So you have found some nasty white/yellow gunk in your dipstick or oil filler cap? By now your probably panicking it’s something terrible. If you know anything about conventional piston engines your probably terrified of the repair bill, you do own a rotary after all.

It can make reading the oil level a real pain.

 Dipper your oil and found this? Your not alone. 
But fear not this is another “quirk” of the rotary engine, most common in the RX-8 however it Han often happen with earlier RX models too. 

In 99% of cases this is simply caused by a build up of moisture in the oil found in the engine. Usually common in the colder winter months it’s nothing to worry about. 

The Solution?

While we recommend regular oil changes for maintenance purposes, in the case of “Mayo on the dipstick” it can certainly help. However on a regular basis look to take your car out for a good drive, once the engine is warm give it a good blast to get the engine and its oil nice and hot (not dangerously hot mind) this should help evaporate some of this moisture out of the oil and make checking your oil level a lot easier.

Remember always check your oil with a hot engine.

Premixing is the addition of a 2 stroke oil (also known as 2 cycle or 2T oil) in to the fuel supply to aid with lubrication of the engine.

In the case of the rotary engine this helps with lubrication of all the seals that are otherwise only lubricated via the oil injectors. These oil injectors are fed via the OMP (Oil Metering Pump) also referred to as the MOP (Metered Oil Pump) The OMP varies the amount of oil supplied to the oil injectors depending on engine load and RPM, however the OMP draws its oil supply from the oil in the engines sump.

While this is considered sufficient my Mazda to lubricate the rotary engines varied selection of seals in reality the oil injectors just can’t deliver enough oil in the right areas to help with sufficient lubrication.

This is where premixing comes in. The use of a high quality 2T oil can benefit your engine in many ways other than simply providing additional lubrication. Royal Purple 2 Cycle oil is engineered to provide superior lubrication with minimum ash deposits.

Engines running premixing 2T oil in the fuel system tend to run cleaner internally and many customers report improved idle and throttle response.

So how much should I Royal Purple 2 Cycle should I add ?
In the case of an RX-8 on the street many of our customers add 120-150ml of Royal Purple 2 Cycle oil per tank of fuel (approx 55-60 litres of petrol) This is roughly a ratio of 360:1 (360 parts fuel to 1 part 2 cycle oil) ratio is what we use here at Essex Rotary on our own cars.

When we take it to the track then we will increase this mix ratio as high as 160:1 this converts to about 350ml per tank of fuel.

These mix ratios should also be good for the older generations of the rotary engine however you will need to use the mix ratios combined with your fuel tank capacity to work out your correct dose of 2T oil.

If you decide to start premixing then please only really consider high quality 2T (2 Cycle) Synthetic Oil for your premixing application. As Synthetic 2T is designed to burn leaving minimal deposits in the combustion chambers. It really is a false economy to go for cheap premix oil.

Essex Rotary Recommends the use of Royal Purple 2 Cycle TCWIII premix oil, (available from our online store)

If you have any further questions about premixing, or you wish to start treating you engine to some of Royal Purples finest and want to know more then please get in touch and the Essex Rotary team will be glad to help.