what does fresh synthetic blend oil smell like?
 

Just picked up my 8 after going in for airbag recall and an oil change.

When I dropped the car off I asked the service writer if they had the correct oil for the 8. He answered, you mean 5w20? We have it. So far so good.

When I picked the car up, I checked the oil. It didn't look a whole lot cleaner than the old oil but it didn't have as much gas odor. I know that the oil coolers hold some old oil so I guess it will take pretty frequent changes to minimize the gas dilution.

Then I read my service ticket. It says that they used synthetic blend. So I go back to the service writer and say that I thought that the 8 was not supposed to use synthetic and oh by the way my oil still smells like gas.

His response? Synthetic oil always smells like gas. I didn't have time to argue and have to admit that I have never purchased synthetic or synthetic blend so maybe they do have a touch of a gasoline odor.

So, two things going on here.

1 Is this just more dealer BS? Does synthetic or synthetic/blend have a gasoline odor right out of the bottle?

2 Has my dealer re-written the RX8 service manual and decided that the 8 is supposed to use synthetic blend?

I figure that I might as well use synthetic blend now that I have a dealer receipt that shows synthetic blend. If anything goes wrong I was just following the dealers lead.

Smell like gas? No, not really. Does smell slightly different, tho.

Synth oil has a different smell, but it depends on brand.
Synth oil has a slightly "varnish" like smell as compared to the slightly "vegetable" smell of regular oil.

I wouldn't worry too much about the fact they used synthetic. The whole "hot button" issue with synthetic and a rotary is extended use of it.....not just once. If your that concerned then you might want to think about doing the oil changes yourself from now on.

5w20 IS synth....
 

It is almost impossible to make an SL quality 5w20 without using some synthetic in the blend.

'Motorcraft 5w20' is a synthetic blend, and the newest SL/5w20s are mostly all synth.
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doc

Re: what does fresh synthetic blend oil smell like?
 

As you alluded to, an oil change on the 8 is not much more than 1/2 of the oil. Gasoline is a strong odor and so if there's some in the oil you're still gonna smell it after the change. Likewise with appearance - it doesn't take much solids to make the oil appear "dirty". It's not like other cars where an oil and filter change lets you see "virgin" oil on the dipstick.

And of course like good service writers everywhere he either didn't know or didn't care to explain the real answer so he blew smoke up your ass to get you off his back. I can't wait until I'm a truly old fart and can just tell people "You're full of Sh**"! right to their face. Oh hell, why wait! :)

In my opinion, synthetic is not a problem. And in the end, if you are not satisfied with dealer oil changes your best bet is to do your own.

Uhhh...were you sniffing your dipstick, or what? I've never noticed synthetic to have a particular smell...but I've never exactly put my face right up to a bottle and snorted. That goes for conventional oil too.

Pure conjecture, but I would expect the oil to smell like gas in a rotary, since the oil is injected into the engine during combustion. BTW, the owner's manual is actually silent on the conventional vs. synthetic issue; it's the salespeople who are trained by dealers to recommend their oil.

Another thing...isn't there any method or tool for extracting ALL the oil during a change??

I'm going to take a look at how the oil coolers are connected to the engine. Might not be a big deal to add a fitting to drain the coolers. I already have a suction pump that I use for oil changes on my boat. BTW, the boat has a remote oil cooler too, but it is mounted higher than the engine so it seems to drain pretty completely.

Drain pain...
 

BeachDogGuy.....

Excellent idea on the cooler draining, but don't just think 'drain', I have seen the coolers, both hoses connect at the bottom, ain't never gonna 'drain'.
How about an air fitting - blow 'em out completely, back to the sump?

Good luck...

S

(if you want a 'smell' experience, the Castrol Syntec 0w30, (the only really synthetic Syntec) smells just like Gummi-Bears!....
please don't ask how I know....)

Yesterday I opened a bottle of Mobil1 10w30, and found the varnish smell to be a pretty fair description. Not overpoweringly so, but distinctly there, as opposed to Castrol GTX 5w20. No dipsticks involved ;)
-jd.

Castrol GTX synthetic Blend 10W40
R Purple 10W40

Thats All i used since i bought my RX8 it was new...i have 50.000 now.....
Runs Much Better with 10W40...Thats what i always used on my rotarys....
My 93 RX7 have 156.000 and Still runs beautifully......

I recommend 10W40......More Protection......

How does 10w40 offer "more protection"?

If you FD has 150k+ original miles on the motor and turbos, i'm pretty damn surprised.

err ... check the thread date people ...

Yep, damn those searchers bringing up old threads.

hey, at least they are searching :)

but ...

for what ... he could'of just start a new thread to post his points ...