Having changed my oil consistantly every 3,000 miles for the last 50,000 miles I've always noticed how the motor runs smoother/quieter with fresh oil.

During this last week NorCal has had temps as high as 120 (too hot for us) and I really starting noticing that same ragged feeling I get at close to 3k on the oil. What I drained from the motor had the viscosity of water so I decided to switch from GTX to Red Line.

I ran Red Line in my Rotary converted 87 4x4 PU for over 50,000 miles with no issues. It never leaked or burned excess amounts of oil. It even overheated a few times while I was working through some cooling issues and the oil held fine.

I work in Benicia, Ca. so I stopped by Red Line's HQ and picked up a case to 5w-30w. They gave me a tour of the plant and we had a brief discussion on their oil in rotaries. They were emphatic that Red Line oil is good in rotaries and I will have no problems. It will be a few oil changes before I'm purely synthetic but now that a failure is on my dime I like knowing my oil can stand up to the heat. And, if you believe their advertising there is a 1.5.% increase in HP due to friction reduction (dyno tested V8)

After the fresh oil, I hit my favorite twisties, The motor felt and sounded tighter/stronger than ever. Red Line is definitely more expensive but in my opinion it's superior to dino oil.

Anyone else out of warranty running on synthetic?

 

Yup I get the same thing. What I do is change my oil 300miles befor its due.
Thats just me I try to listen to my engine.

Not me.

However hot temps along with the heat of the engine/rotory, will cook your oil and thats not good. Try not to hold out till 3K.
My 2cent.
-Gilbert

 

My dealer says Mazda does not recommend using Synthetic oil in the RX8. If something were to happen to the engine and they determined you were using synthetic oil, could they void your warrenty?

 

He is at 50,000 miles now, so he doesn't have a factory warranty to void.

 

No.

 

Mazda doesn't recommend using synthetics, due to unknown long term effects on the motor. I think many 8 owners now run full synthetics. I have become a Royal Purple fan myself.

 

RP here too, but only 1500 miles so far. Not enough to really comment on results yet. I have added 1/2 QT after about 1200 miles.

 

Tell your dealer this

"Prove it , or SUCK IT !"

 

Here we go again!

A new week a new syn oil thread....





fyi: I like & use Redline

 

Hopefully the information derived from this latest recall will help quail the synthetic debate. My only concern is the discussion regarding synthetic oil and the oil metering pump. The folks at Red Line were quick to say their oil is totally safe for all modern rotary engines but had no information regarding issues with the Renesis OMP. My personal opinion remains Mazda is starving the Renesis motors a bit on oil in order to sway public perseption of the rotary as an oil burner. I'm also with OD in that I would prefer a separate reservoir for the OMP.

 

What are the issues with synthetic and the OMP?

 

From what I have read, it does not appear to be injecting enough oil at high temps and low rpm to adequately lubricate the apex seals. The big question for me is why synthetic would be any different at the OMP.

 

Hey DosDog, I never thought of trying to buy from their HQ, though that would be ideal since I live not far from there. Are they really set up to do retail sales there, or was it more of a "favor" to an interested visitor?

I've switched from Mobil1 to Castrol GTX for the time being, until this whole recall issue works itself out. But if the synthetic issue turns out to be a red herring (i.e. they don't make any official statements in the recall letter or addendums to the owners manuals), then I will probably switch back.

Since RotaryGod's conversation with the top rotary dude seemed to cast some doubt on Mobil1 in the rotary, and since RedLine is practically in my back yard...

 

Nubo, they welcome outside sales. Nice group of people.

 

My 2004 has 37,000+ miles, live in hot SoCal, never ever been to a Mazda Dealer for service, have been running Royal Purple 5w30 since 5,000 miles, change oil every 5,000 miles, car runs very fast and no power loss hot, cold or ac on.

Go figure, I must be lucky, my car was built on a Wednesday when everyone was sober!!!!!!

 

Redline is a Group V oil. There have never been any issues with Group V synthetics. The only known ones were with (some) Group IV's. Many people have used Redline in rotaries for years with no issues. It's good stuff.