Hey guys,
After I got my FD, I became more interested in cars and wanted to do things myself. I was wondering if its easy to change the Oil and other little maintanence stuff? Can anyone tell me the specifics on how to change the oil on a FD? Thanks in advance.

 

If you have to ask how to change the oil on a car, you might want to think twice about doing it yourself. Maybe you should find someone with a little experience to help you out?

Basically its the same procedure as on any car. Except the oil filter is kinda in a wierd place. You can get at it from under the hood, under the throttle body... its pointed upside down so you might make a mess when you take it off.

Then theres the drain plug on the oil pan....

 

speaking of the drain plug, has anyone tried that FRAM drain plug thing on tv? they say its supposed to not make too much of a mess. Anyone seen the commercial?

 

Very easy to change the oil... The Filter is beside the Throttle body and the drain plug is on the Pass side of the oil pain.

Jack the car up, drain the oil, pull off the old filter, dip your finger in oil & spread oil on the rubber gasket, put on the new filter, replace the drain plug, then fill up with the new oil.

For a filter you can use a RX-7 or the MX-6 (little bigger)

For oil you can use 10w30 for year around or 20w50 for the hot weather, since your in CA you could get away with 20w50 year round. You dont want synthetic oil with the rotary.

 

ive heard that you only put synthetic oil in a 7. why would it hurt if you did?

 

People use both... the only ill effect found was a residue left by the syn oil when burnt. It is really up to you, id rather it burn normal.

 

Ohhhh lord! Some one please help him.

Its the opposite. Give this forum a good read from top to bottom.

 

Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh ... riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight. Yeah so they developed synthetic oil for long distance, high-output, high temperature race car motors because they wanted it to burn up and seize the motor. Riiiiiiiiiiiiiight.

 

The problem with synthetic is that it DOES last long distances, at high speeds, and high revs and does not degrade much and Does Not burn fully when ignited. This is the problem with synthetic and rotaries as there is some oil injected every time into the chamber for extra lubrication purposes, so the synthetic oil would leave residue and build up on the rotor surfaces and housings and ruin the motor which is why you don't want to use synthetic in a rotary engine. Besides regular oil is cheaper and you can just change it twice as often if you are worried about protection and lubrication .

 

i just changed it my self for the first time, total price...$27 with 5 quarts of mobile fully synthetic 15-50 and $5 purolator filter. im going to walmart again from now on. total price...$27, and i also always use that $13 bottle of xr-1 oil addative. its beautifull and i guarantee you will notice the rev-smoothness difference. i first got it from pettit, but walmart sells it now. also, i want to state that the only reason mazda doesnt release a statement admitting its better to add some 2 stroke oil to your gas is becuase no one would pass emisions tests. just to make it clear, IT ONLY HELPS OUR APEX SEALS! just use the right mixture.

 

Let's not turn this thread into another dino vs synthetic debate. I think the debate is pointless anyways as I doubt we can find anyone on the forum whose FD engine went due to either synthetic oil residue or the slightly decreased lubrication of dino juice. If anyone knows any failures not caused by an apex seal or coolant seals, please let me know.

In any case, I agree with Paw140. If you have to ask how to change your oil, get someone to go through the process with you the first time. Hell, I remember the first time I changed the oil many many moons ago with my dad watching. He didn't say anything as he watched me pour the first two quarts right out through the drain hole I forgot to plug.

 

Well apparently this argument has gone on since way back when. Your riiiiiight hasnt proved anything and this theory wont ever been proven right or wrong. Someone start a poll on what they use and I bet 80% are using mineral. There are plenty of tuner companys that dont recomend this as Iam sure there are some that do. Well I personally know this guy www.alamorotary.com . His(Tito) credits doing about 4 20b conversions and countless other rotary modifacations. This guy knows his **** to a T. This is just one guy that I threw out as an exampleas saying "no synthetic". IMO you shouldnt leave your oil longer than 2,000 miles in a rotary. So until the synthetic issue is dealt with a final answer saying yes or no, as a whole of the rx7 community would know, then verdict still stands. Why take a chance.

 

How the heck did you manage to get 5 quarts in there? The last time i changed oil, it only took 3.5 to top it off. Did you forget to check the dipstick?