1st Oil Change

So I bought my car on Feb. 12th and it's only got 3,643 miles on it but today the Wrench light came on indicating Scheduled Maintenance Due. When I go in to the Maintenance App it says it's due in 15 days or 2,900 miles???? The oil life indicator shows 70%. The setting is Flexible.
I called the dealer and the girl at the service dept. says they must have forgot to reset it?? She says they recommend 5 mo. or 5,000 miles.
What do ya'll recommend? I don't want to take it in prematurely but I don't want to drive around with that stupid wrench light for the next 2,000 miles or so.
It is confusing! My interpretation was the "Maintenance", "Tire Rotation". and "Oil Change" in Maintenance Monitor app are all independent from each other. "Oil Change" schedule has nothing to do with "Maintenance" schedule especially if we set the "Oil Change" schedule to "Flexible". We picked up the CX-5 on March 12th and I set the "Oil Change" to "Flexible" several days later. It has 1,320 miles and the oil life shows 80%. But the "Maintenance" says due in 2 months or 3,500 miles. The manual says "Oil Change Due!" will displayed in red and the wrench indicator will be on when remaining oil life distance is less than 250 miles or 15 days.

If we use flexible OCI, we use schedule 1 and the maximum OCI is 12 months or 10,000 miles with Mazda moly or Castrol 0W-20 oil. Although I set the OCI to flexible, but that is for reference only. I may just change the oil earlier at 5,000~7,500 miles or within 12 months but not waiting for the wrench indicator and "Oil Change Due!" warning.

BTW, you should be able to do the reset to "Maintenance", "Tire Rotation", and "Oil Change" independently within the Maintenance Monitor app. Just do the reset to "Maintenance" only it should make the wrench indicator disappear.
 
I have always done my first oil changes at around 500 to 1k miles. Mobil 1 was factory fill in my z06 and there was nothing special about it. Changed oil at 585 miles I think. Did fine.
It really depends. VW and Honda definitely use "break-in" oil. Honda owner's manual specifically says "Do not change the oil until the recommended time or mileage shown in the maintenance schedule." during the break-in period.

The factory fill for Mazda's SkyActiv engines is Mazda moly oil. The bottle of Mazda moly oil says "Includes high levels of MOLYBDENUM (Moly) which reduces wear, especially at low temperatures where the anti wear agents are inactive". Since SkyActiv engines need high idle with retarded timing right after the start-up to heat up the catalytic converter quicker due to its long 4-2-1 exhaust manifold, that's why Mazda recommends moly oil for better cold-start protection.
 
It really depends. VW and Honda definitely use "break-in" oil. Honda owner's manual specifically says "Do not change the oil until the recommended time or mileage shown in the maintenance schedule." during the break-in period.

The factory fill for Mazda's SkyActiv engines is Mazda moly oil. The bottle of Mazda moly oil says "Includes high levels of MOLYBDENUM (Moly) which reduces wear, especially at low temperatures where the anti wear agents are inactive". Since SkyActiv engines need high idle with retarded timing right after the start-up to heat up the catalytic converter quicker due to its long 4-2-1 exhaust manifold, that's why Mazda recommends moly oil for better cold-start protection.

http://www.edmunds.com/car-care/top-7-urban-legends-about-motor-oil.html
a Honda spokesman says its cars come from the factory with a special oil formulation for the break-in period. Honda advises owners to not change the oil early. Stark said Blackstone Laboratories' test of Honda's break-in oil shows it contains molybdenum-disulfide, an anti-wear additive. But Stark said Honda is the only manufacturer he knows that's using special break-in oil.

Well...I learned something.
 
That said, I doubt my Mazda has the Mazda oil in it. Even the local Mazda dealership just uses Castrol. So, I spent the $55 and ordered the kit from Med as linked on this website. I wonder if using regular oil has harmed my motor in any measurable way? I also wonder if I will see improved fuel economy with the Mazda oil.
 
That said, I doubt my Mazda has the Mazda oil in it. Even the local Mazda dealership just uses Castrol. So, I spent the $55 and ordered the kit from Med as linked on this website. I wonder if using regular oil has harmed my motor in any measurable way? I also wonder if I will see improved fuel economy with the Mazda oil.
Page 6-27 of CX-5 owner's manual under "Recommended Oil" says "Mazda Genuine Oil is used in your Mazda vehicle. Mazda Genuine 0W-20 Oil is required to achieve optimum fuel economy." I'd use Mazda moly oil so that I can use flexible oil change interval and for the reason I stated at post #22. I ordered 3 oil change kits from Med Center Mazda to waive expensive shipping charge.

Apparently Mazda North American Operations have no control on engine oils dealers can use. My dealer uses an unknown brand oil for "standard" oil change. You have to specify and pay extra for Castrol or Mazda oil.
 
