2014 Mazda 3 Skyactiv 2.0L - Mobil 1 0w30 - 3,079

[Artem]

Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
Originally Posted By: Artem
I decided to check on the condition of the oil after only 3,000 miles in order to see if my relatively short city sprints are causing fuel dilution with this DI engine. Although I'm glad to see that no serious amount of fuel is present, I'm also wondering what lowered the viscosity...?

Two possibilities:

1. Blackstone's fuel dilution testing isn't very accurate since they don't use gas chromatography.

2. These DI engines are just harder on oil. We see it all the time in VAG DI engines, for example.


I wouldn't be surprised if the engine is naturally hard on oil by design plus maybe a little help from my aggressive driving style. Haha.

 

[Artem]

Originally Posted By: brandini
Also remember the US has lower compression ratio than other countries since we have lower quality fuel.

EDIT:Sad you don't get Mazda's Sport Mode. I hear it's awesome at holding gears in the turns on that 6-speed sorta-auto.

I'd chalk it up to shear due to such tight tolerances and a new engine, it hasn't broken in yet by far!

What MPGs are you getting being a leadfoot in the heavier hatch?


Compression ratio 13.0 : 1 in the US where as Mazda shows 14.0 : 1 for their Skyactiv engine in all the videos I've seen on their site.

The Sport Mode is a nice little feature for the automatics, but since mine is a manual, my right foot goes from ECO mode to RACE mode in a split second. Haha.

We'll see how the next UOAs looks. It'll hopefully warm up a bit, so that will come into play as well.

 

[Artem]

Originally Posted By: Eddie
This is the second UOA on the SkyActiv engine showing low fuel dilution so maybe Mazda has solved the issue. Ed


I remember seeing a 2012 or 2013 Mazda 3 with Skyactiv engine showing like 2% fuel...?

This was the reason why I pulled a sample early, just to check for fuel dilution.

 

[Artem]

Originally Posted By: Phishin
Artem,

If I was you, I'd ignore brandini. Run that 30 weight. Your UOA looks ridiculously good, especially considering your motor is still breaking in.

The good thing about running a 30 weight in your Mazda is, if it does shear down or gets diluted down by fuel, it will be a heavier 20 weight oil, which is also spec'ed for the engine. I always says it's better to run heavier and shear into spec, than start in spec and shear too thin. Way better.

This is why I run a 30 weight in my K24 Accord. This car ONLY gets driven on the highway. I have to at least drive her 50 miles one way, or she stays in the garage. And there has YET to be cruise in that 4 cylinder 4-door Sedan that I haven't hit 5k RPM's or higher a few times per jaunt. So, I like a thicker oil too.


I feel exactly the same way. I remember reading somewhere that Mobil 1s 0w30 starts on the thin side to begin with, so I figured that with a little shear / fuel dilution, I'd be in the heavy 0w20 range in no time.

I'll save the 0w10 viscosity oils for the serious ECO cars.

 

[Artem]

Originally Posted By: KCJeep
Blackstone has a pattern of not doing real well on fuel dilution IMO.

Wear looks great. Sheared badly especially for 3k, wow. Either there is a lot more fuel than Blackstone says or it tore this stuff up! Didn't seem to hurt it one bit though.


Flashpoint looks good, so it's anyone's guess as to what caused the lower viscosity.

 

[Artem]

Originally Posted By: SF0059
I think you are a perfect candidate for the Caterham blend of TGMO 0w-20 and M1 0w-40. That would be a nice, shear resistant 0w-30 for you, much better than M1's.

I intend to buy that same model in the very near future and that blend is most likely what I will run in the summer. As an aside, what trim level did you get and what did you pay?


I'll give the Caterham blend a thought for possible future use, if the next UOA also shows shear.

I got an i Touring model with Technology Package, which adds...

- Dual-zone automatic climate control system
- Overhead console with sunglasses holder
- Illuminated vanity mirrors (driver & passenger)
- Roof-mounted "shark fin" antenna
- MAZDA CONNECT™ Infotainment system with:
-7-inch full color touch screen display
-Multi-function Commander control
-Infotainment system voice command
-Rearview camera
-Mazda navigation system
-Bose® 9 speaker surround sound system with Centerpoint® 2 and AudioPilot® 2
-AM/FM/CD/MP3/HD Radio
-Pandora®, Stitcher™ and Aha™ internet radio integration
-SiriusXM Satellite Radio with 4-month trial subscription
-SMS text message auto deliver and voice reply
-E911 automatic emergency notification

The touch screen Infotainment System and 9 Bose speakers alone is worth the $1,400 markup.

Since Mazda didn't offer the 2.5L with manual tranny, I settled for the 2.0L with manual tranny because both me and the wife prefer the stick, even though the automatic in the new Mazda 3 was quite nice during the test drive.

Paid $23,000 + tax, title, etc. Didn't try to bargain much on the price, because they hauled the car 1,200 miles for me from another dealership.

