I have around 8,000 miles on my car currently, and have changed the oil at around 3000-3500 mile intervals (twice). I have put a lot of miles on my car in a short time because of my lengthy road trips back and forth between NM and MO at about 1000-1100 miles each trip. I always started my trips with an oil top-up and could bank on the car to use a little less that 1/2 qt of oil at the halfway point in my trip at around 500-600 miles. No biggie and I would top-up and continue the drive and then top-up again at the destination. So recently, after my second oil change, I made the same trip and checking the oil level mid trip found it to be full. I thought, well by the time I get to NM I will top-up then. I reached NM and the oil level was still full, and have since driven around here in a spirited fashion but still no indication of oil usage.

I guess to sum it up my car has always used at least around 1/4 of a quart every 5-600 miles, and now I have driven 2000 with no noticeable oil usage.This concerns me a bit, as I do not want the OMP to be screwed-up or something. Perhaps the car uses less oil as the engine gets broken in, but thought I would ask if anyone else has had this kind of situation with change in oil use?

Thanks

Jeff

 

I've had periods where almost no oils seems to burn off and other times when it seems to drain quicker.
Was there some change in conditions?
If there is something wrong with the OMP you'll get a CEL (I hope).

 

How much trouble would it be to run this all past your service rep......

 

Jeez, if this trend continues with everyones RX's.........I'll have to be selling my Castrol and RP stock come Monday morning! I'd be interested if you see fluctuations in the future as DarkBrew seems to indicate.

 

The only real change in that time frame has been temperature -related with temps starting to warm-up as opposed to the initial miles being spent driving during colder winter months. Other than that no additional mods, the same oil and factory filters, and my driving style is the same (periods of normal high rpm driving linked with fits of insanity where I drive the **** out of it). If it was a normal piston engine I would guess the rings had finally seated in nicely, but I always thought the oil use was somewhat predictable from the OMP standpoint. Perhaps not though. It sounds like it may vary from time -to-time based on your experiences, so maybe its not a big deal. I will keep a close eye on it though.

I can't believe I am worried about an engine not using oil!!!

 

I work in NM and the shop I bought the car from is in MO. I may call the service manager and just ask him what he thinks. I make it a point though, to never take my cars in to the dealership for service, even at the cost of paying for minor warranty parts out of my own pocket, simply because I don't trust them with my cars. Thats what happens when you have worked on cars all your life, you learn to trust one person....yourself. Unfortunately these rotary engines are new to me so I do appreciate any insight you guys can provide.

Jeff

 

The magic of owning a rotary!

I think that the earlier Rotaries had mechanical OMPs but the one on the '8 is controlled by the computer so you may not be able to predict the consumption.
My lowest consumption was on a long summer road trip (hyway 100% steady speed)

 

The usage varies based on different parameters......like load, temp etc.

Lots of highway usage = low oil use

Track days = 1 quart or more per day

 

Yeah, the long highway miles may not be dictating the same amount of oil use as it originally did I suppose. I do average speeds of around 70-80 on the open highway though, with bursts to 120 from time-to-time, so its not like I don't wring it out some. I am getting ready to make another journey back to Missouri, so it will be interesting to see what the results are.

Thanks for the feedback guys!

Jeff

 

Hehe

 

I'd be worried if my Renesis is not consuming oil. IMO, if you keep the engine speed low, the OMP would basically starve the seals from lubrication due to lack of oil injected. These engines need to rev out so the OMP delivers more oil to lubricate the seals. More revs = more lubrication, hence a longer lasting engine.

As a rule, if I am stuck in traffic I periodically drive between 5000-7000 rpm for 30 secs. I feel good doing it.

Another one is always go beyond 8000rpm when entering the freeway from the entry lane.

Happy revvin'!

 

I always drive my cars hard, and my RX8 rev beeper goes off on a regular basis, so being easy on it isn't my problem.

I am going to keep a close eye on it though, because the fact that I do drive it hard on a regular basis makes me think it should be using more oil than it currently is.

 

**Noob question** (please keep flaming to a minimum) i currently have 1,416 miles on my 8 and i checked my oil level and its on the bottom line, is it normal to be consuming this much oil, this fast????. im gonna take it to the dealer tomorrow to get the first oil change. should i pour some oil into it for the trip, or will it be harmful if i do, using castrol gtx?? thanx in advance.

 

if it is at the bottom line, i'd go ahead and add some to put it on full. just use 5w-20 like the manual says. mine used a bit more when i first bought the car then it settled into 1 quart every thousand.

 

I usually add about 1/2 quart every 1000 miles. My oil consumption stays about the same once again it depends on how you drive it.

 

thanx for the advice . if i pour a bottle of castrol gtx 5w-20 into it or top it up, should i still get an oil change every 3,000 miles? and how much do u think ill get charged for an oil change at the dealer? and is it necessary to get my service at the dealer i bought my 8 at?

 

bump

 

Change oil every 3K to 5K miles

You can get any place you trust to do the work or DIY.

 

my car usually consumes 1 quart of oil every 3,000 miles. Which is fine - I just top off every other 1500 miles.

I recently installed the Sohn OMP adapter, and am runnin 2 stroke royal purple through it...

It's been about 3 tanks of gas so far, and the omp oil lines still show normal looking oil - nothing remotely looking like rp oil. So I am wondering if the OMP is even flowing at this point.

To make sure, I started to premix again. This morning I used 8 oz of 2 stroke directly into the gas tank. The car ran much smoother than it has in the last week or two. I guess I'll continue to premix until I can be sure the OMP is functional.

 

I always use more oil on long trips. /shrug Just figured it was a quirk of sustained 3000-3500rpm.