Since the original rotary came out a long time ago, and synthetics have come a long way since then (including abitlity to burn cleaner), do you think Mazda will put out a recommendation that synthetic be used (or at least can be used) in the RX-8 motor?

 

this will be moved in 5...4....3....

 

2....

 

good question

wrong section

/notamod

 

lol

 

If i had a Renisis motor i would still use my trusty old Castrol GTX 20w 50 motor oil. I've been thru to many Rotary's and that's all i've ever used. also the factory mazda oil filter is by far the best out for any rotary engine.

-Markus

 

off to other rotary...

and its been proven that good quality synthetics are perfectly fine to run in a rotary... it's the crappy ones like valvoline or havoline that you want to avoid

 

I think the chances of GTX being the oil Mazda recommends is about zero... No it's not, it's far too small, like a lot of factory filters these days. It may be high quality, but if it's full of crap before it's changed (because it's so small) and it's pressure bypass valve opens then it's completely useless. There are bigger filters out there that are just as good.

 

What are you talking about? Racing Beat has recommended synthetic oil for rotaries since the 1980s.

 

SYNTHETIC IS THE BEST FOR ALL ROTARY MOTORS

Where does this stuff keep coming from.

P.S. The world is round, also. In case you havent heard that either.

 

Oil filters sold by Mazda are manufactured by Fram, one of the all-time worst filters. Go with Purolator, AC Delco, or Wix. Also avoid Champion.
20w50 is recommended unless you live in Canada or the Northern states and it's during the winter months. 10w40 or 15w40 is more suitable if this is the case.

 

But they're referring to rotaries that are running on pre-mix with the omp discarded. Even the best synthetics don't burn as clean as 2-cycle oil. Best to use synthetic in conjunction with either pre-mix or blocking off oil flow from the oil pan to the omp and routing 2-cycle oil to an omp adapter from a separate gravity-fed reservior.

 

I agree with you on everything except your assumption that Racing Beat was talking about "rotaries that are running on pre-mix with the omp discarded". That was never mentioned in RB's original recommendation.

 

Not mentioned per se, but they started out catering to the rotary racing community. These guys generally ran pre-mix.

 

Yes, FRAM sucks. But Mazda filters have been made by Tennex over the last few years, not FRAM. They were never made by FRAM. They used to be made by Toyo Roki in Japan. A controlling share of Tennex was recently bought from Nissan by Mahle a good German parts company. The Mahle-Tennex filter is a good one.

 

Almost forgot--- The filters that Mazda supplies here in Canada (but painted blue, with the Mazda logo) are manufactured by Fram, but priced as high as if they were a good-quality filter. Could be a different situation on your side of the border.

 

Purolator filters USED to be good, until they started making them out of such thin metal that they get crushed by my oil filter wrench when installing them.
I'm STILL looking for a quality filter, but it seems that they ALL kind of suck in one way or another.

 

The Mobil 1 filter is pretty nice, but it's freakin' expensive. I stopped buying them when they went from $9 to 11 dollars and went back to the USA Mazda one.

 

Where do I find a Mobil 1 filter? I'll give it a try.
P.S. how goes the RX4 project?

 

BACK to the orginal topic on the synthetic oil....

Has anyone read the RX8 manual to see what Mazda says about synthetic? I don't personally care what anyone else says, I am only concerned about Mazda's stance.

 

Glad I'm not the only one with oil filter wrench indentations in his Puralator filter.

Try out NAPA Gold 1182. It's application is for a Peugeuot but the thread and pitch are same as rotary and other Japanese cars/trucks. HUGE filter. O-ring is fat and wide, seals fine. Quality materials in and out.

Been using that on my rotary and Isuzu Amigo V6 and like it alot. The V6 gets metal specs in the oil and when running the NAPA filter theres less metal spec on the dipstick!

And it is an $11.62 filter by the way but worth the insurance!

 

I've heard good things about the Napa Gold filters too. They're manufactured by (I believe) Wix, whose top-of-the-line filters are amoung the best available. Stay away from lesser Napa filters though (silver). Champion manufactures those and they're no better than Fram.
First I've heard about dented Purolators. I've had no problems with them. How tightly do you do them up to produce these dents? 1/4-turn past hand tight should be sufficient.

 

Fine, ppl want to talk about oil filter so let's change subject.

The Napa guy told me that Napa silver is a Wix also. It's got 96% single pass efficiency with an anti drain back valve. I doubt if it's a FRAM because FRAM doesnt usually have anti drain back valve unless it's the expansive Tough Guard ($6) or X2 ($10). I think the silver is a fine piece. The gold has more paper element but since we change our filters less than 3k mi, I think the silver is just fine. Never tried it on FD yet but I may do it since it's $3.5. Otherwise, I'll stick with OEM.

 

That's possible. The report I read on the subject was over 3 years old. It said stay away from silver. Napa may have changed a few things in light of it.

 

Best filter on earth is Motorcraft Racing filters!!!! yes there Ford(well so is 75% of Mazda) but trust me they are the best