2008 Mazda3 2.3 -- when to do first oil change?

[rationull]

As I think I mentioned in a couple threads somewhere around here, earlier this month we picked up a new 2008 Mazda3 with the 2.3 liter engine for my GF. It's a great car so far. She's happy going back to a stick shift from her 1993 Volvo auto. And on the highway you can really tell the difference the extra .5 liters of displacement makes over my Civic.

As far as oil, I figure I'll just stock up on the YB 5w-20 I've been using in my Civic since the 3 recommends 5w-20 as well.

The owners manual recommends something like 5k miles for severe service and 7500 for non-severe. The OLM on my Civic tends to go off at around 6000 miles for my commute, which is basically the same as hers, so I'm thinking a 5-6000 mile OCI will do for the car (and of course I'll be posting used oil analysis after the second change or so). (I would probably do a used oil analysis of the factory fill if I thought it would tell us anything).

My question is about the first oil change. The manual does not seem to recommend an early first drain, but it also doesn't specifically dictate waiting until the first service interval like the Honda's manual does. I waited on the Civic (until ~6200 miles IIRC) but I'm not sure whether I should wait until 5k miles on this car or change it out at 2500 or so. The other variable here is that the car is a 2008 and while I haven't tried to find the build date yet it's possible the car was on the lot for several months, making the oil a bit older. The time schedule calls for 4 months severe and 6 months "normal". The car has about 1300 miles now.

Any thoughts? And is anyone specifically interested in seeing a used oil analysis of the factory fill?

 

[SuperDave456]

This is just my personal opinion. But I would wait till the 3rd or 4th oil change before you send it off. There are just to much stuff in the oil that takes time to break in. Silicon from sealants and sand cast parts and iron and aluminum from break in.

The only reason to do a used oil analysis on a factory fill is to attempt to guess what they use, if they use a "break in" fluid, and to attempt to chart the decrease in metals from the first used oil analysis through the life of the car.

Since the break in/wear in metals dont really start to level out till the 3rd or 4th oil change I just cant logically justify the cash spent, but you may be in another position.

 

[HTSS_TR]

The placard on the door may tell you the built date.

 

[rationull]

Originally Posted By: SuperDave456
This is just my personal opinion. But I would wait till the 3rd or 4th oil change before you send it off.


I feel the same way. I sent in the third fill on my Civic for UOA and got back some alarm about silicon levels that turned out to be nothing based on the next analysis. I'm not planning to send in the factory fill, but I figured I'd ask. The forum has given me a lot of good info and if a few members are interested, we already bought the car so I'd pony up the cash for the analysis.

 

[rationull]

Originally Posted By: HTSS_TR
The placard on the door may tell you the built date.



Excellent call! I never would've thought of that but the door placard has the build date on both the 3 and the Civic!

Turns out the car was built in January of 08. It's older than I thought. I'm assuming that means I could probably do with changing the oil pretty soon here.

 

[wander2039]

On my Ranger 2.3 I changed it at 500, 1500 with dino and 3K with PP. At 30k it's still breaking in. It's a trade off gas mileage versus possible longer engine life.

 

[mshu7]

rationull -

Congrats on the Mazda3. It's a very nice car that is fun to drive, especially with the manual. The NA 2.3L comes from the factory with Motorcraft 5w20. It's really just personal preference when you change it. I changed it at 1k, 5k, 10k, & 15k with Motorcraft 5w20. From there, I've been using Pennzoil Platinum 5w20 at 7500k intervals. I sent my 2nd run of Platinum in for a used oil analysis and it came back flawless. I could have gone longer, but I stick with 7500k intervals to be safe. I now have about 55k miles on the vehicle. One thing I've learned is that these 2.3L engines are very easy on oil. I would use dino with confidence at 5k intervals. If you go syn., don't waste money on anything fancy. I purchased over 60qts. of Platinum a few years ago for about $2.00/qt. so that's why I use Platinum. Plus, it's a great oil in general, even at today's prices.

I've tracked every tankful of gas and we're averaging right at 30mpg with the lowest being 24 and the highest being in the high 30's.

At 10k, I replaced the stock MTX fluid with Redline MT-90 and it made a noticeable difference in shifting. I put some new MT-90 in again at 30k and will replace it every 30k from here on out. I would highly recommend doing this at some point.

The OEM air filter in the Mazda3 is very high quality. I replaced the filter with a new OEM at 15k and 30k.

The Mazda3 2.3L has a cartridge-style oil filter. I did the conversion to the spin-on setup at 1k and have not had a single issue.

All the stuff I've done with my 3 is obviously personal preference but I wanted to share with you my experiences with the Mazda3 2.3L 5-spd. manual. I'm not sure if you've visited yet, but check out Mazda3Forums.net. I typically only post in the "Maintenance & Care" section and am the "resident detailer". Hope to see you there sometime!

 

[rationull]

I'm not planning to go synthetic with this engine after the results I've seen with conventional in my Civic.

Originally I was thinking I'd let it go out to 2500 or 3000 on the first fill for an "early" drain but seeing as the fill's more than a year old I guess 1500 or so next weekend will have to do.

 

[rationull]

mshu7:

Thanks for all the info! From what I've seen via used oil analysis on my Civic, even conventional Pennzoil and Motorcraft blend could probably go 7500 miles with my normal commute. I think I'm going to err on the safe side, though, and let my Civic's OLM dictate the approximate change interval I'll use on the 3 since they go through pretty much the same driving patterns.

