Been reading allegories about Caves recently?

Great thread, should be a sticky, imo.

 

Tentatively I will be there saturday the 28th, but I haven't gotten plane tickets or anything yet. Just keep an eye out for this guy (sans facial hair)

 

Cool car, but ... did you maybe think this was the R8Club website instead of RX-8Club? Do you really have an R8 or was that just a test drive. Love that car.

 

I like cars with 'R' and '8' in the name
Nah, I have a friend with one and he let me take it for the day, this just happens to be one of the most recent pictures of me on my laptop.

 

Can you introduce me your friend? so I can lend his R8 for a day as well? lol

 

this being said, RG, what is the grade of oil that you use in your renesis?

 

I don't have a Renesis. I have an '84 13B. I have run everything in it from 20W50 to straight 30W to 5W20. Engine runs fine. I'm back up to 10W30 at the moment but since the car is taken apart it's really a moot point anyways.

 

so what oil are you guys running or reccomend using?

 

If I lived in southern California, I would probably use 10w-40 year round like I do in the summer time here in NJ. In the winter I'll use 5w-30, like Mazda recommends in most of the world. In the US, they recommend 5w-20 because of CAFE fuel economy fines. Use high quality oil. Synthetic is best.

 

Oh no you didnt say that ! Synthetic is evil ! As soon as you put Synthetic in there your engine gonna blow up within 10 miles !

I've been using Synthetic oil (true one that is) for like 41K miles. so how many times did my engine blow up? you do the math

 

That would be at least 4,100 times.

 

Jeez this discussion(not slamming this good info now) has been going on since 1/1/04. the first time i changed the oil in my car i knew damn well it was not providing the protection I wanted. It looked like wd 40 coming out. and yes i have been around awhile--i remember helping my Dad rebuild a flat head ford v/8--it was the families truck etc.
hell this engine cant even maintain the factory recommended oil pressure with 5/20W in it! Yall use some common sense here! Nothing complicated about this.
. I think the bearing wear that has been showing up has to do with something else than just the oil viscosity.
olddragger

 

but when you look at mysql's motor, he does not have the kind of bearing wear like most pictures we've seen (so far)

it has something to do with viscosity.

 

When you consider the change in the oilsystem internally for the facelifted RX-8, and the fact that other territories recommend 5W30, which isn't for cold temperature tolereance obviously, it's thicker oil at operating temp. Then you gotta be a bit naive to be putting 5W20 in there. In my opinion. But many people in the US seems to be a bit warrantyscared, so I guess you can't blame them.

 

Nah, its not warranty scared. its more like this :

"Mazda is the one who created this engine, what makes any of you think that you actually know more than Mazda engineers ? Do you think they will recommend something that might damage the engine in the long run ? 5w20 will work just fine"

 

maybe their fanbelts were just on too tight.
OD

 

Thanks to all of you for the education on oil. I live in the mountains west of Colorado Springs and we don't get the hot days of Texas, so I always thought the 5/20 was the best. Also the dealer said not to use synthetic and I listened.
I've got 100K on my 04. Looks like I need to change to 5/30. Any particular brand you recommend?

 

Royal Purple's good without being tooo expensive.

 

^^^ I plan on changing to that.

 

have u guys ever heard of synthetic supposedly burning diffrently than mineral based oils? i have heard (dont know if it true or not) that synths dont burn well since oil in rotarys spend a whole lot more "time" in the actual combustion chambers than in piston engines. also what is the max psi that the renisis allows along the lines of oil?

 

Hey guys. After reading all this info on oil my head is spinning, but if I even retain 10% of this stuff I'm way better off than I was before.

If I might give some of you guys the newbie perspective: I've always been a computer hardware guy, never a car guy. The only things I know about engines and fuels and oils is the very basic stuff I picked up from an intro to piston engineering course while I was learning to fly. I basically have no point of reference.

I was going to put 5w20 oil in my car, not because I refuse to see the light at the end of the tunnel, or because I'm "warranty scared", or because I'm naive. I was going to do it because it's what the manual said to do and it was the only readily available source of info. This place is a treasure trove on information to be sure, but for someone new it's hard to sort out the guys who have the experience and the knowledge from the guys parroting something someone told them once. I'm obviously ignorant of the ways of the world, but I'm trying to learn

Now, that being said, I need some help. After much researching and deliberation I bought a 2006 RX-8 GT (MT of course) and I love it. Unfortunately the guy I bought it from left the fluids in a sorry state, and the oil is at a level I would consider uncomfortably low.

You know when you were a kid and you were learning to do something, like your multiplication tables, or playing a sport or anything? Someone who was good at it just told you what to do. You didn't understand why it worked, it just did. Later on when you'd been doing it for a while you understood the wisdom of their words. That's what I need right now. I've got a car that needs oil now, and just enough knowledge to be dangerous.

If one of you smart guys could shed some light on this for me I'd be really grateful. Help me do the right thing for my shiny new car, and I promise to keep learning about these things and pass the knowledge along to some other wide-eyed noob when the time comes

 

I would buy a name-branded 5w20 or 5w30.

Oil has developed a lot in the last few years, and the new specs are almost impossible to meet without including some synthetic components to beef up the blend. If the numbers start with a '5' you are getting the latest formulations.....

10w30 is also a fine grade, but a 10w30 oil can be made mostly from dead dinosaurs, with few of the additives that will keep the oil in-grade and on-spec. Don't buy it unless you are confident in the reputation of the manufacturer....


S

 

Here's an easy answer -- trust in "the wisdom of crowds". What I mean by that is, Mazda recommends 5w30 for this engine in *most* parts of the world. That's really what formed my opinion early on.

Lately we have seen some engine teardowns that suggest going even higher might help. What I decided for myself is that I will change with 5w30, and top-off with 0w40 when low. Mobil1 synthetic in both cases. I figure this helps counteract fuel dilution and viscocity breakdown to keep the oil from being thinned in between changes.

 

Keep in mind, the recomended oil is for fuel economy. It will get you by, but its not ideal IMO. Check a european or japanese manual to see what those recomend, most likely different than here.

Not sure why you are running 0W anything is Cali Nubo....

 

"No oil is thin enough at startup...." Dr. A.E. Haas

Zero weight oil is still WAYYY thicker at cold startup than when circulating at operating temperature - so why not run it?

There is NOTHING wrong with the '5' weight oils - and Mr. OutGuy is only partially wrong this time - fuel economy is only one of the MANY benefits of these thinner oils; faster hydraulic film forming, faster warm-up, better heat removal, faster circulation with lower back pressure, less filter differential and shorter filter bypass periods.


S