Hey they put oil in the engine sump. Is that a pain in the ass?
For some fools I know, yes, it is too much.
I don't agree David. I think most people buying rotary cars would not mind
putting two cycle oil in an aux tank if it were explained to them the engine
should last indefinitely and this would drastically add to the resale value of
their car. Also they would have to replenish the sump oil way less often
if at all.
I would not, you would not, we only disagree about "most people."
Tracy is reporting no oil loss from the sump between changes. Most
people at least check the oil level in the sump
I do not think so, but there is no big harm in our disagreement on this point.
and understand the engine will fail if they run it with out oil.
Yes, most folks seem to at least get this part.
BTW the rotary is different from a piston engine in case you have not
noticed :-).
Oh yes, I live with one and am quite impressed. I have a 20-b for my Velocity
too. And I intend to use an aux tank for injected oil too, although I never
did
bother to modify my car to work this way.
A piston engine relies on a certain amount of oil getting
past the oil control rings to lube the compression rings. In the rotary
that is not true. The injected oil or two cycle oil mixed with
the fuel does that job. The oil usage is therefor more or less the same.
The history of 2-stroke cars says everything needed about the public's
willingness and ability to add oil to fuel. Ask anybody in a chain saw shop
how often they repair a machine "lent to a friend that used straight gas."
BTW the oil level sensor in the two cycle tank could trigger a valve that
would inject sump oil in the event the two cycle oil tank was empty.
Now *that* is exactly what Mazda should have done! Hell, they even gave me a
brake fluid sensor level warning light. One for an aux tank would work
great. It
could easily be set to switch on an indicator light when the injected oil
dropped
to "about one tank of gas before out of injection oil." And you are right,
a second
light when engine oil starts getting injected would provide plenty of warning.
If the guy ignores both warning lights he will deserve what he gets.
There you go thinking like an engineer again, instead of a marketing guy. ;^)
I will agree that these days almost anybody hot to buy a rotary engined car
would be fine with the responsibility of keeping an aux tank filled with the
proper oil. Especially if the idiot lights work as above. But way back in the
early 70's when they were introduced, I still think that Mazda read the public
correctly when they decided that they did not want to increase the or change
the maintenance needs from that of a piston engined car.
Cheers,
David