I just searched Craigs List for RX-8's and found quite a few.  Most stated
 they had recently had engine replacements under factory warranty.  What's
 up
 with that?

 Mark S Tx

 Good question.

 Two possibilities. I am not sure which scenario is true.

 A. Mazda underestimated the amount of apex seal oil required. Easily
 increased by re flashing the computer.

 B. Ignition coil failure caused misfires that washed the apex seal oil
 off the wear surface of the rotor housings. Fixed by retrofitting improved
 ignition coils.

 Perhaps John Doonan or somebody else from Mazda can confirm.
 I'll send a copy of this message to them.

 When I heard about that I did two things. I checked my coils
 and found some that were bad. I replaced them with the later
 coils that ostensibly fixed the coil problem. I added one half ounce
 of apex seal oil to each gallon of gas. So far my 2004 RX8 is still
 running fine but I only have 40,000 miles. It still passed strict
 draconian California smog testing. A copy of the test results is attached.

 Mixing oil with the fuel is the best way to insure the apex seals
 always get enough oil no matter what. If too rich even more oil. If
misfire
 still plenty of apex seal oil.

 BTW it is possible to program a $1 computer that reads the fuel tank
 quantity
 gage and pump oil into the tank directly as required. The first time the
 tank
 is filled one ounce of fuel per gallon is added. The next time X amount of
 fuel
 is added the computer can figure out X and add the correct amount of oil.

 Paul Lamar

Amazing little computer you mentioned.  Just wondering what effect adding
oil has on turbo'd rotaries?  I assume rotaries can detonate like pistons.
 Does the added oil cause detonation in turbo'd rotaries?

Van Vannoy

Not to my knowledge.  However the RX8 is not a turbo.
Just about the only way to damage the rotary engine is deprive it of oil.

Paul Lamar


Man, that would be great.  It would imply that you could use tremendous
boost on low octane gas.

Van