No- I have a 6MT... not that it would matter- there should be no way for ATF to get into the airbox (even in an auto) through anything other than manual intervention.

Putting ATF in the intake when trying to start a flooded rotary was an old RX7 trick from what I've read- it would help "seal" the seals and build compression back up after too much fuel washed out the layer of oil between the seals and rotor housing (worst case of flooding). They quickly backed down from accusing me and think it was done at the port. I didn't hear back from the service mgr today regarding his conversations with MNAO on this topic, so I'll check tomorrow.

Might want to take a look at the latest TSB in TECH. Turns out the Repair Procedure "C" in the bulletin dated 3/11/04 dumps 20 cc s of oil into the intake manifold. Good bet they couldn't get your car started somewhere before you got the car and they did "C".

Interesting, except where they have you put the oil in the TSB isn't anywhere near the filter, it's engine side of the throttlebody pretty much just about where it gets to the engine intake.

Interesting TSB though...

Cosmolene Coating
 

Most of your Japanese cars that come over from Japan have their engines sprayed with a coating of COSMOLENE ( yellowish in color ) in order to protect it from salt-spray from the ocean and anything else that might come in contact with it.

This will burn-off in short order.
Otherwise, I hear that you can use a Zymol product called "Strick" to get it off. "Strick" works exceptionally well at this.

I have my car at the dealer now for this and several other problems. Anyone find a cause? Or is this one of the many mysteries fo the '8?

pcldletter:

Let us know what your dealer does/does not do in regards to the oil issue. I am curious if this is acutally getting back to Mazda as an "issue".

Dealer just called me. The oil in the filter "... is a normal occurance if you drive the car the way it was ment to be driven due to the fact that the oil is vented there."

The oil is vented into the airbox???

Am I missing something here??

There is a vent hose from the top of the oil filler neck to the throttle body, which could theoretically allow oil to enter the intake tube and dribble down into the filter/airbox. I thought there was a check valve that should prevent this, but I could be wrong.

I showed DMENAC7 how the stupidly designed airbox opens up and found a light coating of dark oil on his filter as well.

Let me rephrase...

Oil is vented into the airbox...BY DESIGN ?

I detect the foul stench of Dealer BS!

...alternatively, if there isn't a check valve there and it IS by design, this sounds like a critically necessary mod is needed, eh?

Just worked on Canzoomer's car (moving coil packs around to find a flaky one). To do this the easiest way is to remove the intake rubber hose from the airbox to the throttle body. To remove that I had to take off the resonator on the side of the hose (so it would clear the strut tower brace). When I removed that plastic "box" I almost got soaked with the oil pouring out of it. It was about 1/3 full! It's easy to take off (one hose clamp). Check yours to see how much oil is in it. It obviously will detune it (it's a resonant chamber for noise control). The hose pleats were also holding pools of oil. I didn't look into the airbox. Throttle body was dry. BTW, his car has no screens on the intake right from the factory.

Oil....
 

I think I found the cause of MY oil/filter problem....

I took it in for it's third oil change, and I heard the mechanics shouting in the shop - "How many jugs go in an RX-8?"

The disconcerting answer was shouted back - "Ity says here seven and a half!"

That kind of amount would come right out the filler kneck, but not before it had gushed into the filter. For me, the problem is solved!
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doc

That's BS - I drive my car hard and I have no oil in the airbox at all...

I drive it hard as well and dropped in a green filter, the box and filter looked clean. I used to have a catch can for my 20g eclipse, but that was normal for that car, this car I'm not sure about! I'm still learning from rotarygod how this car works.

Is all that oil in the intake the new electroniclly mtered oil injection system? hahahah high tech stuff there....

I took my k&N filter off to check and I have a small coat of oil also

WTF

Well, I finally got my 8 to the dealer for the recall work at about 4,700 miles. I had a long talk to the "factory trained" technician. His theory is that "this only happens to you guys that change oil often" Basically he said that the if you pour oil in the filler neck too fast that some will get into the vent tube and run down hill into the accordion boot. He seemed quite confident in his theory until I mentioned that I first saw this before I ever added or changed the oil. The first time I looked at the intake (about 1,500 miles) was while I was waiting for the original oil to drain prior to re-filling it with fresh oil. I will test his theory at the 5k oil change by disconnecting the vent tube and running it into a small catch bottle to see how much new oil drains into it during the oil change.

Well after reading this thread, I promptly ran out to my garage and yanked the air filter.

There is no oil noticeable in the filter housing, there is a pink color on the engine side of the filter, but it evenly covered as if it was made that way.

My car has 2000 miles on it and was built 6/03

When I changed oil at 5K I disconnected the vent line from the filler neck to the accordion boot and put a can under it. The tube was bent downward slightly more than in it's stock position. Four quarts latter and the can and hose were bone dry. This time the accordion boot was also dry, but since I knew the oil change was almost here I was running about 1 quart lower than full for awhile. So far the car has been running fine and the air filter has never been completely soaked, just a small amount ever got to the filter. I'll keep checking every once in a while, but since this is not a huge amount of oil and the dealer now knows about it I'm not going to worry about it unless there are any drivability issues in the future.

I finally got around to checking the air filter element last Friday. I was thinking it could be soaked because the sump was overfilled when I bought up the car.

I found no trace of oil that shouldn't be there: the filter was pink on the top and white on the bottom.

I had intended to replace it, but it didn't look too dirty at ~10,500 miles. I think I'll wait until 15,000.

Has anyone learned why there is the oil in the airbox and whether it is a sign of any problems?

Also, is there an easy way to get to the air filter?

I replaced my air filter with a green filter at around 4000 miles. The air filter appeared to be clean, it was slightly pink on one side, thats about it though.

car made in dec 03.

WOW months of collected efforts and we basically have the same answer.......
we have no idea where the oil (not ATF) is comming from?!? oh... ok. :)

I have the same problem and would like to find out whats happening with this crap.

***IDEA*** I dont know if any Euro guys have this problems with their cars but ill bring my US spec to the dealer (actually its still there for the tranny....... FOR 4 MONTHS) and see what they think.... ill keep ya posted

actually i am "working" on this but just got on it in the past month and havent had much chance yet to do the actual work part. i could have some answer in the next coupl of weeks. stay tuned:)