snarlingbeast

Hey guys,

My transmission is beginning to exhibit a few of the known problems, most notably a difficult 3-4 shift when redlining prior to changing gears. The transmission is still under the Mazda warranty. I'm running Redline MT-90 in it. My question is, will running a non-stock / synthetic (vs. factory dino) oil possibly void the warranty on the tranny?

cjkim

no. they won't even know the difference

Race Roots

iTrader: (64)

Yeah seriously not like they can drain it and be like yep that is Redline for sure....voided.

Play dumb, it always works at the dealership.

NotAPreppie

My dealership was really confused by the purple gear oil in my tranny (Royal Purple MaxGear). After swapping in the Mazda designated fluid didn't fix my problem (grinding going up or down into 5th when warm at over 3000RPM), they rebuilt my transmission under warranty.

rux

Did it come out purple when they drain it out ?

nycgps

iTrader: (1)

rofl

max gear was ur problem, its a gl 5 fluid, it supposed to work with gear box that needs gl4, usually, this is not the case, but rp probably added something to it and it works in their lab, but i guess its still way too slippy for synchro.

and tricky part is, is pretty hard to prove that the fluid is not good, so its better to just avoid it

rp makes great engine oil tho. i use them and its good, just a bit expensive. 20w50 baby

yep, it will, gear box will not see too much contaimation so the fluid will mostly come out with the orignial color unless you drain it after 60 k miles. i tried rp before so i know(big mistake, lucky i drain it out before it fuckx it up.) its a great gl5 fluid for rear diff, just not gear box

snarlingbeast

You're right, this will probably work. But the scenario I was envisioning is this. Mazda NA would agree to replace the transmission or pay for a rebuild and then keep my old parts, as they always do for warranteed work. I assume they keep the failed parts for R&D. They send the parts to a lab, where I'm sure it's easy to test the oil residue, they find out it's a non-OEM oil, they send me the bill. Depends on how uptight the car company is and I'm sure Mazda gets a lot of RX-8 trannies on warranty claims. I haven't dealt with the dealer for big warranty work yet, so that's why I came to you guys.

Race Roots

iTrader: (64)

I don't that they would go the extent of doing research on the oil residue, this isn't the OJ murder mystery to determine what killed the tranny.

If they do it is a waste of money and time.

I do believe they will rebuild the tranny and that's what you should expect to see in your car as well.

nycgps

iTrader: (1)

Nope.

Even you use Non-OEM oil, Mazda couldn't make u pay for it. As long as you did it right in the first place(use the proper oil) and they can't tell the oil by examining it like that, cuz all oil has almost the same stuff in them, some will have some "secret ingredient" in them to make them work better, but there is no way Mazda would know.

I dont even know if there is any "official" transmission oil from Mazda for sale anywhere in NA. Rx-8 aint GT-R you know.

snarlingbeast

Good points. But a microscope can easily distinguish a synthetic oil (MT-90) from a dino oil. My main concern was the synthetic oil being a problem, since I've heard all those marginally accurate warnings about using synthetic in rotary engines. I thought it might somehow influence the transmission warranty.

In any case, I just opened up the service manual to the page on transmission oil and it simply states to use 75W90 GL-4 or GL-5. Nothing about synthetic or otherwise. MT-90 meets those specs, so I think Mazda will have to honor the warranty.

Thanks for your input, guys.

Nubo

Exactly, which had me wondering why you opened this can of worms to begin with. The anti-synthetic hype doesn't extend to the transmission, thank goodness!

nycgps

iTrader: (1)

Do you know what the factory fills are? No one knows.

Microscope can't help them in that case, we're not checking for viruses. They need to check the properties, which is even harder, consider there is always some "left over" oil inside the tranny.

I just dont get it why people so concern about Synthetic oil voiding warranty? Mazda Japan sells Synthetic oil for RX-8. So, doesnt that tell you something ?

snarlingbeast

Didn't know that. Some members, such as you, nycgps, have a wealth of knowledge about the 8. That's why I come to the site.

Thanks again for your help.

TeamRX8

iTrader: (25)

They will, and have, sent trans oil out to be tested for weight if they think something is wrong, claimed my GF's RX-8 had green 40W oil in the trans after it was sent out and tested, refused to warranty it so I installed a used one and we'll never step foot in the only local Mazda dealership here ... total BS

but it shouldn't matter with MT-90 since it meets the specified oil weight requirement

Jon316G

iTrader: (1)

That is interesting TeamRX8.
You would think that the properties within oil would change once its been used, broken down, and contaminated.
I didn't think they could tell... learned something new.

nycgps

iTrader: (1)

That sounds like some horseshit. They probably just wanna pissed you off so you wont bother them anymore ...

Mazda ... are you reading this ? ... you want to get sales? Learn something from Toyota !!!

nycgps

iTrader: (1)

I will share what I know to people who knows what they're asking/talking about.

Im still learning. A lot to learn ...

Nubo

I think you missed his point. They claimed to have tested and result showed something that was NOT in the tranny. I.e., the test was bullshit, if they even ran one at all.

Jon316G

iTrader: (1)

I got the point, just had a side-thought that I wanted to ask about
Looking at it from all sides, could testing really tell what kind of oil was in there.
No biggie... just a random question that popped in my head.

cjkim

did they document proof? thats retarded

TeamRX8

iTrader: (25)

yep, the local dealership is a cesspool teaming with ret@rds and scumb@gs, she bought the car in another part of the state, this was their payback despite having previously bought an RX-8 from them that this one replaced due to an accident

nycgps

iTrader: (1)

if I ever have the money to run my own dealership ... I'll make sure all my customers are happy. shitz.

TeamRX8

iTrader: (25)

oh it gets better, a month earlier she paid them $1000 for replacing the clutch because I didn't have time and they swear the oil was never touched

the clutch disc came apart i.e. the hub rivets all separated and the disc, springs, etc. were all loose, that wasn't a warranty item either

I'm hoping the company that owns them goes bankrupt soon ....

nycgps

iTrader: (1)

wtf ? wow !!!

Mazda dealer ?

holy ****. wow ... I thought NYC Mazda dealerships are bad ... t