2013 Mazda 3 2.0L Skyactiv Oil and Engine Flush Questions

[Skiptrace]

Hello guys,

My dad has always looked at this forum for answers on oils and things. And, in 2021, we switched cars. I had a 2014 Mazda 2 that I did basic maintenance to, and didn't really care much about what Oil I put in it as long as it was 0W-20 as per the car's recommendations. And then he gave me his 2013 Mazda 3 as a college graduation present. The car has never had any issues mechanically, and we have replaced components as needed. Spark Plugs were changed at 100k almost on-the-dot, with OEM quality spark plugs, and we did the Shocks and Struts fairly recently after that also.

With the preamble out of the way, I'll get to my questions. For one, should I continue to use 0W-20 in the Skyactiv 2.0L Motor? Or would another weight be beneficial with the current age?

It is nearing 130k, and I am about to get the Title, and I have decided to keep the car until it decides to literally rot the frame into the ground. I plan to possibly add an Oil Catch Can in order to reduce sludge in the Valves as the motor is Direct Injection, and does not get the benefits of Port Injection to clean the valves. (I would also clean the valves before installing the can).

Additionally, I am questioning if it would be beneficial to flush the engine out using a flush product. There are no oil leaks, and the motor does not get a large amount of Highway driving currently due to my 3mi commute one way to work. The car gets a grand total of... 12mi per day on most days since I go home for lunch. My commute will be changing to 6.7mi one way in June, so the engine will have longer to warm up and stay warmed up, but I fear it might not be the best thing to keep driving it like this without doing some changes to my Oil and OCI.

 

[JustN89]

If it was as well maintained as you make it sound, which I have no reason to doubt, then I don't see any benefit to using any sort of engine flush. The Skyactiv engines are solid and well regarded. I'd use whatever your favorite flavor is of 0W-20. I'd forgo the catch can, and instead just use top tier fuel and use Techron or Red Line SI-1 fuel system cleaners every other oil change or so.

Oh, and welcome to BITOG!

 

[Skiptrace]

If it was as well maintained as you make it sound, which I have no reason to doubt, then I don't see any benefit to using any sort of engine flush. The Skyactiv engines are solid and well regarded. I'd use whatever your favorite flavor is of 0W-20. I'd forgo the catch can, and instead just use top tier fuel and use Techron or Red Line SI-1 fuel system cleaners every other oil change or so.

Would you say best practice is to use fuel from stations with their own refineries? (Shell, Exxon, Chevron, etc) and would Seafoam be a good enough choice for Fuel System Cleaning, or would Red Line or Techron be better?

 

[JustN89]

Would you say best practice is to use fuel from stations with their own refineries? (Shell, Exxon, Chevron, etc) and would Seafoam be a good enough choice for Fuel System Cleaning, or would Red Line or Techron be better?

I prefer Techron and Red Line due to the use of PEA in the cleaner. As far as own refineries, as long as it's Top Tier fuel, I wouldn't worry about anything beyond that.

 

[addyguy]

Mazda DI is very well sorted, without any real issues. Unless it burns a lot of oil, I’d just keep using 0W-20 and good quality fuel in it and motor on.

 

[Eddie]

+1 addguy

 

[cvlw]

Stay with Xw20 until something changes to make you rethink the grade choice. The upkeep seems to have been well upkept on your car so keep on doing what has been done. Our 2 mazdas in my sig have almost 150k on each with Xw20 and so far {{knock on wood}} the level stays consistent through a 5k mile interval.

 

[Plawan]

Hello guys,

My dad has always looked at this forum for answers on oils and things. And, in 2021, we switched cars. I had a 2014 Mazda 2 that I did basic maintenance to, and didn't really care much about what Oil I put in it as long as it was 0W-20 as per the car's recommendations. And then he gave me his 2013 Mazda 3 as a college graduation present. The car has never had any issues mechanically, and we have replaced components as needed. Spark Plugs were changed at 100k almost on-the-dot, with OEM quality spark plugs, and we did the Shocks and Struts fairly recently after that also.

With the preamble out of the way, I'll get to my questions. For one, should I continue to use 0W-20 in the Skyactiv 2.0L Motor? Or would another weight be beneficial with the current age?

It is nearing 130k, and I am about to get the Title, and I have decided to keep the car until it decides to literally rot the frame into the ground. I plan to possibly add an Oil Catch Can in order to reduce sludge in the Valves as the motor is Direct Injection, and does not get the benefits of Port Injection to clean the valves. (I would also clean the valves before installing the can).

Additionally, I am questioning if it would be beneficial to flush the engine out using a flush product. There are no oil leaks, and the motor does not get a large amount of Highway driving currently due to my 3mi commute one way to work. The car gets a grand total of... 12mi per day on most days since I go home for lunch. My commute will be changing to 6.7mi one way in June, so the engine will have longer to warm up and stay warmed up, but I fear it might not be the best thing to keep driving it like this without doing some changes to my Oil and OCI.

An engine flush here and there is probably harmless and can be helpful. They do cleanup some
I use them from time to time because even though I maintain my vehicles well, I’ve still had problems with deposit/sludge build up in the valve train. A cheap flush made it go away. Now I just do a flush 1 or 2 times a year and use Rislone in most oil changes for the regular oci.
I’ve used an engine flush on atleast 5 vehicles and never hurt anything. Definitely helped quite valvtrane nous a time ir 2

 

[camrydriver111]

In this engine you should be able to see the valvetrain through the oil cap.

If it looks clean no need to flush.