That said, I doubt my Mazda has the Mazda oil in it. Even the local Mazda dealership just uses Castrol. So, I spent the $55 and ordered the kit from Med as linked on this website. I wonder if using regular oil has harmed my motor in any measurable way? I also wonder if I will see improved fuel economy with the Mazda oil.

I'm inclined to think when they build these things in Japan that they probably throw Mazda moly oil in it. Idemitsu is a Japanese lubricant manufacturer. Once they are shipped out, all bets are off.
 
My understanding is this. There's manufacturer Recommended Oil and there's Approved Oil.

Recommended:

Mazda Oil (w/moly). From an engineering standpoint.

Castrol 0w20 from a partnership standpoint.


Approved Oils:

The two above are approved plus whatever oil is Mazda approved for skyactiv engines. I'm not sure which approval rating codes to look for on the bottle though. Example would be BMW's LL03 approved oils. That said I'm only using the 2 recommended oils.
 
My understanding is this. There's manufacturer Recommended Oil and there's Approved Oil.

Recommended:

Mazda Oil (w/moly). From an engineering standpoint.

Castrol 0w20 from a partnership standpoint.


Approved Oils:

The two above are approved plus whatever oil is Mazda approved for skyactiv engines. I'm not sure which approval rating codes to look for on the bottle though. Example would be BMW's LL03 approved oils. That said I'm only using the 2 recommended oils.

My manual says (USA and Canada)

"Only use SAE 0W-20 oil
Certified For Gasoline Engines by the
American Petroleum Institute (API).
Oil with this trademark symbol conforms
to the current engine and emission system
protection standards and fuel economy
requirements of the International
Lubricant Standardization and Approval
Committee (ILSAC), comprised of U.S.
and Japanese automobile manufacturers."

They have a stamp that shows the 'American Petroleum Institute Certified for Gasoline Engines' on the bottle. I use Quakerstate 0W-20 Full Synthetic. Have gotten 350k miles out of my old car using it.
 
My understanding is this. There's manufacturer Recommended Oil and there's Approved Oil.

Recommended:

Mazda Oil (w/moly). From an engineering standpoint.

Castrol 0w20 from a partnership standpoint.


Approved Oils:

The two above are approved plus whatever oil is Mazda approved for skyactiv engines. I'm not sure which approval rating codes to look for on the bottle though. Example would be BMW's LL03 approved oils. That said I'm only using the 2 recommended oils.

The castril thing is very likely marketing above all else. Ever read the back of your shampoo bottle, it says to use their conditioner for best results. Anyway, so long as you use a GF5 spec (Asian oil standard) you will be fine. There are plenty other oils that meet this spec. For example, my dealer uses pennzoil platinum 0w20.
 
My manual says (USA and Canada)

"Only use SAE 0W-20 oil
“Certified For Gasoline Engines” by the
American Petroleum Institute (API).
Oil with this trademark symbol conforms
to the current engine and emission system
protection standards and fuel economy
requirements of the International
Lubricant Standardization and Approval
Committee (ILSAC), comprised of U.S.
and Japanese automobile manufacturers."

They have a stamp that shows the 'American Petroleum Institute Certified for Gasoline Engines' on the bottle. I use Quakerstate 0W-20 Full Synthetic. Have gotten 350k miles out of my old car using it.

And you will be perfectly fine doing it. I don't understand where the hypersensitivity to oil originated from. Look for the seal and GF5 spec(obviously the weight) and you are set.
 
And you will be perfectly fine doing it. I don't understand where the hypersensitivity to oil originated from. Look for the seal and GF5 spec(obviously the weight) and you are set.

My Dad has torn down a ton of motors, and used to drive about 1/3-1/2 a million miles a year. Certain oils most definitely sucked in the amount of sludge built up in the motor. Also, I used to drive an LS1 Trans Am, 6-speed. With certain oils (Mobil 1 5-30 EP), it would use about 1 quart every 2,000-2500 miles. I switched to the European Castrol 0-30 formula (used to be green, now is gold/clear), and it began using 3/4 quart every 5K miles.

