8_wannabe

haha indeed, but I bet if Mazda can demonstrate you did not follow recommended maintenance and burn up ur rotor or seals they're off the hook with the warranty. There's always fine print. ;-)

wakeech

you'd be very VERY hard pressed to do that if you follow maintenance anyways...

eccles

Ahura's explanation is correct. In addition, I'd point out that Mazda's own Technical Highlights CD, which they've sent to every dealership in the country, specifically states: (Their emphasis, not mine.)

daedelgt

Holy crap! Thank God I have a monster oil cooler from RE on order. I had no idea they were so big in the previous generations.

Farsyde

ok stupid question. What does the oil code stand for. Say 10W-30. The W is weight but what does that mean? Also what is the 30 for? degree of viscocity?

Charleston

Whatever you do, don't lease! If you have any prior military service you can use Pentagon Federal Credit Union and get 3.9% financing up to five years and no money down if you'd like.

http://www.penfed.org/rates/carloanrates.html

I got a call Thursday from Courtesy Olds, Mazda... here in Las Vegas that my car I ordered on May 31, 2003, will be in on or about August 1, 2003. I am not sure I believe it based on what others have posted and the fact that they could not give me a VIN (Wednesday they say), but I went to Pentagon Federal anyway and secured financing for up to $35,000, in about 10 minutes. They send you a certificate to take to the dealer. On top of that the rate will probably drop to 3.65 soon saving me a few more bucks every month. Remember when you are buying a car you don't have to worry about the miles. With a lease the miles can add up to a kiss of death in the end.

It is unlikely a lease can be had from a dealer that is effectively a better deal than buying at 3.9%. Good luck in getting "your" car soon and keeping it "yours".

B-Nez

It is actually a multi-grade oil. You are correct that 30 is viscosity, but so is the 10. This simply designates that the oil viscosity is rated for 10 - 30. A lower bottom number will be an oil that provides better protection in much colder climates (particularly on startup), while a higher top number will be an oil that protects well in hotter climates/hotter engine temps. Unit recently, the ranges were fairly small (except synthetics), so you had to pay attention to what you were getting. Now, it seems like even dino oils have managed to expand the range of useability.

Doctorr

10w-30 is the 'viscosity index'.
Measured cold, this oil is 'as thin as' a 10 weight oil, then measured hot, its index is about five times thinner, but it only thins out as much as a 30 weight would at that temperature. They do that with additives to depress the cold index and beef up the hot end.
Problem is that it is not magic, if the base stock is 20 weight, 'depressed' and 'beefed-up', it is still basically 20 weight oil, and as these additives break down with heat+oxygen/+mechanical shearing, the index goes out the window.
So heavily stressed oil is quickly degraded, and needs to be replaced. Modern additive packages resist longer, and can absorb more abuse, but the bottom line is frequent changes.
Also beware of dino oil that claims large spreads, say 5w-40 or 5w-50 - it will meet those claims right out of the bottle, but again, no magic, once those additives shear, who knows what the specs will be?
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doc

r0tor

iTrader: (1)

This is an extremely bad myth. Syntheic oil burns no differently then non-synthetic, actually in most oil brands "synthetic" oil is nothing more then ultra purified "dino" oil. If syntheic oil would burn badly, every manufacturer would be against synthetic since even piston engines burn oil. Some vette owners loose a quart of oil every 1-2k miles depending on how sloppy the tolerances are in the engine and they are recommended to use Mobil 1 synthetic.

The API approval shows that an oil has passed industry standards, many of which have to do with what happens when the oil burns. A prime example of this is why a certain very expensive synthetic oil on the market (not naming names... well actually I'm having a brain fart and can't think of the name) does not have a API seal - they use too much of a certain ant-friction additive that has been known to destroy O2 sensors when it comes out the exhaust system.

Synthetic oils resist "burn-off", which means the oil will not vaporize as quickly under extreme heat. This does not mean if held under a flame it will not burn.

