toxin440

Hello,

I have a growing concern about my baby, my 2005 RX8 GT... 2 weeks ago I changed my oil and filter, normally I put Royal Purple 5w20 in there and with this most recent change I put in Royal Purple 5w30 due to the hot summers here in Texas.

While driving down the street today I had a guy come up next to me and nod that he wanted to tell me something, and he said "hey man you got a lotta smoke coming out your pipes is everything okay"? (he was driving behind me for a few miles with speeds up to 80 mph) Now to be honest looking in my rear view mirrors I do not see any smoke at all.

So after work in the parking lot, i crack the hood and take a measure of my oil and it was just a little above the "bare minimum" mark... which kinda scares me because I just filled up the oil two weeks ago... keep in mind I have put about about 700 miles on the car since the oil change, so I know some oil will be eaten there but not THAT much right? combined with the fact some guy said my car was smoking scares me.

Would mixing RP 5w20 and 5w30 have some type of weird effect that causes smoking and inreased oil consumption? I realize our oil system holds what 7-8 quarts? and I only replaced about 4.5 of them. Besides this im not noticing any power loss or other weird noises. The only performance mod I have is my Rotary Performance Super Cat.

Any thoughts are greatly appreciated.

Jeff Johnson

LiveToRev

After you finished filling the oil, did you wipe the dipstick clean and recheck the the oil level again to make sure it was at or near the max mark? The motor shouldn't be consuming that much oil in 2 weeks or 700 miles. How hard were you driving the car?

toxin440

Thank you for the reply yes I filled, checked, wiped, and re-checkd the oil when I did my change 2 weeks ago.

Most of the 700 miles was on the trip from Houston to Dallas and other highway miles around the metroplex, cruising speed averaging 70-80 miles an hour. When I have the room and no traffic I drive a bit harder, but nothing like AutoX'ing or anything.

If anyone reading this is going to the Fort Worth Rack-daddy's meeting, maybe if there is any driving involved someone with good rotary knowledge can follow behind me for a min while give it a hard push in 2nd or 3rd gear and see what kinda smoke (if any) comes out?

I'm going to top off the oil and make SURE it 100% full and then monitor the oil usage vs. miles over the next few weeks... assuming nobody has any other ideas?

LiveToRev

If that is the case then it is definately not normal for the high consumption. Perhaps the drain plug or oil filter hasn't been correctly tightened or is loose? Did you see an oil puddle on your garage/driveway floor? Maybe rotarygod will see this thread and chime in.

toxin440

Didn't think about that -- I have the Fumuto quick release oil plug -- never had any issues with it for the past few months. I'll go and check it now, I'm just worried that its kinda weird how i have a much much higher oil consumption rate and at the same time some dude comments on smoke from my exuaust.


Thanks
Jeff

dillsrotary

is your car completely stock?

puch96

Make sure that the oil level is to full... also check for any leaks... and use 5w20 like stated on the manual...

toxin440

The only mod ive done is install the Rotary Performance SuperCAT (which has been running fine for 2 months, no CELs or anything). Other then that -- that Fumuto Quick Drain valve.... thats really it (besides strakes/clear corners/exaust tips) which are all just cosmetic

Clavius

Myself I'm not sure what it could be but have you switched Gas grades or gas companies? Could be a factor in this problem you have.

LiveToRev

Did the guy mention what color was the smoke coming out of your exhaust?

BullitHockey

My 8 needs about a quart of oil every 600 miles or so. I live in FL where its almost 100 degrees out everyday. I wouldnt be too worried about the consumption but the smoke doesnt sound good.

Razz1

Did you mix synthetic oil with regular oil?

Perhaps you didn't do it correctly.

Some people think it's smoke, but it's actually water. Check your radiator.

You should use 1 quart per 1000 miles sometimes 2000, depends upon driving conditions.

zoom44

check the oil filler make sure the cap is tight. check you drain for a leak. ( does it have a new crush washer?) check your accordian tube of your intake for oil.

toxin440

thank you all for the input.... I went out and checked my oil drain for leaks... there were none, i went ahead and topped off my oil EXACLY to the full mark and made note of my milage.

