So just for a bit today driving (my 400 mile return from work on the weekend) my oil light came on for just a minute.

Little background, i bought my 05 RX8 about 4 weeks ago, it had 4 miles on it out of the lot, and now I have 3400 miles. I already added a bit of oil about 2 weeks ago. I pulled over and added a bit of oil today.

The two things I'm wondering about: The oil dipstick really sucks on this car, i mean, when im pulling it out, its almost impossible to make it so it doenst hit against any of the hoses that are nearby, and by the time i get it full out and looked out the oil is smeared or something to where i would assume it messes up the reading.

Second "question": From a theoretical standpoint (i.e. not checking the oil every 3rd tank of gas) How many miles do you usually go and how much oil do you usually have to add over X amount of miles? Basiclly im asking how many miles you go and how much oil you add for those miles.


Thanks in advance,
Jeff

 

I add about 1/4 quart of oil every 1,500 miles, but my driving habit is 90% city and 10% highway.

 

a tip i've found useful in making the dipstick more readable, is to make sure that when you insert the dipstick into the tube, that the lined/dotted side of the dipstick is facing towards the engine. i've found that by aligning the dipstick in this manner, it almost totally eliminates the likelihood that the tube will smear the dipstick reading when you pull it out.

and i also use about 1/4 qt per 1500 miles, on 50/50 mixed driving

 

Oil use drops off quite a bit after 10,000 miles.

Once it settles out, try this - when you change the oil, fill it right on the "full" mark, then monitor the level, and when it gets around the "low" mark - time to change the oil again!

Why add a fresh quart, then throw it out next week when it's oil change time?

It should settle out around full-to-low in about 3k miles, so thats just ideal....

S

 

When I first bought mine it was eating about 1/2qt every 500 miles. For the first 4000-5000 miles. Now I seem to be burning about the same amount LiveToRev is.

 

That is a long trip home from work, 400 miles. How often has your oil light alerted you the oil was low?

The engine doesn't use as much oil after 10,000 miles it was noticeably less for me.

I've came to the same conclusion as StealthTL on adding oil.
That doesn't mean a person should assume it won't burn more than the average though in 3,000 miles (1 Quart).

Speaking of oil and changing I am going to get a oil extractor tomorrow so I don't have to go under the car to drain the oil. They range between $29 small engine size and $400 for an industrial size.

I will be spending between $69 and $169 heard it works same if not better than just draining the pan. Tough thing is with the oil coolers some oil stays in the lines so an 8 holds more than 4 quarts of oil it just won't drain it all because there is no siphon effect to the oil pan from the oil coolers.

 

my oil light only came on for about 1 minute and then went out, this was the 1st time its ever come on

 

is it okay to wait until the light turns on to add oil? or is it absolutely necessary to avoid the light turning on at all costs by constantly checking the levels?

 

when the oil light goes on, it means 'add oil NOW', and you may not necessarily have any oil nearby when it happens, so it's good practice to keep the oil topped off whenever you check the oil level.

checking oil level regularly (note i didn't say CONSTANTLY; there's no need for that unless you're tracking the car) is a required maintenance procedure on the rotary engine, if you're so lazy that you can't even bother to check your oil level, perhaps this car is not for you

 

Avoid the light of course.

I mean I dont even know whats the feeling of "Low Engine Oil light" because I change my oil every 1.5K~2.5K miles :-)

Anyway, change your oil, its time.

 

Definetly not. Oil light on means pull over at the nearest location and add oil immediately.

Check the level about every 500 miles. (Cough, 2-3 fillups)

I've never had any smearing/rubbing problems, just pull it straight out, and put it straight back in.

21k on the clock and mine still uses 1qt per 1000 miles.

 

I used to be at 1qt every 1000 miles, now I have around 10100 miles on the car and its gone down to about 1/3 of a qt every 1000 miles. I am running fully synthetic motor oil and 2cycle oil (premix) in the tank at about 1:250 ratio. I add oil every saturday/sunday when I wash the car and fill up with gas.

Oil use is definetly gone down as the ODO has gone up.