I also noticed more oil coming into my intake passages, not a lot but you can tell when I switched to Mobil 1.

Ok NEXT question. I knew all this was going to happen when I changed to Mobil 1 synthetic cause I was told this would happen. Anyways is it ONLY Mobil 1 that seems to cause leaks or is this ALL synthetic oils?

 

Not unless you want to wait forever for the engine oil to get up to proper operating temperature so that straight 30W can flow at a decent rate through the engine.

 

good question, i also would like to know. Also, quick question: I am running 10w-30 mobil 1 synthetic and I have a small oil leak comming from my turbos and oil pan, is it safe to switch back to regular oil? I heard that once you put synthetic in you shouldnt switch back

 

more stupid rumors. Go ahead, put dino juice back in, it won't cause any harm.

BTW, you know they sell synthetic-dino juice blends, right? The next time someone tries to pass info like that to you, just point that fact out and laugh at the confused expression on their face....

 

I agree, I used Amsoil with a HF cat...It's fine. Wrecking it is a different story...

 

yep, ive been using mobil 1 15-50 for quite a while now and i got 110k on the motor + turbos. Runs strong, great compression etc... things ive noticed ever since switching over to synthetic 1) smoother idle/ cold starts 2) runs significantly cooler 3) warms up faster

i have oil leaking but its coming from the rear main seal that ive been neglecting to fix.

 

It seems (to me anyway) that the best oils are from Redline and Royal Purple. They have great rep in just about all car fields.

 

That's called "proper promotion for the product". Getting your product name out there so that people recognize the brand name. That doesn't necessarily mean they are the best oils, however.

 

other than having to wait awhile to drive the car with straight weight 30, is it hard on the engine? what kind of temps should i see with straight 30? I'm using the car just for circuit racing so quickly start and drive isn't a problem but will i see a problem when driving hard?

Thanks

-joe

 

It's not that easy. The problem is that there's no way you can be sure the oil is flowing through the oil galleys and orifices in the engine properly under all conditions. Unless the motor is specifically made for straight-weight oils, there's really no reason to run them, due to the better overall characteristics of multi-viscosity oils.

 

People usualy use a straight weight say like 50w when they road course for a long time. Once it's up to prpoer operating temp, it's going to stay there for a long time and probably fresh oil before every race.

 

More bogus and/or obsolete info. Synthetics with cats are fine. Show evidence if you believe otherwise. I've always had my original cat, and it has seen no issues from a couple years of RP.

jds

 

The consequence of this is that it is desirable to choose an oil that burns as cleanly and leaves behind as little combustion residue as possible, to minimize combustion chamber build-up, to maximize catalytic converter life, and to minimize smoking. Some synthetics are better than others.

 

That's strange, because when I was using regular oil, I could go around 2000 miles...all the way to the next oil change without adding any oil in between. But I also had boost problems before (1-3 psi max) that could've been affecting oil consumption.

 

You should HAVE to add oil in. If not your oil probably smells like fuel. It's not really a BAD thing, just make sure you change your oil more often.

 

It looks like a few people are consuming more oil using Mobil One. I'm glad I'm not the only one.

 

Aside from my leaking turbos, I've never had to add oil. And my oil does not smell like fuel. I don't know that you'd even notice much oil loss from a 400:1 ratio depletion.

 

No leak or consumption for me, either dino or synth. I have to check that Mobil 1 site again. I tried Mobil 1 last time but didn't notice much difference so I am bach to dino. If Mobil 1 confirms it's safe, I may have to buy more boxes of their oil...

 

Sorry to revive this thread, but...

I thought the primary reason for avoiding synthetic oil in the 13B was because of the oil injection in these engines - burning synth oils tends to produce a significantly greater amount of deposits than non-synth oils. And this has absolutely nothing to do with catalytic converters...

I'm going on what I was told by Russell Turner, former owner of my car, and former engine builder for Peter Farrell, who built my motor. I would tend to trust Russ, as he, until very recently, also worked as an engineer at Electromotive (designing the TEC* ECU product family). One would think he knows what he is talking about...

 

Ash content of most synthetics is LESS than most dino oils. We've talked about this time and time again in various threads...

My FD runs like a SOB on Royal Purple (butt dyno) and it runs cooler...

Still can't tell you about oil consumption until I get my front cover leak fixed...

 

I changed to Royal Purple 20W50 and my oil leaks stopped, and the car definately runs cooler.

 

I'm pretty new to rotaries, so this is my first time discussing this - sorry if re-iteration of topics makes you people pissy. It is sort of a reality of communities like this one. Searching topics doesn't always find what you are looking for, either...

So, by "less ash content", are you implying that synthetics burn cleaner than non-synthetics? If so, I believe Russ has actual research in this area (at least with Redline synth oil), and once again, I would tend to trust him. After all, he does design engine management systems, and build race motors regularly... Wouldn't you tend to put faith in someone with that kind of experience?

Perhaps also I am generalizing too much on synthetics vs. non-synthetics - there are many different varieties of each, and I don't think blanket statements necessarily can be applied to all synthetic oils.

 

Like I've said before the 'tuners' are equally on both sides of the fence. I trust Racing Beat who have been building and racing rotaries since they came out (including the Bonneville Salt Flat FC and FD). They currently work with Mazda on the MazdaSpeed Protege. They say Royal Purple is ok. Royal Purple at SevenStock says their oil is ok for rotaries and it's posted on the official Mazda web site. Mobil 1 says it's ok.

Red Line might be one of those with higher ash content - anyone have the links to the flash and ash contents of oils?

 

Dig Dug:

I have yet to even hear of a single person who had to rebuild an engine due to build-up of oil deposits. Maybe if our engines lasted 300k, it would be an issue.

What I DO KNOW, is that synthetic is better for our turbos. This is pretty much universally agreed upon.

Mobil 1 goes into my car......

 

rynberg: Where you got that I was implying that an engine rebuild would be required, I don't know, because I didn't say anything like that. From my understanding, once again going on what I was told by my friend Russ, burning synth oil (at least Redline) produces deposits which coat everything downstream from the combustion chamber (including the chamber and rotor surfaces, seal surfaces, etc.). Now, for a street car, it might not be a big deal, as it will probably take a long, long time (realistically, probably longer than the life of the motor itself) for the deposits to accumulate to where you would notice anything. More importantly, it is so gradual a process that you aren't likely to notice anything at all.

Now for a race motor, you do not want any unnecessary deposits, of any sort, restricting airflow or creating friction (especially on seals) in any capacity in the motor. What's more, a race motor spends most of its life at much higher engine speeds, and is subjected to consistently harsher conditions than a street car motor, given that pretty much all of the time it is running, it is being driven very hard. This has some interesting effects on certain aspects of the motor, including oil consumption.

My car was originally Peter Farrell's IMSA ESS/GrandAm car (#77, for those who are familiar), and this motor is built to the absolute limit of the rules which applied in the IMSA days (1996 was a very good year). As a matter of fact, all internal components of engines built to this level are always cleaned as part of their preparation - removing carbon deposits that would otherwise restrict the engine's performance. Mine is no exception. Heck, high-end race teams usually do this after every single race. Myself, I cannot afford to rebuild the motor every time I take it out on track. Instead, I rely on taking good care of the motor, to maximize its usable life and to fend off these gremlins that would otherwise slowly degrade my motor to just another 13B, or worse...

So maybe now you can see why I am concerned about this. If you have a good motor, it is really in your best interests to preserve it the best you can. That is especially true with these rotaries, as I have come to find.

Or you could just say, "oh, my motor won't last that long", and be done with it. That is your prerogative. And if that's the case, then stay out of discussions that don't concern you.