What kind of oil you guys use?
 

I was wanting some info on doing an oil change. Ive worked on for a few years now but never an RX7. Im actually a mechanic on Army Tanks for the military, I didnt want to start off on the wrong foot trying to change my oil. Also wanted to info on what kind of oil to use. I called Pettit Racing today cause their the ones who built my motor and I wanna say they told me to run 20 50 but I cant remember I was on my cell so it wasnt totally clear. Just wanted to see what everyones input is. Thanks.

this is one of those questions that depend on who you ask...

I myself have used Mobil 1 synthetic 20/50 for a few years no problem. Actually when I switch to it, the engine did feel a little smoother and it even picked up a full inch of vaccum.
I just finished putting my engine together and for the first start up I'm using Mobil non synthetic 10/30 but I will be switching to a heavier oil later on after break in.

I would call Pettit again, since they put it together.

How hard is it to change? Is similar to any other car or is it different?

Just like any other car. Drain plug under the car, oil filter, in back, on top right (looking from the front of the car in).

Thanks Bro.

Manny, I wouldnt break the motor on in synth. Use regular oil, then switch to synth after the breakin period.

I use Idemitsu oil, you can get it from rx7.com, it's on their website. It's not cheap, so daily driver guys should probably choose something else.

Did you call Pettit today? If yes, whats the oil?

i use valvoline racing 20-50 all year round. oil change every 1500 miles

I use your basic, off the shelf at any store valvoline 10w-30. The white bottle with the blue label.

I might switch to something really good by summer, prob idemitsu like someone mentioned. See how that goes.

I tried 10-30 but my oil pressure dropped below the FSM recommended 50 psi at 3000, so I went with Mobil 1 15-50 Synthetic. It works great!

I have been using Valvoline 10w-30 for 9 years now. Not sure what I'm going to use, once I get the car back after the single turbo conversion.

royal purpule 10w-30 A+

I like lighter weight oils. See the link in my sig to see the reasoning behind that.

Time for the newb to download the manuals from this forum, read them, and get over his FOTU.

Finally! some sophisticated scienctific thinking applied to this endless debate. Thanks for your post. I've read substantially the same thing from other sources. The number of backyard engineers who routinely dismiss the recommendations in the owner's manual never ceases to amaze. Everyone with an interest in this topic should read the article to which you've linked.

Pettit recommended 20 50 for their motors unless its real cold where you live.

20-50 is the way to go.

10-30 is recommended by the manual but the FD gets fuel dilution which pretty much makes 10-30 look like water. I would avoid it unless I was driving in very cold temps.

I just lightly skimmed over the article, it seems like a great read. Please remember the fuel dilution issue that affects turbo rotaries.

I had my oil tested 4 times at Southwest Spectro Chemical in my FD starting in 1998 when the car only had 36k miles or so. I changed the oil every 1500-2000 miles and it always came back with 10% fuel dilution.

20-50 here too and I am in Alaska...

Chris and Ari over at rx7.com/RP always maintained that it's best to run 20w50 in warmer climates to help protect the bearings under high rpm use.

....and what, the engineers who designed the car didn't know about fuel dilution in rotary engines?! LOL! Read the article linked above by rearviewmirror and learn something.

I skimmed through the oil article linked a while ago. It doesnt seem to be rotary specific......in warmer weather, I most definitely will not run 10w30 oil in my FD. To each their own ;)

Edit: Also, the manual is aimed at stock, 255 hp FDs, and I highly doubt the engineers who designed the car envisioned FDs with double the stock horsepower routinely touching the redline :)

Yep, the same engineers who failed to foresee engine heat causing coolant hoses to burst and cause an engine fire hazard, or heat degradation effect on the rat's nest hoses, etc...no one's perfect.
The long Ferrarichat forum post's basic premise is that it's better to use 0W multigrade oils in cars with manufacturer recommendations of 5W or 10W. I would tend to view that as "dismissing the recommendations in the owner's manual"...

While there is a lot of good info in the ferrarichat forum gentleman's long post, he does gloss over the fact that motor oil and its applications to various engines is an extremely complicated subject, one that can't be covered with in a lengthy posting that tends to impress with tons of viscosity measurement results. (I also take issue with his assertion that the API SM grade oils are automatically superior to previous API grades-- the increased cam lifter wear that many classic hotrod builders were seeing with off-the-shelf API SL oils comes to mind-- but no reason to belabor this subject).

There's no doubt that rotaries' fuel dilution is far greater than that encountered in piston engines', and piston engines don't have internal stationary gears (responsible for transferring power) that shear on the motor oil molecules in a way that cams/lifters can't approach. There's too many variables to draw conclusions based simply on some research made with regards to conventional piston engines.

For a novice such as myself, this question about what oil to use is just plain confusing. The issue of fuel dilution is the one that has me worried. I know that atkinsrotary recommends on their website the use of 5W-30 or 10W-30 in the winter and 20W-50 in the summer. Of course, Atkins is located just a few miles from me. Both our winters and summers are mild. Cold here is typically in the 30's and Hot is only in the 80's, and that is rare.

The very experienced rotary mechanic I had check out my FD used 10W-30 Quaker State. When I changed my oil again after taking out a Greddy Oil Filter relocation kit I used Penzoil 5W-30. Come springtime, I'm considering changing out to a synthetic. The question is what weight to use at that time. 20W-50 seems pretty thick when the typical temperatures are still going to be in the 60-70's even in the warm months.

