What brand of oil do you guys use? And do you change it at 7,500 miles like the manual says, or every 3,000 miles?

 

Castrol
I will between every 3 - 5k (I will shoot for 3k, but may take me awhile to get to the dealer :p )

 

Do the changes yourself. It's easy as a drunk chick on Bourbon street.

 

I will have to remember that one.

I started out with Castrol. I also own some Penzoil 5-20. It seems that the concensus on the board is for the Castrol. There are some people running Mobile 1 and Royal Purple but there is a LARGE debate about syn VS. dino. I am sticking to dino for the time.

 

I also use weight 5W 20. Some prefer 5W 30, but it depends on your location, specifically, humidity and temperature.

(Stupid but true: I won't change my own oil because I have a phobia of things collapsing... also, it is easier to drop it off and get a good check-up and have a record that all work was done at the dealer.)

 

Ahh, but you miss that special bonding time, and God knows what the dealer is going to do with your car. As for your phobia, you can do an oil change without raising the RX8 at all- I personally raise one side to get more oil out (something the dealer won't do), but you don't have to.

 

You dont have to jack up the car.. I never do. You can reach the bolt from the right fender if you turn the wheels.. It's even easier with a fumtitomtotitmeotiio (whatever) valve.

 

I forgot to add, I'm currently using Valvoline 5W20, changing every 2500 miles.

 

I don't change my own oil, since Mazda will do it for free every 5000 miles for 4 years... :D

 

Yes, but you should be ADDING oil probably at least every 1,500 miles. If you are going 5,000 miles without adding oil you are nuts.

I use Castrol 5W-20 primarily becuase this is what the dealer uses.

 

L flash seems to use alot less oil (for me)

 

That might be true in theory, but the 'L' flash is so fun to drive that my fuel and oil consumption of increased :D

 

Huge bit of advice here. I changed mine after moderate to Ave driving during break in for 1000 miles and then normal driving until 3000 miles and my oil was very very dark. Waiting even 3000 to change seems like pushing it and I dont drive hard that often.

I would recommend every 2000 to 2500 if you are gonna keep the car.

 

Luckily mine is a lease.

But you are right about having to add oil every couple thousand miles....It all depends on how often I keep the needle at redline....

 

That's overdoing it. 3000 miles is fine. You can go 5000 miles on modern cars.
Oil turns dark. Thats what it does.

 

Considering how much stays in the oil coolers during a change (capacity of 7qts and you only change 3.5-4 qts, unless you tilt), I agree with the shorter change cycles.

It only takes 20 minutes every month or two- small price to pay for peace of mind.

 

All right, but the first gay ask what brand of oil???

Anyway... what brand and what type are you using? mineral, semisynthetic or full synthetic??

 

Even though some dirty oil remains in the coolers after a drain, wouldn't the fairly high total oil capacity mean the oil (old plus changed) would take longer to get "harmfully" contaminated?

Of course, still, you are always running the engine with some amount of oil contamination. Hey, I wonder if Mazda has tried a pressure lube-less (pre-mix) engine like Sachs made for snowmobiles in the later '70's.

 

i change every 2K or so because i love to drive the car harder with L flash and borla exhaust. with tilt, i needed to add 4-5 qts and did not know why...now i knowl...
thanks guys!

 

Havonline 5W 20, 4K- 5k miles

 

M1

 

im using penzoil only b/c its all i could find in 5w-20. my dealer uses mobil, but admittedly only b/c thats what they get the best price on. i changed it at 500 miles, and theoretically ill change it on the 5s, except that it was changed again at 1700 for the frothing problem and im trying to get another one (im at about 4k.)

id really like to switch to redline as its performed well in our other high-performance cars. i know there are two schools out there on this, but im thinking that erring on the side of caution is the better route here.

 

meow,
if you have a phobia of things colapsing buy ramps. they raise your car much more than needed and are mor ethan the sufficient strength to hol dup the front end of the 8. give it a try and you will always do it yourself!