I took a video earlier today just to try and get a perspective of if/how much smoke there was.

http://www.the440.net/Media/smoke_maybe.MPG

Beware its 60MB (sorry i didnt have time to shrink it down), just right click-> Save as.

The guy didnt mention what kinda color the smoke was but im assuming it's white, to the person about the gas comment... I have been using "Race Trac" gasoline (premium but with the crappy 10% ethanol stuff mixed in) My preferred brands are Shell or Chevron... but there arent any really close around here.

To the person who made the comment about mixing dino oil and synthetic.... no I have been running full synthetic Royal Purple for the past 6 months and never had a problem, the ONLY thing different is the fact that the last time around I added 5w30 in the car (which already had 1/2 5w20 in it)

toxin440

I have the fumuto quick drain oil plug, no unscrewing or anything needed.... just flip up and then around to drain the oil, I got new crush washers when I installed the thing about 4 months ago and havent taken it off since (no need to)

I will have to check the accordian tube for oil tommorow.

zoom44

cool i saw the mention of the valve earlier and was asking for when you installed it. white smoke would not be oil that would be coolant. look for a weep near your water pump.

toxin440

just kinda wondering, a "weep" what exacly is that? and could you specifically tell me where the waterpump is? and is there any way to check manually to see if the coolant is low?

Moostafa29

I didn't see anything abnormal. I saw a little smoke when the exhaust popped, but other than that nothing.

toxin440

yeah the video didnt blow my socks off or anything -- maybe the owner of the car was just stupid and exaggerating? he was driving a "pimped" old mitsubishi.

it just worried me b/c he said "a lot of smoke" grrr this is kinda frusturating, maybe im flipping over absolutetly nothing but I'd rather be safe then sorry ya know?

Razz1

a weep is a leak

Go to the rear of the car. Open the trunk, then remove the plastic tabs and remove the carpeting.

Then you'll see the water pump.

daisuke

I didn't see any smoke, ppl that don't know anything about cars will tend to think that any vapor coming out the back is smoke, but vapor dissipates after a very short time while oil burning is actually smoke and will linger

In an extreme case I once drove behind this guy for about 30 seconds in a beat up POS car like the dude drove in the big lebowski, and there was SO much oil smoke from those pipes that when I got home there were droplets of oil all over the car and when I washed it the water came out with oil slicks all over it, that's something else you might want to try: see if something you put behind the pipe gets oily, and that's not even fair to the car because of how the rotary works. I'd flush the oil system to be sure and go back to what you normally use, but I wouldn't be too worried

Raptor75

If you lost a quart and a half of oil in 700 miles I would be concerned. You said it was full then at the minimum mark(1.5 quarts down) after 700 miles correct? That calculates to 466 miles per quart, I believe Mazda said the most the Rotary should consume is 600 miles per quart. I'm getting 750 per quart doing all city driving, you were highway driving, such users usually report 1500miles or better per quart. On top of this someone saw enough smoke to make a point of telling you it. Take the car to the shop, this dose not sound right.

stickman

Did you check around the base of the oil filter? If you have a slight leak there it could spray on the exhaust manifold and cause some smoke at speed which would appear to be coming from under the tail end of the car.

swoope

iTrader: (5)

this is stupid stuff i know... weep / seep/ leak . it is about quanty..


beers

Winfree

Texas has a high humidity - if this happened in the morning, right after you left the garage, and the 'smoke' is white its just normal 'steam'. If its black or brown or smells like burnt oil, your oil is getting into the rotar and getting partly burned. See if you can get some gas without alcohol - maybe Chevron or Shell, if they have it in your state, but something that can clean off gunk build up which could possibly allow more oil to seep in. Use the oil weight recommended it makes a better seal. Just be ready to change the oil more often when the weather gets hot. Let us know what you find. Also put some clean butcher paper under your car -mark where your wheels are on the paper - park it overnight - look at the paper in the morning for spots and try and figure out where they are coming from. Also clean out your exhaust pipes there should be a little black stuff there - but if they are tipped and ringed in soot you got something passing out that is not water vapor. Do it after they have cooled....