 

[Revving2Redline]

@High Performance Lubricants has a synthetic engine cleaner but it is also a heavy duty oil so that's what I would use if you were deciding it to flush. I also think occasionally running a fuel system cleaner from either Red line or from Chevron techron right before an oil change could not hurt probably twice a year. in between that just use good fuel.

 

[Elkins45]

My 2016 Mazda6 has 65k miles and I used a can of the Seafoam intake valve cleaner that has the tiny straw you insert before the throttle body. I’m not sure if it made any difference, but it didn’t seem to hurt anything. Made me feel like I was being proactive, I guess.

 

[Plawan]

Hello guys,

My dad has always looked at this forum for answers on oils and things. And, in 2021, we switched cars. I had a 2014 Mazda 2 that I did basic maintenance to, and didn't really care much about what Oil I put in it as long as it was 0W-20 as per the car's recommendations. And then he gave me his 2013 Mazda 3 as a college graduation present. The car has never had any issues mechanically, and we have replaced components as needed. Spark Plugs were changed at 100k almost on-the-dot, with OEM quality spark plugs, and we did the Shocks and Struts fairly recently after that also.

With the preamble out of the way, I'll get to my questions. For one, should I continue to use 0W-20 in the Skyactiv 2.0L Motor? Or would another weight be beneficial with the current age?

It is nearing 130k, and I am about to get the Title, and I have decided to keep the car until it decides to literally rot the frame into the ground. I plan to possibly add an Oil Catch Can in order to reduce sludge in the Valves as the motor is Direct Injection, and does not get the benefits of Port Injection to clean the valves. (I would also clean the valves before installing the can).

Additionally, I am questioning if it would be beneficial to flush the engine out using a flush product. There are no oil leaks, and the motor does not get a large amount of Highway driving currently due to my 3mi commute one way to work. The car gets a grand total of... 12mi per day on most days since I go home for lunch. My commute will be changing to 6.7mi one way in June, so the engine will have longer to warm up and stay warmed up, but I fear it might not be the best thing to keep driving it like this without doing some changes to my Oil and OCI.

QS euro 5w40 is a light 40 weight and is cheap at Walmart. Your turbo would probably benefit.
Personally I do like to do engine flushes once in a while. As long as you follow the directions they don’t hurt anything and I’ve had them help with sticking hydraulic lifters. That’s not a more popular opinion around here on motor flushes but they have served me well.

 

[2002 Maxima SE]

Hello guys,

My dad has always looked at this forum for answers on oils and things. And, in 2021, we switched cars. I had a 2014 Mazda 2 that I did basic maintenance to, and didn't really care much about what Oil I put in it as long as it was 0W-20 as per the car's recommendations. And then he gave me his 2013 Mazda 3 as a college graduation present. The car has never had any issues mechanically, and we have replaced components as needed. Spark Plugs were changed at 100k almost on-the-dot, with OEM quality spark plugs, and we did the Shocks and Struts fairly recently after that also.

With the preamble out of the way, I'll get to my questions. For one, should I continue to use 0W-20 in the Skyactiv 2.0L Motor? Or would another weight be beneficial with the current age?

It is nearing 130k, and I am about to get the Title, and I have decided to keep the car until it decides to literally rot the frame into the ground. I plan to possibly add an Oil Catch Can in order to reduce sludge in the Valves as the motor is Direct Injection, and does not get the benefits of Port Injection to clean the valves. (I would also clean the valves before installing the can).

Additionally, I am questioning if it would be beneficial to flush the engine out using a flush product. There are no oil leaks, and the motor does not get a large amount of Highway driving currently due to my 3mi commute one way to work. The car gets a grand total of... 12mi per day on most days since I go home for lunch. My commute will be changing to 6.7mi one way in June, so the engine will have longer to warm up and stay warmed up, but I fear it might not be the best thing to keep driving it like this without doing some changes to my Oil and OCI.

Welcome! The Skyactiv engine already has an oil catch can built into the engine that drains into the oil oan.

 

[nicholas]

Hello guys,

My dad has always looked at this forum for answers on oils and things. And, in 2021, we switched cars. I had a 2014 Mazda 2 that I did basic maintenance to, and didn't really care much about what Oil I put in it as long as it was 0W-20 as per the car's recommendations. And then he gave me his 2013 Mazda 3 as a college graduation present. The car has never had any issues mechanically, and we have replaced components as needed. Spark Plugs were changed at 100k almost on-the-dot, with OEM quality spark plugs, and we did the Shocks and Struts fairly recently after that also.

With the preamble out of the way, I'll get to my questions. For one, should I continue to use 0W-20 in the Skyactiv 2.0L Motor? Or would another weight be beneficial with the current age?

It is nearing 130k, and I am about to get the Title, and I have decided to keep the car until it decides to literally rot the frame into the ground. I plan to possibly add an Oil Catch Can in order to reduce sludge in the Valves as the motor is Direct Injection, and does not get the benefits of Port Injection to clean the valves. (I would also clean the valves before installing the can).

Additionally, I am questioning if it would be beneficial to flush the engine out using a flush product. There are no oil leaks, and the motor does not get a large amount of Highway driving currently due to my 3mi commute one way to work. The car gets a grand total of... 12mi per day on most days since I go home for lunch. My commute will be changing to 6.7mi one way in June, so the engine will have longer to warm up and stay warmed up, but I fear it might not be the best thing to keep driving it like this without doing some changes to my Oil and OCI.

I like liqui moly proline engine flush.
I say go for it. Give those rings a good clean. Why not.
I'm a little bias though.
I've flushed many engines I thought were clean to find out they really were not as clean as I thought.

You can use some cheap new oil for your flush......if it comes out clean there you go.

I bet it will be black and nasty after a 20 min idle flush.