Thanks for the note on the change to synthetic MTF. I probably won't be tweaking with this car too much beyond the normal maintenance schedule since it's my GF's car. But when the time comes to change the MTF I may go with the Redline oil. I've heard nothing but good about it with respect to using it in several different cars. I might try it in my Civic too although Honda seems to be a little pickier about some of their fluids, including MTF.

May I ask why you bothered going with the spin on oil filter conversion? I suppose I'll find out this weekend, but is it really that much of a pain to change the cartridge?

 

[addyguy]

The cartridge on these 2.3's isn't terrible, but its not nearly as easy as the top-mounted ones on Ecotec GM engines...you have to remeove the plastic shield (even tho there is a hole), the filter cartride is mounted upside-down, and there is a fussy gasket that you have to get off/back in place. I've never enjoyed doing them....

 

[kkreit01]

On my Fusion 2.3, I changed at about 1000 --> 1500 mi. for the first OCI. I used whatever 5w20 conventional I had on hand, or MC. I typically run the 2nd fill for 3000 miles.

The Cartridge isn't that bad -- just a nuisance if you've only done spin-on in the past. Forget about the drain plug on the filter cap. Just remove whole cap. Buy the removal wrench from Autozone (I think it's "B" size -- check Fusion or 3 forums for sure). Don't over-tighten the cap, because it's plastic and the housing is metal. I always used a torque wrench (20 ft-lbs). I much prefer spin-on.

 

[rationull]

From what I've read the cap is a 76mm with 14 flutes as seems to be standard. Good to know I can just pick one up from AZ and don't have to pay 3x the price to get one from the dealer.

I'll definitely use a torque wrench on it. I even torque my drain plugs to spec

I'm not sure what you mean yet about not using the drain plug and just removing the whole cap but I'm sure I'll see it when I'm down there. Does that mean I don't need an allen-head socket or does the hex bolt loosen the whole cap and not just the plug?

 

[RI_RS4]

based on what I've seen and analyzed in 25 used oil analysis, I'd change the oil out now, change it out again at 3K miles, and then start running longer OCI's. This engine sheds a lot of metals that are good to get out early. If you do that, average wear goes down quickly. Currently Pennzoil Platinum 5W30 seems to be a good choice of oils.

 

[rationull]

Why not rely on the filter to get the wear metals out of the oil?

 

[mshu7]

Originally Posted By: rationull
mshu7:

Thanks for all the info!

May I ask why you bothered going with the spin on oil filter conversion? I suppose I'll find out this weekend, but is it really that much of a pain to change the cartridge?


No problem.

I did the spin-on conversion because it's less complex than the cartridge. If I recall, there are a couple gaskets that have to be replaced each time you change the filter, plus there are more parts (housing, middle screw to drain oil, gaskets, etc.). The spin-on conversion took all of 10 minutes and IMO, makes the oil changes easier.

 

[kkreit01]

Originally Posted By: rationull
From what I've read the cap is a 76mm with 14 flutes as seems to be standard. Good to know I can just pick one up from AZ and don't have to pay 3x the price to get one from the dealer.

I'll definitely use a torque wrench on it. I even torque my drain plugs to spec

I'm not sure what you mean yet about not using the drain plug and just removing the whole cap but I'm sure I'll see it when I'm down there. Does that mean I don't need an allen-head socket or does the hex bolt loosen the whole cap and not just the plug?


Correct -- you do not need to remove the hex drain plug for the filter -- if you do not want to. It might be more messy -- but it's 1 less thing to worry about. If you don't remove it, you don't have to worry about the tiny O-ring, or having it too tight/too loose. Had I kept my Fusion longer, I was planning to spend the $36 on the spin-on conversion as well.

 

[bustednutz]

Cartridge filter is a piece of cake. 2 extra steps maybe. Easy ones. Plus upon removal, you can see all the media, and garbage it collects. I actually prefer to run a 5w30 in my 2.3L mazda 3. Just seems to run smoother. I don't use synthetic either. These are relatively easy cars on oil. The 5w20 is only spec'd for US cars. Everywhere else, they run this motor with a 5w30.

 

[ThirdGear]

I wouldn't do the spin on conversion if it's still under warranty. If something blew up for whatever mysterious reason, they would say, "Oh, look here... modification of the lubrication system... warranty voided" I think the Mazda cartridge filter does a good job. Insolubles are usually pretty low on my reports.

I changed my factory fill at 1300. It looked like 5000 mile oil. Just a lot of wear metals and other junk.

I'm getting good reports with XW20, but I'd like to try a thin 5W30 and see how it likes that.

oil analysis

 

[rationull]

I'm not planning to do the conversion, I just figured I'd ask about it. I don't mind an extra couple minutes getting the housing back on correctly. Better that than having to remove a bunch of cowl trim to clean out the throttle body or mess with anything on the back side of the engine like on my Civic

I do sort of wish the car didn't have a belly pan, though. Makes it a pain to check for leaks after lowering the car off the stands and running the engine.

 

[unDummy]

Look at the used oil analysis section. I would change out the oil as soon as possible and several short 3k OCIs to rinse out the break in.

Great little engine.

Concerning the spin on filter conversion, if thats what you want to do, go for it. If you have a failure, just remember to use common sense and swap back before the tow to the dealer. Hate the impending doom forum posters.