Pics from under my Mazda's valve cover.

[tom slick]

My '02 Protege5 has 100,000 miles so it was due for the appropriate maintenance. I pulled the valve cover to check valve clearances. This engine had GTX 10w30 for the first 30k of its life, then Mobil 1 10w30 with LC20 for the last 90k. all were 7500 mile OCI. these pics show what I found.

There is zero deposits, the dark spots are only oil. minimal wear on the cams, really only burnishing/polishing. all of the clearances were perfect.
I also did a leakdown test and all 4 cyls were >2%.

 

[ewetho]

Looks just like my Fiances' 01 Focus Zetec (Same engine it appears) hers was at 127K miles on i'd guess Dino (Heck it even had the wrong FRAM on it). Looked fantastic.

Now on 5W-20 Motorcraft and correct FL-2005 Filter.

 

[Max_Wander]

i never thought the FS-DE would hold up so well!

 

[DrinkDuff77]

Looks great. I hope my Mazda3 looks that good in a few years.

 

[ARB1977]

Ppppuuuurrrrddddyyyyyy.

 

[Titan]

Apparently, many of us worry too much about oil. Doncha think? Nice...

 

[Trex101]

The cam(2nd picture on the left) does look pretty worn? Don't you think?

 

[sxg6]

Gorgeous!

 

[4esorselrahc]

Sweet!

 

[T-Keith]

Looks clean to me. Are you considering switching back to dino now?

 

[ThirdeYe]

Looks great, exactly like my Integra

I'm sure you'll get a lot more life out of that motor.

 

[tom slick]

Quote:

---

The cam(2nd picture on the left) does look pretty worn? Don't you think?

---

its not worn at all, it just has a slight polishing, not even into the original grind, hence the lines. if it were actually worn the marks would be going the other direction.

with the 7500 oci I feel more comfortable with synthetic. it only takes 3.5 qts so an oil change is just about $23 with filter.


just because I am daring I also filled the AT with merconV. the manual only states "fluid meeting dexron III or mercon specification." merconV claims it meets dexronV and mercon specs.

 

[rpn453]

Looks good! Thanks for sharing.

 

[jbas]

Nice, and 10w30 all the way, too! (not everyone has to use 5w30 to protect the engine).

 

[DINO_NO]

What driving conditions is it under?

 

[surfstar]

Nice FS! I like the P5's too - great looking car. I've fed my '93 Mazda M1 for many miles and now just run any syn that I can find for cheap. I'm going to finally up it to 7500 OCIs after doing 5k for years. Your pics help to ease any worry about leaving deposits. I wonder how much LC helped?

Tom, check out the sales/rebates section and you can get Synpower for $.99/qt to make for less than $10 syn oil changes.

 

[DINO_NO]

jbas you too, whats your driving conditions

 

[JAG]

That's super clean. Today I looked inside my brother's 1st Gen. Prius engine and it looked like it had been grilling barbecues (hard black crust). Previous owner caused it and I have no idea what was used and how it was maintained...whatever it was it was didn't work out.

 

[tom slick]

This car has lived its entire life on the freeway. my wife drives it 80+ miles per day commuting, no stop and go.

I have no need for a 5w30, it hardly drops below 40* here ever, it also hardly ever gets over 90*.


btw I meant to say in my previous postthat merconV claims to meet dexronIII and mercon. I really wish we had an "edit post" button like a normal forum.

 

[JohnBrowning]

That cam is not like an old small block cam. The low side tapers away . The width of the lopes is not constant like old small block cams.