Flashwing

I know we have other 100,000 mile threads around but I wanted to offer some maintenance history that might be a bit more detailed in hopes of aiding others in keeping their RX8's running. I'm in no way saying this is the solution to keeping your RX8 running longer but only that it's worked for me.

I would like to sincerely thank the BHR crew of Jeff Abrams, Charles Hill and Erick Kruson for the great advice over the years and helping educate me on the RX8 as well as all the major contributers of RX8club.com for the awesome information and DIY's. My RX8 has been the combined effort and advice of a lot of people so I hope everyone knows I recognize and appreciate their help.

Currently I've reached 100,000 miles on the factory installed motor and factory installed 6-speed manual transmission.

My RX8 is a 2005 Base Sport so it has no sunroof, bose, leather or anything other than the sport package. It was purchased with 125 miles on it.

I've maintained a very strict maintenance regimen where I normally perform oil changes at 3,000 miles. With the exception of 2 times I have always performed oil changes myself. Radiator fluid is normally changed every 25,000 miles, diff fluid has been changed every 40,000.

125 - 3,000 miles: RX8 driven with factory engine oil
3,000 - 6,000 miles: RX8 factory oil change
6,000 - 9,000 miles: Royal Purple 5w-20
9,000 - 40,000 miles: Royal Purple 5w-30
40,000 - 50,000 miles: Idemitsu 20w-50
50,000 - 60,000 miles: Kendall 20w-50

At approx 60,000 miles I installed the Sohn Adapter and began running 2-cycle OMP injection. Around this time I also purchased the accessPORT and was tuned by Mazdamaniac for approx 3x factory oil injection rates.

60,000 - 75,000 miles: Valvoline VR1 20w-50 (for high ZDDP)
75,000 - 85,000 miles: Mobile1 0w-40
85,000 - 90,000 miles: Royal Purple 5w-20
90,000 - 93,000 miles: Eneos 0w-20
93,000 - 100,000 miles: Eneos 5w-40

All oil changes have used the K&N oil filter up until around 93,000 miles when I switched to the Pureolator filter and filtermag. I used the K&N 1008 for a while but later switched to the oversized 1010 version.

My information regarding transmission oil changes is a lot less known. I can say that on average I changed my transmission oil every 15,000 miles and the first change was around 25,000 miles when I removed the factory fill. I used Royal Purple's Maxgear oil which produced some serious downshift griding issues after a while.

I then switched to Redline's products and had good results. I used their Heavyweight shockproof stuff (thinking I was hard on the transmission). I also later swapped in their Lightweight shockproof. I've used the MT90 stuff as well as some point. Around 70,000 miles I swapped in the Mobile1 GL5 fluid and later changed to the Eneos GL5 which I'm still using.

Regarding operating environments:

The vehicle has lived it's whole life in Arizona, has never seen snow or salted roads. Arizona sees temperatures in the upper 30's all the way to 120 degrees. The vehicle is daily driven, has been used at 4 NASA track events and over a dozen SCCA autocross events as well as countless mountain drives. I've driven it to California and Vegas several times and also back to NW Indiana for a road trip a couple years ago.

Other important notes:

After 40,000 miles I made a lot of very important changes to the car including installing the Koyo Radiator, upgraded water pump and running a 90/10 mixture of distilled water and coolant mixture using Redline water wetter most of the time. I also ditched my K&N typhoon II for the AEM CAI and installed gauges to monitor engine and oil temperatures after overheating on a mountain drive.

I've used a few different OMP injection oils including Royal Purple's 2-stroke, one of Amsoil's 2-cycle products but I mostly use Valvoline's Multipurpose 2-stroke as it's priced well and it's easy to get.

And yes, I have premixed for the majority of the life of the car using ONLY Idemitsu premix. That process has been much less than scientific. I used approx 8 oz for every fillup but I tend to try and only use 4 oz. Most of the time I literally just pour some in and call it good. I'm not precise at all about it. There have been some lapses where I went a few thousand miles without it but overall I've always premixed.

I've also not had a catalytic converter for almost all of the car's life. 2 months after buying the car I removed the cat and have not had once since. I've had the BHR Ignition System on the car since about 80,000 miles running the 5ms dwell for most of that time.

The car has never flooded, spark plugs have been changed around every 25,000 to 30,000 miles (I think I've only had 4 sets in the car) and I've been good about letting it warm up for a couple minutes for the past 20,000 miles.

Last compression test had both rotors around the low 7's for compression and the motor was in the high 8's to low 9's around 40,000 miles. I still put down 185whp during my last dyno day in Socal.

I treat this car like a princess but I do not baby this car. She gets the best fluids, tires, brakes and care that I can afford with most of the time price not being an object. With the exception of the first year of ownership the car has always been garaged. I do, however, demand 110% performance out of this vehicle and while I'm not reckless in my driving, I do drive the **** out of this car.

