Well, that's what my dealer said Mazda told them. They said it's common in the RX8 and does not pose a problem so no fix is needed. Wonderful.

 

I was under the impression that it means you dont drive fast enough

 

Absolutely not. A light film might be acceptable (I wouldn't even call that normal), but not oil soaking your filter or pooling up in your airbox. When I took mine in for this, I was told that it was from an 'unflooding' procedure performed at the dock or when it was being unloaded.

 

It's a pretty strange thing to call "normal". I did my part. If it leads to something breaking then they have to fix it.

 

I got the same response. It's recorded in the dealers records so if anything happens down the line, my butt is cover. I will keep an eye on the issue though and if it gets worse, back tot he dealer I go.

 

I just had my recall work done on 3/22, I asked them to look at the oil in the airbox, I mentioned that the oil usage was what I would call excessive - (1 qt./1k miles). I knew that the engine would use oil, having had a 12A in my RX-3 way back when, It went through 1qt./1.5k miles. But then again, it didn't have the same set-up that the 8 has on the intake side of things, just a simple Holley carb. The tech told me that he called Mazda who assured him that this was perfectly normal, especially when the engine is run routinely above 5500 RPM. I'm going to keep a real close eye on it, just to play it safe. I know that I read on the forum that the problem was a PCV valve, as seen in this thread. He also replaced the filter element as a "courtesy". Which I find very interesting.

 

They left the oiled one in my car.

 

Hmmm... not sure I buy the high RPM thing, unless there's a check valve failure. It's been over 3 weeks since my tract cleaned and filter replaced, and I have been riding my '8 very hard since then (love the 'L' flash)... lots of redlines and high RPM ***-hauling on the backroads. I was under the hood today checking the oil, so I decided to take the airbox and intake tube apart- no sign of any oil nor oily film, and the filter is dry as a bone still.

Now that you've got a clean filter it will be easy for you to keep an eye on it, and most importantly you have it on record with the dealer.

 

oil in the filter=normal
flooding=normal
15MPG= normal
gas in oil=normal

RX8=normal

 

I've heard it was from a leaky oil cooler hose, and that would spray it into the fan and that is how it wound up in the airbox, which would mean that it is not normal.

 

There have been a couple cases of that, but there have been a few more where the oil did not originate from the intake side of the airbox but instead from either external sources (my case), or potentially from the motor itself (failed PCV valve?)... none of which are normal.