Ash,

The engine problems thread. Nobody in the thread with a failed engine in vegas was running syn.

 

Just to add more controversy to the thread, RP Synthetic Max gear oil 75W90 is great for the transmission and the differential.

 

Maybe that was their problem!

 

Yeah..planning on changing out my diff & trans with RP this weekend. I have 1500 Miles..kind of overkill right now, but figure, why take the chance? Afterall, they recommend changing these out at 60k miles, right?

As for the synthetic oil..still debating about it..sounds good though..I think I'll wait until the 3 yrs. is up before I try..will that hurt the engine vs. using it earlier? I have a case of dino Castrol 5w20...

 

yep rp that is just what i put in my diff today. I wonder how many changes it will take to get all rp into the engines system. I wish the coolers had a drain valve on them.
OD

 

i just switched over to rp for oil, trans, and diff as well as the rp purple ice for the cooling system. i even disconnected the oil coolers themselves and drained any oil out of them as well. i know i didnt get all the oil out, but it helped.

one thing, if you do decided to remove the oil coolers, its not that difficult, have to remove the bumper and they are right there, make sure the couplings on the coolers are seated completely before putting the retaining clip back in, as i made the mistake of not thoroughly checking, and shot oil 6 feet out the front of the car when i started.

 

Oh dear! (sigh!) I have lurked on this thread for ages hoping for The Word...but the word remains the same...confusion.

FWIW, I have stuck with mineral oil mainly due to the consensus among rotary mechanics. During the warranty period, I am using the Mazda (Castrol?) mineral oil supplied by my service dept.

Although this will be the third summer for my car, it will be interesting to see if there are any temperature related failures here in Australia. That we have not seen them so far (AFAIK) suggests a strong causal relationship between high, dry ambient temps, and high engine temps due to traffic congestion. Oil would seem not to be a factor. Hope we don't see any!

 

I just had the recall work done on my Rx-8. While I was at the dealership, I spoke with a the Mazda mechanic about synthetic oil. He said that synthetic oil could cause leaks around the main seal with the transmission. And, Mazda doesn't want to do warranty repair work on engines leaking oil due to the use of synthetics. I don't know how much truth there is to his statement, I'm just a novice rotaryhead.

 

Anybody seen the new Q-series of oils from QuakerState? No 5W20 though and they are synthetic blends. Not cheap either - but less than full synthetics.

"Q High RPM Synthetic Blend
Muscular V-8 or turbo power 4-cylinder engines generate more heat and high rpms that can rob an engine of power and wear down conventional oils. The Q High RPM Synthetic Blend is specially formulated to maximize the performance and power of a high output engine. As rpms run high, the heat-activated additives are released providing a low-friction, heat resistant lubrication film. This advanced protective film helps reduce the co-efficient of friction, preventing oil shearing and resisting thermal breakdown even under high rpm conditions. The Q High RPM Synthetic Blend is available in ILSAC GF-4 grades including SAE 5W-30 and 10W-30."

 

Stories like this just **** me off. There's absolutely no truth to it, if they don't know why don't they just shut the *&%! up?!

jds

 

The funny thing is...I'm almost 100% certain the stock diffy and transmission fluids are synthetic from the factory. Thats the only way they can get away with 100k intervals on the fluid changes. If they were using mineral based fluids, they'd have a change spec'd in the service intervals every 30-40k miles or so.

We recently found out that the 6 uses a synthetic based oil for the transmission/transaxle. Not entirely sure "how" much of the base stock is syn...but regardless, its "at least" semisynthetic if not fully synthetic from the factory.

 

Dunno about that, but for the past 2 oil changes I used Quaker State Full Synthenic for Advance Engines.

In about 2 weeks from now, I think I should reach my "change every 1.5K miles" thinggy and Im going to switch all of the Rear Diff. Oil, Transmission Oil and Of course, Engine Oil to Royal Purple.

 

Can those labs tell if its a mineral base or Synth base oil ?

cuz Im going to change my rear differential and transmission oil soon, if labs can tell, then I will just save a small bottle of it, and send it to some sort of labs.

 

:D

 

I don't even believe that one, rear main and or timing cover oil seals are made from the same materials as other Mazda's and I would guess most other manufacturers. Its the engines internals that I am concerned about with the use of fully synthetic oils.

Others have a different opinion...which is OK.

You do what you think is best for your car.

 

I changed mine at 2k miles (except I used Redline synth instead of RP). I was amazed at how nasty looking the stock oil was, and how much crud was stuck to the magnetic tip of the tranny drain bolt. Not overkill at all, at least in my experience.

Bill

 

Without looking, I believe the service interval is around 30-35,000, as the dealership was suppose to change mine at the last service, but told them not to as I had upgraded to Redline.

 

Which service interval...the owners manual, or the dealers? Dealers like to do coolant flushes, diffy changes, and transmission flushes/changes regardless of whether or not mazda actually specifies it. Its a big money maker for them.

All those threads complaining about 700 dollar services....its because the dealers are tacking on **** thats not actually required. The only way you get whats "required" is if you ask for the "minimum required service". On the 6, this puts the 30k interval from around 700 bucks, to around 90.

FSM for the 8 says 60k normally, 30k severe. That puts it in semi-synthetic territory.

 

Since I'm from the 1st pre-order group, I took advantage of the free maintanance offered by MNAO. As a result, the car has been serviced using the severe service interval.

 

Um, well, it's
60k miles or 48 months, whichever comes first for schedule 1,
30k miles or 24 months, whichever comes first for schedule 2.
I just had my "schedule 2, 30k" service done, because it's 24 months now (actually, 25), even though it's only right at 11k miles. Brake fluid is listed but no mention of tranny or diff oil used. Hmmm, I need to call my service dude...

 

Just received a DVD in the mail today from Mazda USA... the RX8 product update DVD. The DVD covers:

Rotary history
Rotary engine explained
Rotaries and oil consumption
New De-flooding proceedure
Fuel requirements
Tire pressure sensors

During the oil consumption explanation and demonstration, they specifically say to NOT use synthetic oils. They do go on to say that were synthetics are very good oils, the long term affect on the rotary motor is unknown.

BUT.... at the end of the DVD they also say that Mazda recommends you DON'T use aftermarket rims on your car, either

hmmmmmm... makes you wonder.

 

What does the DVD say about fuel requirements?

 

"for best performance, use gasoline with a MINIMUM octane rating of 91"

 

Exactly. In addition, the DVD states that 87-90 octane can be used, but anything less than 87 could/would cause engine damage.

The things we already knew in regards to fuel

 

Has any one tried swepco brand oil? I've heard good stuff about this and have run it on my truck and my mechanic has run it on very high end cars and in formula one cars. Also please let me know what you all think.