troylikesbikes

So here is my cars history to date.

Purchase, Oct/2009, 30 miles on the clock

Change oil only @1000 miles. Sample for Blackstone to check OEM viscosity (I wanted to see if they put 20w in OEM fill). Pennzoil 5-20

Change oil and filter @2000 miles. Mazda filter and Pennzoil 5-20

Now for the interesting part. Car is a daily driver of the wife, weather permitting. Lots of starts/stops around town, 3 miles to school with the kids, never leaves town. Wife drives @3-6K most of the time. Occasionally I've taken it out to make sure the warning beep sounds in the interest of proper motor care.

From 0 through 2000 miles the car was consuming approx 1 qt / 1000 miles. I keep track of oil by the mL, so it was about 1 qt/1000miles or slightly less.

In every cages life there comes a time to take it for a run. At 2000 miles, right before the oil change, I took the car out in the canyons and let it run. Made sure the fuel cutoff / spark kill system worked, turned the radio up so I couldn't hear the redline beep, left it in 2nd and ran the crap out of it. Trailbraking into corners, trying to make it tail happy on exits (didn't work, not familiar enough with it yet, chicken wuss I am), basically for 40 miles out and back I ran it like I stole it.

I changed the oil, and the following weekend, still near the 2000 mile mark, I did it all over again. This cage is great.

So this weekend, I decided to see what it gets for highway mileage. 300 miles I did today, mostly highway (24mpg), and then ran it reasonably calm through some mountain roads, all in all a nice day.

It now sits in garage with 3000 miles on it. And the oil level between 2000 miles and 3000 miles has barely budged. Maybe a smidge. Maybe. Not enough to even think about putting more in. And before, I was dumping in 200-400ml every tank or two.

So what happened? Did the hard runs break it in? Or break it? Did the higher percentage of highway miles (only highway miles really) simply trigger a different oil injection mode where it uses less at constant speeds? Did being warm the entire time cause the change, versus the short trips/barely warmed up routine of the wife?

Will it return to its oil consuming ways? Realize, after my 2 hard runs in it, the wife drove it another 700 miles in her usual manner, and I was already noticing during that 700 miles that it didn't seem to be sucking oil, the level on the dipstick just didn't move much. I checked it again after todays 300 mile run, still not moved much.

The weather is finally warming up here, will probably switch to 5-30 for the rest of the summer, then switch back at the end of the summer. Or not. Haven't decided yet. Will probably send in another sample to Blackstone on the 5w20 at the next change to see what its looking like as far as wear metals.

jasonrxeight

the dealer might've over filled the oil like where I went. they overfilled but the oil level just sits there.
after asking them cleaning my air intake and drain a bit out, its normal again half a quart every 500 miles.

troylikesbikes

I checked the oil the day after I brought it home from the dealer. They didn't overfill it. They haven't even touched it since the day I bought it.

ASH8

I don't like checking oil at the "5 minute after Engine Turn off" BS, but rather check when my car is Stone Cold..next day/morning.

Car On a flat Level surface.
When stone cold the Full Oil Pan Level on a Series 2 is when the Oil is about 5mm or a 1/4 inch BELOW the F mark.

If you maintain it by this method you will always be correct.

If your Oil is on the F or above when Stone Cold you have too much oil.

rxrated

I am just curious, what do you mean by the red line beep? I have noticed when I have floored the gas that I hear a very loud beep. Scared the crap out of me....what the heck is it?? what does it mean?

Mazurfer

^....................please tell me you aren't serious? Please!




Any Troy...............from my own experience and what I've read in the past, it's not that uncommon for the oil usage to decrease after the break-in period. I also find mine still fluctuates a little bit even now with 4 1/2 years on the clock. I just make sure I check it about even two tanks of gas and make sure I change it at about 3k miles.

troylikesbikes

Interesting. I check it regularly, being aware before I bought it that this isn't like other cars, in many more ways than just regular oil consumption. I plan on changing oil more frequently because you don't ever get that much out without doing it twice the same day, and then the filter every other oil change.

troylikesbikes

Locate empty road. Go 20mph in 2nd gear. Put foot on accelerator and press to floor. Do not shift. Wait a few seconds. Observe where tachometer is when the car starts beeping, and later, note how performance decreases as spark/fuel/whatever is reduced to keep the engine happy.

jasonrxeight

nah, you dont need to change that frequently
the oil in rx8s is mainly for cooling, just change them every 3750 miles you will be fine. check oil level every 600miles

Mazurfer

And.....of course, if you jack up on side and then the other you will get more oil out as you get some more out of the oil coolers.


My "are you serious" comment was to rxrated for not knowing what the redline or redline beep was!

troylikesbikes

Yeah, I had seen that mentioned, and I have no intention whatsoever in doing it. Shorter changes, maybe one of those Fumoto valves to speed up the oil only changes, but thats about it.