Rotary n00b looking for a "just bought my car" once-over guide
 

Hello all, I'm new to rotary engines, but have been maintaining my own cars for the last decade (WRX, 350Z, VFR700, HawkGT and a Dodge Ram).

Given that each car has it's own quirks, I've been digging through the forums here to learn as much as I can.

Yesterday we picked up an '09 R3 in velocity red, with about 9400 miles on it. Original owner traded it in for a Mustang at a Ford dealer, who couldn't unload it for a few months, so they traded it over to the Mazda dealer. Dealer mechanics went over it, and found nothing wrong at all.

Now, aside from being about to develop a religious (or perhaps just OCD) fixation on the level of the oil, what should I assume the dealer might have missed?

Things I've noticed so far:

- smell of burnt oil from exhaust after rev'ing engine while parked (performed once, only to 5K rpm, to hear what the overrun sounded like, not something I normally do, and this was after driving it at 3-4K rpms for 30min or more, so nice and warm).

- idle gets rougher the longer it idles. Rev'ing up to 2K clears it up for a bit. Left idling it feels almost like it's missing every now and then, but the A/C was in defog, so that might have just been the A/C kicking in to dry the air? (my WRX stumbles every time it cycles)

- the previous owner was fat, and noticeably loosened up the driver's side bolsters vs. the passenger ones

- pregnant women can fit in the recaros (the RX8 is replacing our 350Z as our "sports car", as we want back seats in both cars (just in case).

- the ride is smoother than the 350Z, although not as quiet. The 19" wheels and bilstein shocks are surprisingly compliant, I expected a much harsher ride from the reviews.

- It's shockingly easy to drive. I'd forgotten just how much so (we bought the Z over the RX-8 initially because we didn't need a backseat at the time, and the extra 20% more power)

- It also appears that getting a SeriesII was double-edged. No ECU tuning options, but an engine that has a much higher chance of lasting 100K+ miles. We put almost 120K on the Z in 6 years, due to our commutes.

- Pre-mix seems like a really good idea with SeriesI, and maybe not as strongly recommended with the S2?

- The RB Oil Cooler screens shall be ordered shortly. In it's short life it's already caught a bunch of stuff in the cooler fins.

- What's the benefit of the RB oil cooler lines? (and they look like major surgery to install) Track use and higher flow for better cooling control?

- Given that we live in northern california (32f and wet in the winter, 100f+ and bonde dry in the summer), any extra recommendations (like drastically more oil consumed in summer vs. winter?)

And I'll take any other advice, too.

You've pretty much got it covered. I made my oil cooler covers from aluminum rain gutter cover. You can cut it to size with scissors.

Alnielsen, thanks for the confirmation!

First, congrats on the car and the almost new addition to your family!

The oil smell is probably normal due to the fact that our engines inject oil for apex lubrication (But, I have a terrible sense of smell, so I can't confirm) :dunno:

The SI rx8's can last longer than 100k miles with proper maintenance! Plenty have well over, and still counting (Just thought I'd toss that in there because I'm biased) :suspect:

Welcome to the addiction!

Glad to see another R3 owner in the bay area. Hope to see you at a track day sometime.

Regarding premix, I add anywhere from 4-8oz a tank. It shouldn't be needed on the Series IIs but some more lubricant may help (I use Amsoil Saber Pro).

Well, for the last 6 years I've been meaning to do a track day with the Z... Still hasn't happened. But we live on Hwy9, near-ish to Big Basin, so my commute is pretty fun. :)

I've run only Amsoil in the other cars, still trying to decide what to do with this one. Dealer (OakTree) is covering the next change of oil, so I've got a about 4 months to figure out what I want to do. Running Amsoil 10w30 and only changing it every 6 months (roughly 9-12K miles), with only the occasional top-up of a half-quart has been really nice. (even Amsoil burns off during the heat of summer when driving up and over the hills) This car is going to need a whole new level of maintenance (more like the motorcycles, which really should see something every 700 miles or so, but then an exposed chain is like that).

If this was an S1, I'd be very strongly considering the adapter and using Saber Pro with that and a full synth from Amsoil in the engine case (can't really call it a crankcase... :)