Damon Brown

Hey everyone,

I purchased my '04 RX-8 back in Feb. and I just want to make sure I am not ruining it! So any and all advice is welcomed. One thing I'd like to know is how often I should redline it? And the next question is, does anyone have any advice for the winter? I was thinking of buying snow tires. And idk if this helps but I brought with a new rebuilt engine. There's a little under 3k miles on the engine and 52k on the body.

Thanks!

wcs

iTrader: (2)

The redline thing has been around for long time.
At the start I use to propagate the formula, I don't anymore.
It was believed to help reduce carbon build up however most of the articles and information posted, from people (Teams) who could do any real data gathering tend to shy away from hi rpm usage. For example running over 9k rpm
The tolerances in the engine are NOT good enough to be frequently seeing this rpm and IIRC there is no evidence that this actually reduces carbon build up.

Drive the car hard but not like a madman, let it run thru it's power band, running short straights around 5-6k then WOT to 8K and a shift should be good enough.
(Don't drive down the highway in 3 gear at 7k rpm for 30 minutes is not what I mean)

This topic borderlines the "Dino vs Synthetic" holy war on Oil, so ultimately you're going to have to figure it out yourself.

Snow tires are a must for this car and using them on any vehicle is like night and day, cable vs HiDef

Damon Brown

Thanks for the advice! I really only purchased the car because I'm a teenaged college student, and I got a good deal, and I thought it looked cool. I don't have any intentions on racing it. How often do you suggest "redlinning" normally when I do it, I start at zero mphs, and the let it rip! I would say that I get to about 7k-7,500 rmps, then I slowly start to decelerate.

Loki

iTrader: (1)

Don't do it in first gear, it's too short. You want to raise and sustain high combustion chamber temperature and pressure, so 2nd or 3rd are better. You don't need to hit redline per se, 8500 is good enough. The rpm matters little, it's the high engine load you want. Think of the engine like a furnace: blow air in and it gets hotter and burns what's in it. Blow longer and you burn more.

For winter, definitely snow tires and rustproofing. Not sure if the seller told you, but check the oil every time you gas up, the engine burns oil intentionally, so you'll want to keep it topped up.

It's not the best car for a college student, but be religious about regular maintenance and it will serve you fine.

wcs

iTrader: (2)

Well again it's up to you how often you hit the redline.
It's not necessary to prevent carbon build up IMO

Just as an FYI the Tachometer in the 04-05's are off by quite a bit. There is a good chance that when your rpm gauge reads 9k rpm it's really only at 8k or so
This discrepancy is more pronounced at the rpm's increase. Therefore at idle you'll likely see the same rpm's on the gauge as you would a ODBII reader.

On a side note and not to discourage you, and I agree with you feeling about how great the car is .... but it's a really high maintenance car.
Both with cost and time.
It's not a car I would recommend any teenager especially one in college.
Odds are it will break before you get laid in it.

niteshade247

If you only got 3k miles on a reman I wouldn't even run it to 5k rpm you need to serch for brake in methods for the engine and how long brake in is. It's all in the manual if you don't have one google it. Doing revs and other dumb crap with a engine that new can kill it fast even a piston engine can die in 5k miles of life with poor brake in use.

braybern

RX8 Break In Procedures

gwilliams6

Damon Brown, you really need to read this thread THOROUGHLY to understand what proper ownership and maintenance of an RX8 requires.

https://www.rx8club.com/new-member-f...t-here-202454/