your oil.

Wow ok so this if my first rx8 so im gonna have to add oil to fill line once a week as well as have the oil changed every 3k miles...also hit red line at least once a day and use sea foam to clean out carbon build up. Sry posting here because my reply pertains to the oil issue. Please let me know if i left anything out.

Again,

Welcome, you are getting there. It is not as bad as it really sounds, there are just things to watch. Oil is the biggie. There are several ways to do the seafoam, depending on what you need. I just threw a can in the tank and drove easy for a week. Did you get through my sig links for start up stuff?

yea I like your first $100, just went back and re read some of it today, im going to try decarbonizing soon.