BTW- I spent a year in a Mobil research lab.

StealthTL

iTrader: (1)

Mr. Tangier is too worried about maintenance costs -
I recently got the timing belt changed on a vehicle with the famous Nissan 'VQ' 3.0litre engine (widely regarded as the best block ever made) and it cost over $800. Horrible job, the rad had to come out, all the accessories off, water pump is in there too,so changed out.
I will not miss that cost on my Renesis.
I think, if you do your end of the deal, with regular oil/filters, the N/A rotary will prove bulletproof.
The only extra costs I can even guess at might be a shorter plug life, with expensive replacements.
Rotary maintenance costs have never been an issue I worried about.
S

B-Nez

Yep, I agree. CHECK YOUR HOSES REGULARLY. That is the number one thing that will bite you in the a$$. I did NOT do this with ALL of my hoses on my 91 RX-7. One of the heater hoses near the back had gotten soft and ruptured while doing a WOT run. Very bad news. Check your hoses, check and change your fluids and filters. Same as any car.

canzoomer

I recently got the timing belt changed on a vehicle with the famous Nissan 'VQ' 3.0litre engine (widely regarded as the best block ever made) and it cost over $800. Horrible job, the rad had to come out, all the accessories off, water pump is in there too,so changed out

Really?
Most (all?) of the Nissan engines use a timing CHAIN instead of a belt. That is one of Nissan's strong points.

I have owned 3, so I have some experience with this.
They are designed to last the life of the engine, so if you had to get one changed, I think perhaps something odd happened to your engine.

medcina

That's because he does not have a VQ engine, he has a VG30 which had a timing belt. My Xterra has a VG33 engine and it too has a timing belt that needs to be replaced every 105,000 miles.

Peter Sawko

I've never had to be so concerned about a car engine before!

Check the oil with each fill up, change the oil every 2500 miles, make sure its topped off, the oil pressure gauge isn't really a gauge and if... you do have an oil leak it's a disaster!

On top of that the oil coolers are susceptible to clogging.

What are the advantages of this engine/car?


Thanks for a reply. My dealer didn't mention any of this until after he took my check.

8_wannabe

Peter, relax. There are a lot of old-school rotorhead alarmists on this web site that'll have you changing oil every 500 miles if they had their way. Read the maintenance schedule in the owners manual and follow it. Maintenance on a rotary is much less demanding than on a piston engine; there just ain't that much to do. For 90% of us, we follow the regular schedule which says change the oil every 7500 miles. For extreme conditions, it's every 5000 miles (like, you take mostly short trips, a couple miles or so. Or extremely dusty conditions.) It's all in the manual.

It is true the Renesis is designed to consume oil, so you may have to add a bit between oil changes. Just check the oil level periodically and you'll be fine. The oil coolers are NOT subject to clogging despite what you may have read. Who here has had a clogged cooler on an RX-8? No one!! The hoses are NOT prone to burning out. Just follow the scheduled maintenance, a qualified mechanic will change the hoses when they need to be changed; don't worry about the oil pressure gauge (did you worry about it on your last car?), these folks just like to sustain an alarmist environment so they can all commiserate on their tempermental rotary car. Don't let yourself get swept up into the mania. Enjoy your beautiful car and all these worries will melt away!

inittab

8_wannabe is right on the money!

I would just like to add that the old-school rotorheads ( I'm one :D ) are used to tinkering with 20+ year old rotories. When any engine get's that old, you'd better check the oil often. My 18 year old 12a consumes about 1/2 quart of oil every 3,000 miles. Hardly a lot of oil in my option. And from what I understand, the Renesis is designed to burn much less than the so called "old-school" rotories. I'll wager a bet that if you change your oil every 5,000 you won't even have to top it off between.

Oh, and I've never heard of an oil cooler clogging BTW. If it did then that means the oil was never changed and that owner deserves to have his engine die. No matter what car you have, follow the maintanence schedule

wakeech

...that is one of the reasons the sump is so big.

...always good advice