Thoughts?

I used Royal Purple 10w-30 for almost a year, switched to 15w-40 one oil change ago because i wasn't getting the FSM recommended pressure. I'll probably do one more change at 15w-40 before spring/summer when i will definitely be switching up to 20-50 and getting an oil pan brace.

One thing i have noticed though is that i lose vacuum at start up. Once the engine is heated and i do the obligatory highway redline pull i pick up my lost vacuum and then some.

Cost no object, I'd use a good synthetic 10w30 when the temps are below the 50s or so. Above that, I'd stick with a synth 20w50. Make sure to let the car full warm up before high revs/boosting, and keep an eye on your oil pressure. ie, if it's 55 degrees out and your stock oil px gauge is pegged at 120 psi while cruising on the highway at 3k rpms (car fully warmed up) then think about switching to the thinner 10w30.

Btw, I read my previous post, and I'm not against 10w30 as it might appear. Just against it in high heat situations :)

Thanks for the input. A lot of my driving is short distance and at least now, the car rarely gets above 180F since I got back from the road trip. I could get the temps up to 220 after driving for hours at 85-90 on the freeway if I was going in and out of boost to pass. Around town, I'm often almost to where I'm going before it gets up to normal operating temps.

I'll keep an eye out on my oil pressure as spring and summer approach. I should be due for another change this summer so I'll see what it looks like then.

now im not talking about a rotary but when building old first gen small block chevyV8 especialy with a flat tapet cam they recomend breaking in with Shell rottella or other Diesl oil simply beacuse todays conventional oil has less aditives for protecion in it now i know mazda did not recomend synthetic oil for there rotary engine beacuse when usinng the cheaper ones ive been told they do not protect when they burn if the engine is new use conventional oil Heavy 10/40 10 /50 then it should not be a problem to switch to synthetic but a brand name Mobil 1 or royal purpul or Red line hope this helps

ever thought of using periods and paragraphs?

sorry i was in a hurry

Amsoil 20w50 every 2000miles and 1oz. per gallon of Amsoil HP injector oil in the gas tank. So far so good.

synthetic oil molecules are all the same size like ............ conventional oil has differnt size molecules like .,.,.,.,.,.,..,.....,,,,,..and also they have a tendency to stack up kind of like cholesterol dose in a clogged artery, this is y they coat the engine,, on initial start up protect better after the engine has been coated with oil then the better flow advantages of synthetic oil help keep things cool, also royal purpul has Moly in it Molybdenum a low friction material if u use this oil from the stat it dose not stick to metal well that moly is y you hear people claim cooler temps( low friction )more Hp( lower friction) is what dose it... now as far as protection among synthetic oil there are a lot of arguments and as far as im concerned about how people can go twise as long between oil chainges think of it as this, oil is also cleaning your engine as it moves threw it do you want that dirt to stay in there for like 4 ,6 ,8 thousand miles as far as synthetic,, my exp, with Mobil one is awesome! im sure Royal P is good too

what i mean is start with regular oil then switch to synthetic

im also talking about a brand new never ran engine

lowest price on the net :cool:

Thanks Kent, that was very informative, especially with regard to rotary vs piston engine oil requirement differences.

couple of questions. Do you feel that there is an adequate "thinner" (0w-5w) on the market that would still have the appropriate sheer characteristics to handle what a tracked FD would throw at it? (M1 0w-40?)

Do you think that the decreased oil flow during startup from running a 20w oil is causing more damage than a fuel-dilluted 10w-40 would cause at high load?

what oil do you run in your FD?

Had mine rebuilt by Tripoint when I bought it. They recommend and I've been running 20/50 Redline. :icon_tup:

Castrol GTX 20w50 all the way

I like either Valvoline or Castrol dino oil in my FD, and it is 10W-30 for the winter and 20W-50 for the summer.
Every other engine I have gets either synthetic or synthetic blend Castrol or Valvoline or Mobil1.

Personally, I don't think it is a good idea to use heavier weight dino oils in colder climes. I guess I can just imagine that molasses-like oil trying to feed thru those tiny oil injector lines and...failing.

This stuff got my attention: know about it?

http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums...rue#Post893022

Interesting read Dave :icon_tup:

definitely an interesting read. I like their break-in procedure:

RX-7.com had recommended that I use Mobile 1 15w-50 on my FC when they tuned it. That was years ago though. I guess I will use 12w-50 on my FD. Have always used Mobile 1. No particular reason besides testimonials and a race I watched once at Pikes Peak when the radiator blew up, but the EVO kept going and finished the hill climb. He credited it to his Mobile 1.

has anyone taken this approach to the rotary engine?

No, not an FD that sees track use. I've seen viscosity shearing with 0W oils in motorcycles, which share the oil with the transmission (the shearing action of the transmission gears, similar to the rotary's stationary gears).

I'm not an expert by any means, but in my opinion, no, because the rotary doesn't have the number of clearanced passages running under constant pressure that a piston engine does (cams/lifters, rod/crank/cam journals, etc.), and you're not going to be boosting or running high rpm (hopefully) during warm-up. On the other hand, at high-rpm, the pressures involved are tremendous. This is just my opinion, however, obviously subject to debate :).

Motul 300V

So did he ever reveal his super secret oil source?

Thanks for the replies Kent, I guess I was more curious as to the weight of the oil you used. You go for the full on "Le Mans" 20w-60?

I'm going to try the Idemitsu oil next month. :icon_tup: