Hi everyone, My name is Jake and I live in Austin, Texas. I don't own an RX-8...yet at least. I drive a 1999 Toyota Camry Solara right now, and am a member of www.solaraguy.com . Anyways, I want to find out some more information about these cars. I really like the body style and just recently I've been interested in the Rotary engines. I've already gotten over the crappy gas mileage, it isn't too much worse than the 23 I get with my V6 Camry. My main question is..."Is there anything special a rotary engine requires over a traditional piston engine, when it comes to maintenance?" Any kind of special oil or anything specific that you wouldn't necessarily do to a regular engine. I've read in a few other threads that some of you guys have had to go in to dealer for maintenance and I'd like at all costs to avoid that. That is the main reason I do all maintenance myself. I don't like other people, especially ones I don't know, messing with my car.

So any feed back from you guys would be great, Thanks.

Jake

 

The rotary engine is OIL INJECTED, it should burn oil. It has low torque on the lower RPM's but really goes like hell from 4K to 9K. Thats the most fun about it, it's smoothness. You should go try one out. Read the stickies they will fill you in.

 

Welcome.

No unusual maintenance involved that anyone more than halfway familiar with conventional cars couldn't handle. The most important being oil changes/checks on a regular basis.

Oil is not really special with 5w20 being recommended by manufacturer but others run different.

Read up on this for the basics: https://www.rx8club.com/new-member-forum-197/rx8-faq-new-owners-116484/

 

...and get a MT

 

yah- read the stickies for new owners and info. basically, add oil every other fill-up, don't use synthetic oil or aftermarket differential fluids and try to stick with what mazda recommends in the owner manual, and properly warm up and warm down the engine so you don't flood it- esp if u live in cold climates.

 

You'll be fine, It's not any harder to take care than a piston engine is. But you need search and you find everything you need to know, comming from other car forums you should know that the search button is the most useful thing on the site.

 

they've filled you in on the search function and the FAQ for rx8 ownerson the forum. can't stress enough on proper warm up of the car tho to avoid problems.

 

it may eat up to 1 quart of oil every 700 miles. Thats just my guess. other than that...there really isn't a WHOLE lot that is REQUIRED for your engine to run...other than gas and normal maintenance for any car. People say you have to baby it, but i disagree. its just the same as a normal car but it likes to eat non-synthetic oil (my opinion)

 

Oh of course a MT. I am looking to get out of my automatic. Takes all the fun out of driving.

Thanks for all the tips guys, I would have to adjust to adding oil every other fill up, That'd be a lot different. Since I'm a basic engine guy, I'm going to guess that the reason for adding oil is because there are no walls to separate the motor's oil from the combustion process and the oil gets burned with the air and fuel then eventually turns to exhaust? Am I close or way off? Oh and thanks for the link.

Jake

 

Love andCare goes a long way.

 

There is a actual pump that Injects the oil in the engine to lubricate it. Because it uses oil there is 1.8 quarts between the two marks on the dip stick unlike the 1 quart on most piston engines.

 

You won't have to. You've gotten a lot of useful responses, but some of the samaritans here have handed you a few lines. Cross check things against the FAQs.

Typical oil use is a quart every couple of thousand miles. Some use more, some less. Also depends on how you drive. The recommendation is to *check* the oil every other fill up. That's fun for a while when you first get the car, but gets old when you realize it doesn't use that much oil.

When you get an 8, search the site for Nubo's "Houdini dipstick maneuver" thread. Makes those every now and then oil checks easier.

Ken

 

+1

It's worth keeping it under 4k until warmed up. Or let idle in the driveway/parking until warmed up... either way don't redline until warmed up.


Tangent note:
I just found out the 09's will have a warmup rpm redline.... I wonder if it will rev-limit until warmed up? So the rpm dial will show the redline at 4k, and increase to the 9k rpm once fully warmed up. neat feature, did i mention the Recaro seats?