Is Valvoline Max Life bad for a rotary?
 

I did a oil change about a month ago and insted of the normal Castrol that I usually put in there, someone suggested Valvoline Max Life (my car has about 77,000 miles on it). So here I am a month later, it was a little bit over full in the first place but it has barely dropped since then. I usually have added some oil to it by now (Rotaries are sposta burn oil is what I've heard). So I get a little suspicious and I get another bottle that I have and I read it and it says, amongst other things, "Helps Reduce Oil Consumption." So I was just wondering if its kinda like synthetic oil and if its bad for my engine. Thanks!

If your concerned, just change the oil. I have never used the product, however, knowing what I do about oils and synthetics, I believe your not hurting your engine for the short period you ahve had it in.

i used it in my car this fall, and it burned oil good, check your oil pump. when it sayss that it helps reduce oil consumption they mean, it reconditions worn seals.

I would like to keep a "max life" or "high mileage" oil in there. I mean, my car is a '87, so its not like its young, heh.

it should be ok, but i normally try to stay away from, "high mileage" oils due to the crap they add in there, i'm going to run just straight "dino oil" from now on in the rx

From my understanding "high milage" oils arent that way from the crap they add, but from the crap they DONT add, IE: Less detergants.

But I'm hardly an expert.

I have been using Max Life Motor oil in my car for a while.. when I first switched over.. I noticed the mystery oil leak was gone and that engine ran alot smoother.
I aslo E-mailed Valvoline before using that oil in my engine.. and thay said "The Max-Life is safe to use, also you could use the VR1 Racing oil."

Ok, an update on the situation... Its now been a little over 1,100 miles since my oil change and I haven't needed to add a drop. And I'm getting a little paranoid (I don't wanna destory my engine but I wanna use a "max life" or "high mileage" kinda oil if its not bad for it).

id just stick with the straight dino oil and keep a good change frequency (i change mine every 2k, no leaks, engine runs fine). Our engines are designed differently than piston engines, the max life oil is designed to recondition the piston rings and the head gasket to try and stop any leaks that might be starting there, and to reduce blowby.

neither of those are applicable to a rotary, since the only oil they burn is from the oil metering system, you should be fine sticking with a normal oil, id recomend castrol gtx

also, if you a real paranoid about it not burning any oil, start premixing untill you are sure the oil metering pump is working properly

The way these "leak stop" oils work is to swell the rubber oil seals. It will definitely stop the leak, but will also wear the seals faster and you're stuck always using this oil.

In a rotary, just stick with regular oils. You probably won't do any damage using Max Life, but you won't do any good either.

Castrol 20w 50 works for me. Been useing this oil for a solid 3 years, and also prefer useing the OEM mazda "black" oil filters

It's all about personal preference, i try to stay away from those MAX LIFE or high miliage motor oils. like someone said up top the crap they put in the oil scares me away. Pure Dino oil is the way to go. besides it's cheaper!
-Markus

www.mazsport.net

I swithed to max life at 95k and am now at 107k. My engine burns oil the same as it did with the other oil and it seems to run smoother. I was skeptical at first but I think it was a good choice. I tend to push my engine alot so I change my oil more often also.

Another update... I got to paranoid and I did an early change on it. So in the end, it went 1,500 miles and I never added any. Now, I went back to regular ol castrol and in 1,500 miles, it drank a whole quart. So now I'm concerned about it taking too! It yousta take a quart every oil change, so its goign 2 times as fast now. Is this something to be concerned about?