 

[Artem]

Originally Posted By: Eddie
First I normally look at the wear values and IF those are bad, then I look for a reason. I don't look at coolent, TBN or fuel dilution first as that is backward thinking.


Agreed. I'm glad that my wear rates are looking good thus far.

 

[Artem]

Originally Posted By: JAG
Originally Posted By: buster
Nice ride. I'm thinking of getting this exact model with the 6 speed. Nice results. I think the 0w30 is a nice choice.

+1. I'd get it now if I wasn't a tight-wad whose GTI is still going strong at 192k miles.


Definitely get your money's worth outta that GTI. 192k is nothing, if its running good and is well maintained.

 

[Artem]

Originally Posted By: buster
Artem, how did you break-in the engine?

You seem to drive like I do. I personally like bumping the viscosity up a tad in 20 grade applications by using an oil or blend around 3.0 for HT/HS. With the DI, I'd even more likely go up a bit.

I would also highly consider the new Pennzoil Ultra/Platinum oils. On paper they are the best.


Does Pennzoil have a 0w30 available? I've never seen one.

I pretty much redlined the thing during my test drive, after a quick run on the highway to warm it up a bit first.

Then I proceeded to beat on it daily during my drives (as does the wife).

The 2.0L is a nice little engine but it feels slow, compared to our modified tC, the 3.5L Avalon, or my recently acquired 1989 Nissan 240SX with a Turbo SR20 engine.

I really wish I could have gotten the 2.5L with manual for more torque as the 2.0L struggles in the lower revs. I don't mind revving it out, so it's not a big deal to me. A simple 3 gear downshift and I'm in the power band.

 

[buster]

Nice. That's a real man's break-in. LOLOL. Seriously, that's probably similar to what I will be doing with mine if I get one. I broke in my wife's 07 3 with the 2.5 the same way and it never consumed oil no matter how fast or hard I drove it.

 

[Artem]

That's what I'm hoping for. The oil level was dead full after this 3k run and I hope it stays that was for a LONG time but even if some consumption does start happening, its not a big deal for me as I like being under the hood, checking the oil level and adding some fresh additives frequently.

 

[SilverC6]

Keep doing what you are doing with the 0W-30.

I've never put anything other than 5W-30 in my Mazda RX8.

Mazda just piggybacked the Ford plan using 5W-20/0W-20 to better their CAFE numbers.

0W-20 may protect but it owes its success to fuel saving and the US CAFE requirements.

 

[Artem]

x2 regarding CAFE and an effort to squeeze out that last 0.01mpg out of a drop of fuel.

I'd rather have adequate engine protection as I'm bouncing off the rev limiter.

For your average Joe, I'm pretty sure 0w20 will be "just fine".

 

[Merkava_4]

Originally Posted By: Artem
Photoshoped pic of what my baby will look like in the near future...

This one looks perfect right here:

http://image.motortrend.com/f/wot/mazda3...ree-quarter.jpg

 

[Boss302fan]

Not sure if I would have dumped the FF at only 1K...

 

[Artem]

Originally Posted By: Boss302fan
Not sure if I would have dumped the FF at only 1K...


I've done that on 3 previous new cars I purchased and those have lived a long and happy life with better then average UOA results, even with extended OCIs, going 4-5k past the recommended interval.

In that first 1,000 miles, my Mazda 3 has been all types of driving condition and was run HARD, so after 1,000 miles, I decided that the engine was 90% broken in already and I wanted to get that oil / contaminants outta there.

this amount of extra oil came out after the car was tilted in a way that would aid in drainage. The initial oil was drained with the car level (like it would be at the dealership) until a slow drip.

I think that's a decent amount of extra old oil that was removed and I plan to do all future oil changes with the car tilted at an angle to aid in drainage outta the engine's oil pan.

As you can see, I'm anal about these things.

 

[buster]

Artem, just curious, but for all of your previous cars that saw the same type of engine break-in, did they not consume any noticeable amount of oil?

I would have no problem dumping the oil after 1k miles if it was broken-in aggressively. No harm. I personally prefer to break-in an engine this way. Going to 5k miles would have probably been ok too, but oil is cheap.

 

[Artem]

My 07 Civic Si had consumption but the engine does this by design because everyone reports their block consuming a quart in 3-5k miles.

My wife's 06 Scion tC consumes oil but again, these engines are known for it and I didn't purchase it new, so I don't know how it was broken-in.

My Camry didn't consume much, my 07 Civic EX didn't consume much, neither did my 07 CBR600RR bike or 97 Nissan Maxima.

 

[buster]

Thanks. Yeah those engines are known for that. My Honda and Toyota both consumed oil.

 

[badtlc]

Originally Posted By: Eddie
This is the second UOA on the SkyActiv engine showing low fuel dilution so maybe Mazda has solved the issue. Ed


This is still high fuel dilution. The Skyactiv is EASY on oil. The viscosity dropped too much for this to not be high fuel dilution.

To the OP, try some premium (91+ octane). It will get better.

For reference, I run premium and my 0W20 had a better viscosity after 7500 miles than this 0W30 did.