2021 Mazda 3 2.5 NA / Penn Ultra 0W20 5,150 mi

[Marbles_Garage]

Vehicle is a 2021 Mazda 3 2.5 M/T with 55,600 total miles. The oil is Pennzoil Ultra 0W20, and the filter was a Mazda OEM (Japan made by Roki); this was the first non-Mazda dealer service. One interesting data point for this interval: around 2,700 miles were completed over 4 days on a cross country trip from CA to VA.

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Potassium was flagged just as it was in the first sample, with no glycol or water contamination. The wear metals are still low and the coolant levels have remained constant over the last ~10k miles, so I will continue to monitor.

Jeff

 

[fantastic]

Are they using Potassium in this oil? The wear was real low for this run & over 2k miles in 4 days is quite the timing. You must of been ripping that 2.5L.

 

[Marbles_Garage]

Are they using Potassium in this oil? The wear was real low for this run & over 2k miles in 4 days is quite the timing. You must of been ripping that 2.5L.

I don’t believe Potassium is an additive in this oil. It was a pretty uneventful trip, cruising along at 75 most of the time. A great road trip car!

 

[odie]

Potassium leftover from previous oil(s) ? V.OA.s of the S.P.,GF-6A 0w-20s' I've seen are at 0 .

 

[Marbles_Garage]

Potassium leftover from previous oil(s) ? V.OA.s of the S.P.,GF-6A 0w-20s' I've seen are at 0 .

Fingers crossed that this is the case, even though the Potassium level is just slightly higher this time. Really hoping that this is not a VERY slow coolant leak that is being burned off in the combustion chamber and will gradually get worse.

 

[himemsys]

Even if it is a slow coolant leak, it's not affecting wear yet. As they said in the report, keep monitoring. It may take years/thousands of miles to get to a point where it even affects wear. It also might not hurt to get a second opinion from another lab. Do you have access to a pressure tester?

 

[FZ1]

Vehicle is a 2021 Mazda 3 2.5 M/T with 55,600 total miles. The oil is Pennzoil Ultra 0W20, and the filter was a Mazda OEM (Japan made by Roki); this was the first non-Mazda dealer service. One interesting data point for this interval: around 2,700 miles were completed over 4 days on a cross country trip from CA to VA.

View attachment 220503.

Potassium was flagged just as it was in the first sample, with no glycol or water contamination. The wear metals are still low and the coolant levels have remained constant over the last ~10k miles, so I will continue to monitor.

Jeff

Looks really good. You could stretch the OCI to 6K. 5w -20 PUP runs really smooth in my 17 Camry if you wanted to go slightly thicker. .02

 

[odie]

This a post from here ( 1/8/24 ) . You'll see POTASSIUM was 6 for previous oil interval then down to 1 . Hope this applies to your vehicle .

 

[Marbles_Garage]

Even if it is a slow coolant leak, it's not affecting wear yet. As they said in the report, keep monitoring. It may take years/thousands of miles to get to a point where it even affects wear. It also might not hurt to get a second opinion from another lab. Do you have access to a pressure tester?

Yes, I have a pressure tester. I was thinking of pressurizing the system and taking a peek through the spark plug holes with an endoscopic camera with the pistons at BDC just to see if there are any visible signs of coolant intrusion. I may just send a pair of samples out at the next change as you suggest.

 

[Marbles_Garage]

This a post from here ( 1/8/24 ) . You'll see POTASSIUM was 6 for previous oil interval then down to 1 . Hope this applies to your vehicle .

View attachment 220960

I’m surely hoping the trend will reverse over the next several changes.

 

[Marbles_Garage]

Looks really good. You could stretch the OCI to 6K. 5w -20 PUP runs really smooth in my 17 Camry if you wanted to go slightly thicker. .02

Yes, once I get this Potassium situation pinned down, I will look to extend the interval for sure. 5k miles is not much of a challenge for this oil, especially in the Skyactiv non-Turbo engines.

 

[SubieRubyRoo]

Are they using Potassium in this oil? The wear was real low for this run & over 2k miles in 4 days is quite the timing. You must of been ripping that 2.5L.

Coast to coast in 4 days is decent but not crazy. Last year I drove 1,644 miles in 24 hours and 15 minutes and that’s only 67mph average… but go ahead and try it yourself and it will feel like coast to coast!

More recently did Fairfield CA to Indianapolis via SLC, Cheyenne, Denver, KC, STL (~2300 mi) over 3 days but 37 hours drive so a much more relaxed pace.

OP IMO that oil had a LOT of life left in it. Thanks for the UOA/post!