steverothery

man youve got to be joking me. I just read oil needs fully changed every 3,000 miles. ******* hell it can't even make it to 6,000 which is nearly half what a normal piston engine can do? Startin to see some majorly *** disadvantages to this thing if it can only go 3,000.

ken-x8

Truth is that, as a daily driver, it's just not as esoteric or finicky as people make it out to be. I've got an '06 which has been to the dealer for the 4206f recall, and once every three months for an oil change. Once for an alignment when I brushed a curb.

For smile factor while driving, it's definitely exotic.

There are two unique things that, IMHO, are overplayed. One is flooding. Just don't turn it off cold and you'll never have that problem. The other is oil use. A quart every 2000 miles just does not add up to the obsession some of us have with checking oil, keeping a quart in the car, etc.

You'll never get 28 mpg. Expect to get a couple of mpg below the old EPA numbers, maybe get right around the new EPA numbers. That's between you and your wallet.

A worry for most cars these days is the spare tire situation. The 8 does not come with a spare - just a pump and a can of glop. You can get a donut spare, but it takes a lot of trunk space.

If you're looking at sports cars, the 8 should be as reliable as any. If you're paranoid about reliability, the Miata has a reputation as solid as the duller Honda models.

Ken

StealthTL

iTrader: (1)

You said reliable - not "a frickin appliance"

Just stick with a Toyota or an Accord, save $10 worth of oil and relax.

Europeans are being sold the long-oil-change story, for enviro reasons, and eating it up for cheapo reasons.

It does not hold true for rotaries, they need it fresh and clean.

S

JRichter

Correct me if I'm wrong somebody but my RX-8 manual says oil change every 7500 miles...

steverothery

yeh but on this forum everyones doing it every 3000 miles. man that is *** itd be in 4 /5 times a year the amount i drive just to have the bloody oil changed!
Topping up i can cope with!

steverothery

Dont call me european dude - i am from scotland - europe is *** i take offence to that lol!

JRichter

True this. I drive my RX-8 every day. It starts every day. I check the oil every other fill up. I change the oil from 3000k to 5000k (with the 3000k being that I'm all city driving and I drive the hell out of it). If you start the car and shut it down without letting it warm a little and/or revving it to 3000 rpm it could flood (which isn't the end of the world). Mine has never.

Besides the last thing, what is different from any other car?

The gas mileage will suck for the most part but compare to any other sports car and it's not drastically different.

steverothery

Just one rev in what, first gear to 3,000 before turning it off?

JRichter

When you take your car to any American lube station they will tell you to come back in 3000 miles and I think the Mazda dealer here does the same thing. Most modern cars can easily go twice if not farther than that in between changes. Perhaps many people are being conservative with the RX-8 as the engine oil is extremely vital to the cars engine.

steverothery

thanx man, interesting to hear

Huey52

iTrader: (2)

If cold, rev to 3k rpm and hold it there for 10 seconds and then immediately shut down.

I've forgotten to do so a couple times and still did not flood it.

You would of course not be in gear at all when doing this.

steverothery

in neutral i should have said???

JRichter

Yep. Basically. You don't wanna just start it cold, move it to another parking spot, then shut it down cold with out letting it warm for a few minutes or at least giving it a mild rev in neutral to ensure any excess fuel build up is burned away.

steverothery

youve lost me. You cant start this car cold? huh?

ken-x8

That's us - change the oil twice as often as the manual suggests. (7500 normal service, 5000 miles severe service.) We either know more than the factory does, or we fall for the sales pitch from the oil change industry. Or we look forward to doing something special for our mounts.

We also wash and wax our cars often. I've already waxed Zoomy three times (twice with good wax) in the year and a half we've been together. That's more than I waxed my previous car in 20 years. Some folks here will spend a whole weekend Zaino'ing their cars - just to tide them over between the times when they put a *lot* of work into polishing and detailing.

Just one of them lifestyle deals.

Ken

Huey52

iTrader: (2)

Yes of course you can start the car cold. But it has a tendency to flood upon shutting it down cold if you don't purge the excess fuel (all gas powered engines run rich when cold). So either warm it up for five minutes or use the rev procedure.

Huey52

iTrader: (2)

Yep, "normal" vs. "pampered" care.

I'd rather buy some add'l insurance by more frequent oil changes.

As Martha Stewart might say - clean oil, it's a good thing.

steverothery

i still dont get wot ur saying. do you not mean YOU DONT WANNA STOP THE ENGINE, COLD. NOT START IT COLD? ARENT ALL ENGINES LEFT OVERNIGHT IN A DRIVEWAY COLD LOL?

Huey52

iTrader: (2)

You want to avoid shutting it down cold (say from a short movement between the garage to the driveway to wash it) without doing the rev/purge thing. That's all.

Again, all gas powered engines run rich when first started cold. The rotary engine is more susceptable to flooding than a piston engine if this excess fuel is not purged prior to shutdown.

Spin9k

There was a propensity for the car to flood when started cold, then immediately turned off. Why? There is a lot of surface area in a rotary bore, so wet gas left condensed on the walls would tend to pool and 'flood' the car making it hard to start later when ever you went to start it.

Mazda made special service conditions avail to tackle for the problem, trying to make it as easy on owners this happened to until they resolved the problem. Ok so fas forward to now. What have they done (and by the way I think this is 'rotary' problem more than an RX-8 problem). Replaced battery to high crank amps, replace the starter to spin much faster, reporgrammed the ECU to try to mimimize this effect under these conditions, among perhaps other things I don't know of.

Personally, in 4 1/2 yrs of ownership, before the fixes came out, I was almost able to flood it once, but no, it finally started. I useally never wait for any warmup before driving, but drive easy for mile or so. I occassionaly do shut down cold after a start, but aside from the maybe once, no flooding. The starter and battery were cool to get but I've not found any reliability dif... it's always started.

Your results may vary... and I think people have a way of influcing their own outcomes, there are lots of threads about flooding to read, it's something that happens, much less now than earlier, or so I read.

steverothery

thanx

JRichter

Sorry for the confusion, Steve. Take the bold section as all one phrase/action or together with this just being an example. Cold being the engine temperature. You can start it any any condition.

ken-x8

That's not really the procedure, although people keep posting it that way.

You need to let it warm up before shutting down. If you warm by driving, all is fine, nothing special. If you warm it up by letting it idle, then you need to do the rev thing before switching it off. IMHO, having to rev in that case is just a consequence of idiling not being a good way to warm up an engine.

Ken

steverothery

so now you cant move it from a parking space then as ken has just said without leaving it on 20 min?

StealthTL

iTrader: (1)

cant move it from a parking space then as ken has just said without leaving it on 20 min

.....and don't disconnect the battery, or all SORTS of **** happens!

Just stick with that SEAT Diesel POS.


S