This is why I am "hypersensitive" to oils, as you put it. Personal experience, and experience of my father (someone I trust) who has torn down dozens of high mileage motors after running different oils in them through their lives to see which one kept things cleanest. I suppose since he did this in the real world and not a lab, you could say that the test is subject to contamination, or you could argue that since he was using older motors (did this from the 70's through the 80's), that things are different now, or that my father has some nefarious need to lie to me about motor oil, but none of those arguments against his claimed results really inspire me, to be honest, so I'll motor on on his advice. Whether or not oils have been reformulated since he used them is very subject to debate, and even likely to be so, but the point is that they certainly offered different results. He found Quaker State left a ton of sludge, and on the opposite end of the spectrum, Shell Rotella T (a diesel oil), left the guts of the motors very clean in comparison. He typically would get about 225-250K miles out of a 4.6L Ford SOHC motor using Shell Rotella T, and about 200K out of a Ford 302 (although he had one go past 300K on one occasion, I believe). His current Chevy Work Van (A 5.3 Vortec, I believe), is currently mid-way through the 400K mile range on Shell Rotella T. Before the 4.6's and 5.0's, he ran various engines like 460's, etc. Yes, one can argue that Shell Rotella T 15-40 is too "thick" for the 4.6L SOHC Ford motor, but pulling 225-250k miles out of them before they began using significant amounts of oil, the way he drove them, was darn impressive! He would typically go through 2 transmissions during the car's life cycle if he was lucky, 3 if he wasn't. They typically began slipping or refusing to shift/producing lazy shifts which had the motor bouncing off of the rev limiter (Ford's AOD-E and 4RWwhatever were known to suck massively). He drove the dog crap out of those cars for a living (Escorting over-sized loads down the freeway, including part of the Apollo space-craft, and other random cool things he showed me pictures of as a kid). That entailed a lot banging off the upper end of the tach to "catch a bridge" around a curve and block it off for the semi, etc.
 
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My understanding is this. There's manufacturer Recommended Oil and there's Approved Oil.

Recommended:

Mazda Oil (w/moly). From an engineering standpoint.

Castrol 0w20 from a partnership standpoint.


Approved Oils:

The two above are approved plus whatever oil is Mazda approved for skyactiv engines. I'm not sure which approval rating codes to look for on the bottle though. Example would be BMW's LL03 approved oils. That said I'm only using the 2 recommended oils.

I believe also there is the Magnussan*sp Act which dictates that a manufacturer cannot void a warranty so long as fluids meeting the correct spec were used, regardless of what "recommended list" they are on. Hence if your motor goes high-order while using Royal Purple, as long as you used the correct weight, etc. and can show proper maintenance intervals, Mazda is on the hook.
 
Yeah...my wife drives a lot for work, plus we have been using it more on the weekends because frankly it's been more fun to drive then the Subaru - funny how that happens when you get a new car.

I remember when I felt the same way about the Subaru!

I think we calculated to be on track for 25-30k / miles per year on the Mazda. Hopefully it slows down some at some point!
 
I have always done my first oil changes at around 500 to 1k miles. Mobil 1 was factory fill in my z06 and there was nothing special about it. Changed oil at 585 miles I think. Did fine.

These Mazda Skyactiv engines are built in Hiroshima, Japan on very new, precision heavy industrial machining equipment. Modern, state of the art stuff. You have never owned a car built to such high engineering tolerances and thus, there is no need to change your oil at 585 miles. That's ridiculous. These are not the same as "American Iron" that was built in the 70's and 80's on old, worn-out and antiquidated machining equipment. We used to joke that the owner got to do the final machining in the first 5,000 miles of ownership.

Unless you have money to burn, just change it at 5,000-7,500 miles. Based on the thread where you are reluctant to buy winter tires because of the small amount of additional expense, I'm guessing you don't have money to burn.
 
My manual says (USA and Canada)
"Only use SAE 0W-20 oil
Certified For Gasoline Engines by the
American Petroleum Institute (API).
Oil with this trademark symbol conforms
to the current engine and emission system
protection standards and fuel economy
requirements of the International
Lubricant Standardization and Approval
Committee (ILSAC), comprised of U.S.
and Japanese automobile manufacturers."
They have a stamp that shows the 'American Petroleum Institute Certified for Gasoline Engines' on the bottle. I use Quakerstate 0W-20 Full Synthetic. Have gotten 350k miles out of my old car using it.
My CX-5 owner's manual also says:
"Mazda Genuine Oil is used in your Mazda vehicle. Mazda Genuine 0W-20 Oil is required to achieve optimum fuel economy."
"For maintenance service, Mazda recommends Genuine Parts and Castrol (U.S.A. only)."
"The onboard computer in your vehicle calculates the remaining oil life based on engine operating conditions when selecting flexible maintenance. Mazda Genuine 0W-20 oil and Castrol 0W-20 oil are required to achieve optimum calculation performance."

Long time age I was only using Pennzoil and Quaker State oils. But they were having issues and recalled their products one after another. Since then I switched to Castrol. As molybdenum does have benefit of reducing wear especially when engine is cold, I'll try Mazda genuine 0W-20 moly oil for our CX-5 since SkyActiv engines need high idle with retarded timing after the cold start-up.
 
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