I just got a used 2008 RX8 with 22,000 miles on it about 3 weeks ago. From what I've learned the car should be using oil and I should have to top it off every 3 tanks of fuel or so. I've gone through 3 tanks of fuel now and I can't tell if I need to add oil or not. I know this is a newbie sort of question but I'd rather ask it and sound stupid than not ask and end up blowing up my car. When I've checked my oil the dipstick has oil going the entire length of the empty-full bar. It sort of fades as it gets to the 'full' line though. To me it means that there is oil up that far and that I don't need to add any. But since the oil sort of fades as it goes up the dipstick it has me concerned that I'm not reading the dipstick properly. Also my oil pressure gauge is always about 1/5 past the half way point of the gauge. Its never dead center. Is that normal? The heat gauge never gets to the exact center line either. It's always below middle. Everything else seems fine in the car and I'm really enjoying it. It's the most enjoyable car I've ever owned.

 

On my 04, I only had to add oil after I went on very long highway drives/vacation. Or at least that was the only time the oil light would come on. I never checked the oil level or added more unless the light came on...which was next to never since my driving was 90% city miles

 

Is the vehicle being filled properly? It should not be at top of stick, it's very easy to overfill a Renesis.

 

Welcome to the forum

Checking oil level - relatively flat surface
After you shut off the car wait a few minutes.
Remove the dip stick.
Wipe it clean.
Reinsert it fully.
Remove it and read the oil level.
Add oil if required
Wipe clean
Reinsert.
Re check

The dash oil pressure gauge indicates the presence of oil pressure. It's not a real gauge. And yes, it's normal for it to sit up over half way.
I highly recommend real gauges for water temp, oil temp, oil pressure.

The OMP is programmed to increase oil flow the harder you push the engine
I can go through a liter of oil rather quickly when thrashing the car a bit.
Road trips at steady speed barely burn anything.

I would not recommend using this method....

 

I'm not sure if it was filled properly. I got it from a Mazda dealer so I assume it was done properly. The oil wasn't at the top of the stick. I mean its at the full line on the dipstick.

 

 

whoa, your oil light came on before ?

I hope you know where that sensor is and what it means if its "on"

 

When you first get the car you are likely to be not driving it very hard so I would somewhat expect this behavior. Once you have the car for a bit and you start following the redline a day policy you will notice that you use a bit more oil. Even with thrashing my car around town pretty good, I am only adding a quart of oil every thousand miles, 4ish fillups, and I have my OMP turned up thanks to MazdaManiac. So in short...you have nothing to worry about...start to drive that bitch like you stole it...and welcome to the club.

 

After owning these cars for 7 years, eventually at some point I just didn't care enough anymore about checking the oil level every other gas fillup. But hey...somehow I ended up with a new engine at 70,000 miles this month (even with the compression still strong), so if it had something to do with not following the pain in the *** oil monitoring procedures on this car, then that's awesome. I doubt it had anything to do with not monitoring the oil levels though, but maybe now that I have a new refirb motor, I guess I could attempt to take a little better care of this one

 

Thanks for the info guys. You've put my mind at ease.

 

This means you are not red lining it once a day.

Your driving the engine too slow so it ain't using oil.

You can get 1200 miles before you have to fill it up.

All depends upon your driving conditions.

 

When my oil level is up two thirds between the marks on the dipstick (closer to full), I can get my oil light to come on after taking a couple of hard corners. I'll always add 1/2 a quart or so when it happens, but it's nowhere close to being dangerously low.

 

2004?

 

Yes.