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Old 07-15-08, 07:38 PM
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Unhappy confused about oil

for the past week or so i have been reading different threads on the forum which talk about oil and the only thing that it lead to is mass confusion , well not really but i have some serious doubts about what to change to next oil change .

My recent rebuild has 1,3xx km`s on it , ( new bearings and E-shaft) , full atkins kit
, runing OMP , and some BOP`s from BANZAI

mods : HKS D/P , Open Intakes , ACT PROLITE + RB 6 puck , simplified sequential , AIR pump gone ..

first oil that went into the engine was some MOBIL 1 Super 1000 5-30 , i found it on special so i said oh well it`s getting flushed soon anyway

i drained this oil with around 400 km`s on the engine

then i went to GTX 20-50 ,

now what .. i want to flush it again asap ,
what goes in ?

Rotella 15-40? ( leaning more towards this than the others )
GTX 20-50?
GTX 10-30 , 5-30 ? + ZDDP additive / GM CAM protector ?
MObil 1 5-30 + ZDDP additive / GM CAM protector

and of course .. Mazda filter right ?

P.S. i read the hugely interesting thread about reformulated oils and all other threads that touch serious or informative oil discussions

thx for reading , any input would be much appreciated

Last edited by David0ff; 07-15-08 at 07:51 PM.
Old 07-15-08, 07:56 PM
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If you aren't putting it on a road course, GTX 10-30.
Old 07-15-08, 08:00 PM
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without additives of any kind?
can the 10-30 withstand some kicks in the *** on the high way and some ... 10-15 mins of time attack runs ?.
thx
Old 07-15-08, 08:02 PM
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Originally Posted by David0ff
without additives of any kind?
can the 10-30 withstand some kicks in the *** on the high way and some ... 10-15 mins of time attack runs ?.
thx
If you are going to be beating on your car, I would suggest getting an oil temp gauge and monitoring your temps. If you are seeing some high temps, go with a heavier oil like 20w50.
Old 07-15-08, 08:06 PM
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i have an oil temp gauge , mounted on an adapter at the filter , + a pressure gauge at same location
i have water temp gauge mounted on the water pump housing , under the alternator , on the passage where the water comes out of the engine ,
i have EGT tapped just b4 the D/P exit , right on top of the manifold
i shoudl be of for monitoring Temps of a mild mod FD right?
all gauges are electric , metric , PROSPORT ,

thx for the info
Old 07-15-08, 08:46 PM
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How come Howard Coleman swears by 5w oil? and nothing heavier?
Old 07-15-08, 09:02 PM
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i dont know , but it makes perfect sense to do so if one of your trusted friends has a drag car that would blow the door off of all our cars who`s engines last countless runs under heavy heavy loads/stress levels ,
that is y i am also leaning towards 5-30

and that is y i am confused
Old 07-15-08, 09:17 PM
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Thicker oil doesn't necessarily lubricate better. There is probably a sweet spot that depends on temps, clearances, etc.

10w-30 is listed in the manual as a good weight to use in our cars. The 5w only makes the oil thinner when it is cold. That's a good thing, you want flow. 5w30 flows like a pure 5 weight at low temps and flows like a pure 30 weight at high temps.

Now, will everyone stop bitching about their oil?
Old 07-16-08, 03:51 PM
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For me;
Summer - GTX 20W50
Winter/cooler months - GTX 10W30

Always a Mazda filter.
Old 07-16-08, 04:10 PM
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Put in 20W50 and forget about it. Seriously. +1 on OEM filters.
Old 07-21-08, 03:18 PM
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ok so i have decided that at the end of my 2000km`s brake in period ( 300 km`s left ) i will switch to Royal Purple 10w30
and flush the coolant again , ... 75% distilled water and 25 % coolant + ( water wetter or royal purple .. ice water )

any objections to that ?


thx for reading
Old 07-21-08, 03:22 PM
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That should be just fine.
Old 07-21-08, 03:34 PM
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thx
Old 07-21-08, 05:45 PM
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Not enough glycol....the placard on the car says no less that 45% glycol, 55% water...

I'd trust the Mazda engineers on this one.
Old 07-21-08, 06:14 PM
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i run 80water 15 coolant and 5royal purple coolant (like water wetter), its not goin got free in arizona any time soon so i dont think i'll have a problem.
Old 07-21-08, 06:26 PM
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Originally Posted by bajaman
Not enough glycol....the placard on the car says no less that 45% glycol, 55% water...

I'd trust the Mazda engineers on this one.
well theres two. the production guys say 50/50, the race guys say 70 water/30% coolant (actually you shouldnt run coolant in a race car, its slippery), and when you store it, its 90 antifreeze and 10% water.

so take your pick. if the car is going to sit, and see freezing, you need more coolant....
Old 07-21-08, 07:09 PM
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Higher glycol percentages help prevent galvanic corrosion, a naturally (and very destructive to metal) occurring phenomena when two dissimilar metals like iron and aluminum are mated together in a liquid environment.

