Pics of Head Topside. 160k 15 y/o Mazda

[RayCJ]

FYI: Had to replace the valve cover gasket on our 2007 Mazda 6 w/ 160k miles. Snapped a photo for all to see. We're the original owners. In the last 5 years, it mainly sees local trips of 3-10 miles. Vehicle gets new oil/filter every 5k miles. In the first half of life, I usually used Walmart SuperTech full synthetic and general name-brand oil filters. In the second half of life, I usually used Milesyn full synthetic (Miles Lubricants 5 gallon bulk). It runs perfectly and never had any trouble.

Most of the visible tarnish could be wiped-away with a shop towel.

Enjoy the engine porn...

Regards

Ray

 

[ET16]

Well done!

 

[bullwinkle]

Not bad-shows that regular changes at reasonable OCIs are just as good as big $ ones!

 

[joekingcorvette]

Looks great especially for such short trips. It shows that ST and Milesyn are doing a good job for less expensive synthetics.

 

[sw99]

Looks great, thanks for posting.

 

[OVERKILL]

Given the oils used, I think it looks pretty good. A bit of varnish, but not massive or worrying amounts.

 

[RayCJ]

Hi Folks... Just providing some background data for the sake of it....

FWIW, this engine is naturally high-revving. The vehicle is a 5 speed manual, driven mostly by my wife -and she's a speed demon. In town while shifting thru gears, this engine spends a lot of time up and down to the 3500 RPM range. Hitting 4000 is not uncommon. I haven't driven it in a while but if memory serves, it hovers about 3000 RPM at 60MPH. The way my wife drives, I'm surprised this thing is still running perfectly smooth and quiet. No chain or valve/lifter noise at all. No smoke on morning startup. The valve cover was leaking for about 6 months but otherwise, there's no signs of burning oil as far as I can tell.

The oil was exclusively SuperTech 5W-20 (for the first 7 years) followed by Milesyn 5W-20 (years 8-11) or 0W-20 (years 12-current). In the last 5-6 years, it drives mostly short trips of 3-5 miles with numerous on/off cycles per day. Engine does not really get warmed up. For all years prior to that, it was driven the same way but had several weekly highway trips of 25-30 miles. For the full lifetime, oil changes are done between 5000 to 5500 miles, which recently happens about every 8 months. I've done oil analysis on this in the past and always got solid results.

Later...

Ray

 

[SubieRubyRoo]

Looks good. The MZR family is one that really nailed the sweet spot of technology and outright great engineering that results in a nearly trouble-free engine in every case that maintenance is even attempted.