so i took my car in for a oil change and to get a replacement tailight because its got condesation on the inside. so the service guy is writing out the information for me to sign and he calls a tech and i asked why...to which he replied he needs to figure out whether it takes synthetic or regular oil because there is a price difference. the synthetic is more expensive. clearly. i told him per the manual that it's regular 5w20...NOT synthetic. an hour later he comes back to tell me it's done and that, lo and behold, they put synthetic in it. when i inquired as to why he would do that when i told him that the car takes normal he replied "well the guys do this kind of thing everyday, so..."

i'm pissed. any suggestions?

 

Tell them that they made a modification that is against mazdas recommended procedure

 

synthetic is not going to hurt your car tests have been done, synthetic hurt the old rx cars from 20+ years ago which is why it got a bad rep. what weight did they put in is what i would ask them

 

What did you pay for? The synthetic or nonsynthetic.

 

synthetic. 40 as opposed to 38 bucks i think. i know the synthetic won't hurt it, but i told him to his face what i wanted. is it out of line the next time i go in to ask them to give me a free oil change of regular? im going in in a week or two to put on mudguards...

 

Its in the owners manual. I'd be pissed. Wether people think it will or will not hurt your engine doesn't matter. Mazda says not to do it, so I would take it back to the dealer and make them change it.

 

Don't worry about it. Ask them about the weight, keep a record of it, and move on.

 

Next time you go, just make sure you remind him that you dont want synthetic. Maybe they'll listen better next time.

You're having the dealership install front or rear mud guard? If it's the front...dont' bother! They take aobut 10 minutes to do at home.

 

I'd be looking for another dealer to service your car. If, after Mazda told them what oil to use, and you told them what oil to use, they can't bother to do it right, well, that says something about their competence. I taught my little niece how to change oil. I'm pretty sure if two people told her what oil to use, she'd use that oil. What other, more complicated tasks, are they messing up?

 

where in the owners manual is it? i havent been able to find it

 

...and then do what various dealers have done to too many of us...

"I have rock chips on my hood. You have to cover it under warranty, since the rock chips are a result of you putting synthetic oil in my engine."

"Oh, you won't replace my blown motor because I have a turbocharger? I'm afraid that I voided your ability to void my warranty that one day when you put synthetic oil in my engine."

"Flat tire... Warranty... Synthetic.". And so on.

In all seriousness, though, if I were you I'd just be looking for my two bucks back. Incidentally, that's not a lot extra for synth... you think maybe they used a synthetic blend instead?

 

Go up to the guy that put synthetic in your car, shake his hand, and thank him. Then just get over the couple of dollars difference. That's really the only thing to be a little bit upset about was the fact that you paid a couple of bucks more than you expected. Big deal. It's worth it. Nowhere does Mazda say not to use synthetics. In ALL of their cars they do not RECOMMEND it. That does not mean don't use it. We've all been over why they say this and have repeatedly and impressively shot down every single argument against using it.

 

no i understand and have read the threads discussing the matter. its the principle of the fact that i told them what i wanted put in the car, and that it follows what the manual says. i could care less about the money. just dont do the ******* opposite of what i explicitly asked...

 

That would be my only complaint.

 

That's not cool

 

well, i doubt there will be an issue with the synthetic oil. i've 40k km on my 8, and every service inspection, done in the dealer's service shops, they put synthetic oil. the funniest time was when i was having 5w30 synthetic shell, (put by another dealer) and they start "for crying out loud, you can't put synthetic oil on a rotary engine! you need mineral oil of..."blah blah" " so i tell him the're the dealership, the others were dealers as well, they should get my car into the recomended specifications.

so after waiting for a couple hours during which the oil was changed, the mechanic boss comes to me as proud as if he has just perfomed a brain surgery and it went with flying colours, and hands me the bottle of new oil: texaco 5w30 synthetic.....

that i was speechless would be understatement...


ooh, yeah. the car has seen only synthetic oil. 'sides that, she's runing fine.

 

That's the standard excuse to justify incompetence. Doing the wrong thing everyday doesn't make you an expert on doing things right...obviously.

After experience with three different Mazda dealerships in six months, it is clear that the mechanics are mostly the product of on-the-job training. Everything they know, they learned from the guy working next to them...who doesn't know his job either.

 

Okay, I'm gonna hi-jack this thread. Does it matter if I use full synthetic or synthetic blend? Right now, I'm using Valvoline conventional oil.

 

At least complain enough to get a free oil change out of it. Freak out a bit about synthetic and rotaries (true or not, they won't know ). I would've made them flush the system on principle, and put what I asked for back in it.

 

I don't know what owners manual you have but my 05 manual says nothing about putting in or not putting in synthetic.

 

Correct, no mention of synth vs. non-synth. What mine says:

-Recommended Oil
Use SAE 5W-20 engine oil.
Oil container labels provide important information.
A chief contribution this type of oil makes
to fuel economy is reducing the amount of
fuel necessary to overcome engine
friction.

Only use oils “Certified For Gasoline
Engines” by the American Petroleum
Institute (API). An oil with this trademark
symbol conforms to the current engine
and emission system protection standards
and fuel economy requirements of the
International Lubricant Standardization
and Approval Committee (ILSAC),
comprised of U.S. and Japanese
automobile manufacturers.

 

Let's not make this another syn vs. non-syn oil discussion...

The fact of the matter is the service people did not honor his blatant request, and they need to correct it. Refund or change the oil or a free oil change in the future or something.

 

i hope the non syn flyer showes up... it is about time.... it has been almsot a month..

beers

 

From Mazdatrix...

The Rotary engine has an oil injection system that injects small amounts of oil into either the intake tract, carb, or rotor housing (depending on year/model). This is needed to lubricate the various internal seals and surfaces.

The injected oil MUST BURN, and must burn clean. The root answer to the question is that not ALL synthetic oils burn, and not ALL of them burn clean.
The ones that do not burn accumulate until they foul the spark plugs.
The ones that do not burn clean can leave residues of various substances (like ash? plastic? non-organic sand?) that accumulate until the spark plugs foul, or a seal sticks -- could be apex seal, side seal, corner seal, or oil control ring. The normal consequence of a stuck seal is an engine tear down.

In the many years we have been involved in rotary engines, we have NEVER had a problem with GOOD petroleum based oils. They work fine! They are less expensive than synthetics. (We use Castrol 20-50 GTX). They burn clean, etc. etc.

The problem with answering the original question is that it is NOT a simple yes or no. We DO simplify it to a "NO", but that is because we do NOT know whether the specific brand of synthetic the customer has in mind will work. AND, if it does not work, how long will it be before the damage shows up, and how bad will the damage be? Maybe it will take 10,000 miles, maybe 50,000 miles?? Maybe the engine will fail due to something unrelated to the oil, and there won't be enough left to determine that there was damage from the oil.

WE are not willing to take that gamble, are you ?

Anthony

 

yo tony,

read this. https://www.rx8club.com/showthread.p...6&page=1&pp=15

all of it.. and then answer the ? do you know what you are talking about...

after that find the royal purple website and read about syn in an rx8... after that find the comments by the guy is mr wankel from mazda... hint it is in ths seven stock thread..

good luck.

beers