I guess I don't see ANY reason to not run the higher glycol concentrations. Even you, Azcamel, would benefit from the much higher boiling point...it isn't all about anti-FREEZE, after all. I would think your coolant would be boiling at about 220 degrees, as opposed to the 240 or so with 45/55.

Not trying to hijack the oil thread.....sorry. I use 10W-30 pretty much all the time, Castrol GTX brand. I sometimes change to 20W-50 for summer driving but...so far this summer, I have driven the FD maybe 3 times for a total of 20 miles.
Old 07-21-08, 07:35 PM
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Originally Posted by bajaman
I guess I don't see ANY reason to not run the higher glycol concentrations. Even you, Azcamel, would benefit from the much higher boiling point...it isn't all about anti-FREEZE, after all. I would think your coolant would be boiling at about 220 degrees, as opposed to the 240 or so with 45/55.
With a 13psi cap, he should be good to at least 245F. 50/50 concentration would get him up to about 260F.
Old 07-21-08, 10:43 PM
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thx for the info on oil coolant guys
much apreciated
Old 10-07-08, 02:36 PM
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still confused about oil

HI guys , i wanted to run this by our local experts :
my rebuild 13brew ( rebuilt by me ) has ~10000 km`s on it
my rx7 is a Daily driver , R1, that sees occasional track ( ~ 5 -10 laps of ~ 1 min each) and occasional highway runs ( 5k+ rpm`s for ~ 10-20 mins )

here is my oil history :

first start ( begining of summer , 20+ Celsuis ==> 35 celsius )
used mobil 1 10w30 non synthetic with atkins filter , used for ~ 2, 3 hours on IDLE and then untill 200 km`s ,
then i used castrol 10w30 for the next 1000km`s with mazda filter
after that i used 20-50 again for ~ 2000 km`s ,
then i went with royal purple synthetic 5-30 for ~ 5000/km`s ( 2 changes ) )
and now i am back to 20-50

where i live it is getting cold , sometimes 0 celsius at night
and i know that 20-50 is thick for these conditions

the problem is i dont know what oil to use
i dotn feel confortable goint gtx 5/10-30 because of the energy saving star ( lower additives might fsk up my bearigns ) ....supposably 10-40 has some crazy ash content ... does not burn entirely ...

i change my oil every 1500 -3000km`s depending on the beatings the car sees

it`s gonna b winter soon ( 10c ----> - 20c Celsius)
is 10-40 that bad ?
is it ok to go to gtx 10-30? ... even if i drive the car hard?
has anyone tried Shell rotella T 15w-40 ?

what the hell can i run soi dont stress about it ?



thx

Last edited by David0ff; 10-07-08 at 02:42 PM.
Old 10-07-08, 02:50 PM
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Were the 34,535 what-oil-should-I-use threads that you found when searching not enough?
Old 10-07-08, 02:59 PM
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no not really
Old 10-07-08, 03:03 PM
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there should be a sticky about what to use under what conditions , temperatures , with a poll of people voting for what they use
this is an important topic with partial answers scattered in thousand of threads with no real conclusion :
some people use synthetic mobil 1 5-30
some use 10 30
some use GTX 20 -50
some use 10-30
some use 10-40
some use gt 5-30
some use royal purple .. of different viiscosity
some use valboline
some use motul
some use amsoil
some use rotella
some use pensoil
some use additives in combination with all thse

and these are all people with the same god damn car / engine
.... y so much variation .. y so much confusion ...?

surely because it is a topic that has been covered tenths of thousands of times ... but still there is a huge level of uncertainty
Old 10-07-08, 03:11 PM
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Originally Posted by David0ff

Rotella 15-40? ( leaning more towards this than the others )
Go with that

WHY???

Because it is a "heavy duty" oil

Why does that matter?

Because there are additives that are very important to the longevity of our engines that is being taken out of other oils due to "environmental" concerns

Read up

https://www.rx7club.com/3rd-generation-specific-1993-2002-16/you-need-know-about-reformulated-oil-revisited-again-july-08-a-770726/

I do not trust other oils. I am sorry. Unless a company comes out and can prove to me they have not taken such additives out of their oils I will not buy their product. Finding the right oil is harder then I would like it to be because such information IS NOT listed on the oil container.

My father lost a tappit on his piston engine because of "reformulated" oils. He switched to rotella and has not had a problem since.

With that said I think idimitsu is fine as it is an "imported" oil and I don;t think they care much about the EPA, although it is much more expensive than Rotella T

my .02
Old 10-07-08, 03:19 PM
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Originally Posted by David0ff
and these are all people with the same god damn car / engine
.... y so much variation .. y so much confusion ...?
The most sensible conclusion that can be reached with this amount of data is that it simply does not matter what oil you put in your car.

The manual devotes 1/2 page to the topic, which is about all the space required. Depending on your local temperatures, pick an oil with the appropriate viscosity from the manual and you are good to go. Everything else is noise.


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