I'm looking forward to the next 100,000.

Jedi54

iTrader: (7)

grats on the 100k !
(alright, now I'll actually read the rest of the thread instead of just looking at the pic)

spinning triangles

iTrader: (1)

just curious---what month was your built in '05?

Flashwing

I'm actually not sure. I purchased the car in December of 2005 so I don't know if it has a 2004 build date or not. I'll have to look up the VIN information and find out.

Thanks Jorge! It's a lot of info but we're lacking detailed information on care around here. I know there are a good amount of RX8's past 100k but a lot of people don't know much about how the car was cared for due to them being 2nd owners.

spinning triangles

iTrader: (1)

just go open your driver's door. theres a white tag with the vin and a bunch of other info. its listed on there on the upper left. looks like this 06/05 thats mine. june of '05

Razz1

Actually, I saw your oddometer.

Your car has .1 miles.

yiksing

Gratz.

Doesn't sound promising for me, 100k miles and compression already at low 7s.

Flashwing

I'm making about 100psi of compression on all of my rotor faces and I still made 5whp more than a stock Series 2 RX8 with 7,000 miles on it.

Granted that car is stock and I'm modified but I think that says something.

rx 8speciale

iTrader: (3)

congrats... can you be little more specific on radiator antifreeze u have used , mixture and recomend what kind , im on the time to change mine, thanks

Flashwing

I use a 90/10 mixture of distilled water to coolant. You can pick whatever coolant you prefer as it's nothing really special. We never see temperatures below freezing here so the coolant is only for lubrication purposes and to prevent rust/microbes.

If you live in climates where you see below freezing temperatures then using a mostly distilled mixture would not be a good idea.

bse50

Nice write up Todd

Huey52

iTrader: (2)

Nice writeup indeed.
Good to see you're no more scientific than I am about pre-mix. I give it four "gurgles" of Idemitsu per half-tank fillup, which is close to 4 oz.
I also have the MM tune for increased apex seal lube, among other things, on my latter '05 build.
And the same religious 3k oil changes.

Red Devil

Nice post.

I just last week passed 100 K on my original '04 engine - hope you don't mind me sharing my information but I think it adds some merit to what your wrote above.

Short and sweet for my car:
-Engine recall - never bothered, I'm still on M Flash, or at least was until AP/ATR install last fall
-Driven a couple hundred miles at HPDE events
-Redlined a few times a day
-Always fully warmed up before agressive driving - this I've done since day one and I actually have been made fun of for being so meticulous about this aspect
-Oil changes - 5w30 or 10w40, every ~4,000 miles usually Royal Purple or Castrol GTX
-Cooling Mods - 70/30 mix in summer, that's it. flush coolant spring and fall
-spark plugs - ~25 K intervals
-ignition coils - ~25 K intervals
-premix - every tank with idemitsu since 10,000 miles - 4-6 ounces
-vehicle is driven year round rain or shine

I'm curious how much longer it could go, but it is being pulled in the next few weeks as I will be building a new engine for a FI build. Also, just as a note but my '87 TII had its original engine last until 150 K at the 6-8 psi range.

blamerobb

sounds good flash. im sure it also helps to be a part of bhr you guys are rediculously smart about the 8s. if only i knew a bit of your knowledge i would be satisfied. that is why i read quite a few of your guys' threads. reading = learning

09Factor

I wonder what the insides of the keg look like. Especially the side seal clearances.

9krpmrx8

iTrader: (46)

Good to hear, but it seems that even with meticulous maintenance the renny won't last much past 100,000 miles.

J03K1LLARX8

iTrader: (1)

Good stuff Todd. I has 54k to go before I hit 100k but now I has better knowledge of how to keep my 8 in great shape.

yiksing

^That's what I thought but couldn't word it properly. Btw is there any point in using JASO-FD in comparison with JASO-FC rated premix?

9krpmrx8

iTrader: (46)

One is older than the other, shouldn't really matter as there really is no scientific proof that premix really helps anyway. I still premix anyway.

Motomouse

iTrader: (1)

Nice hope to see those numbers on my engine !!
Flashwing so you will be keeping your 8 for awhile??
I was reading somwhere on the forum one of BHR members was selling an 8 and I was thinking it was you man !!

Motomouse

iTrader: (1)

Ohh and one more thing did you use a Soham adjuster or just the adaptor ??

Motomouse

iTrader: (1)

Okey I read now about it on diffferent tread but thanks Ray
Any chance you may have some pics Ray or Todd of where and how big the tank you put on yours ?? or you just using the washer fluid tank

Thanks !!

nycgps

iTrader: (1)

Good job Flashwing.

Now go 200K mark. then have somebody pull the engine apart

yiksing

even without raising volume pumped using cobb?

HomicidalApple

iTrader: (3)

congrats on 100k! =]