Hey i just bought my rx 8 last thurs and i love it. just wanted to see how everyones doing tonight


RICHARDS108

 

Hi. Its good to see another happy Mazda owner. Welcome to the club! If you have any questions. One of us can help! Make sure you don't use synthetic oil and change the oil at least every 3,000 miles. Good idea to have a extra quart in your trunk. If you do that, you will own your Rx-8 for a long long time. Enjoy!

 

why cant you use synthetic oil in RX8's??

 

Well, I forgot exacty why. But a salesman told me about that. I have read it on the internet many times.

 

You should avoid synthetic oils during the break-in period (first 500-1000 miles)on any engine.

Not sure about any recommendation to avoid synthetic all-together for the Rotary.

 

After careful research, the reason for using standard oil in a rotary is that the engine uses oil as part of the combustion process similar to a two stroke engine. Using synthetic oil causes this processto have some difficulty.

 

Anyone know why the rx-8 takes premium gas and why the rx-7 doesn't?

 

The RX-8 runsa much leaner air/fuel mixture than the older RX-7 did. The leaner mixture setting makes the engine much more prone to pre-ignition or pinging. Pinging in a rotary engine is not a pleasant experience!!! It isnot the light rattle noise you may have heard in other piston engine vehicles. Sounds very similar to a very bad rod knock. To counter this, Mazda recommends the use of premium 91 octane or higher fuel only.
The use of synthetic is very close to what zoomlzj mentioned. Since the internal combustion seals are never in contact with the motor oil as piston rings would be in regular engine, oil is actually injected into the engine using a MOP or Metering Oil Pump system. This injected oil provides the lubrication for the combustion seals but it also needs to burn cleanly with the air/fuel mixture. Petroleum based oils burn the cleanest. Synthetic oil does not burn well and leaves a lot of deposits behind that build up in the combustion chambers, eventually clogging up the grooves where combustion seals ride in and causing loss of engine compression.

 

Thx!! I learned how to drive stick shift in an RX-7, so that explanation cleared up a lot of questionsI had.