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You're right. Oil enters the filter through the six (in this particular filter) large holes in the end plate surrounding the threaded hole. If it were otherwise, a filter with an anti-drainback valve would prevent any oil from leaving the filter, immediately starving the engine of oil and...

There are a number of reports of cylinder head cracks on NA engines over at the mazdaforum.com site. It's a very long thread with a lot of extraneous commentary, so it's difficult to pin down just how many cases are documented, but it's definitely more than a couple.

Thanks for pointing that out. Apologies.

That's not correct. From the 2018 CX-5 owners manual: "Do not install the temporary spare tire on the front wheels (driving wheels): Driving with the temporary spare tire on one of the front driving wheels is dangerous. Handling will be affected. You could lose control of the vehicle, especially...

You're probably aware that the Mazda oil filter for the turbo is not the same as the one for the non-turbo. Even if you know that, it's still easy to end up with the wrong one. In their infinite wisdom, Mazda made the two filters look exactly the same, have the same dimensions and thread size...

If your Internet service if from Comcast (xFinity), here's some information that may be helpful.

It's almost certainly the oil control valve (OCV). If you search online, you'll find quite a few reports of those leaking after considerable mileage. The fix requires removing the valve cover.

For 2017 and later (I have a 2018), the glove box door damper attachment has changed a bit from what's pictured in the online tutorials. It's a full circle, so it is removed by pulling it to the right (for cars with right-seat driver, I assume it's the reverse). I found the easiest way to get...

That's interesting. Your error, "Installation failed" is different from what occurred for me ("Download failed") before I disabled xFi Advanced Security, but the explanation, "Possible causes for this could be network issues...," is nearly the same as I saw. During my failed attempts, there...

xFi (Comcast) Advanced Security turned out to be the culprit. After reading theisen_4's post, I looked up Advanced Security online, and the information I found on Comcast's site talked about it in the context of Wi-Fi as a feature of the XFi App. Since I never installed that app and am...

For the past few days, I've been trying, without success, to update the maps on my SD card. Mazda Toolbox recognizes the card, indicates my eligibility for an update, and makes a backup, then when the download process starts, nothing happens. After about five minutes, I get a message saying the...

There's a recent service alert (November 22, 2019, Service Alert No.: SA-012/19, "VALVE TAPPING OR KNOCKING NOISE HEARD FROM CYLINDER HEAD") that may be applicable. Summary: "A valve tapping or knocking noise may be heard from the top end after the engine cools down (the vehicle is parked...

Yes, they put a sticker under the hood referencing the recall number and the date.

I had the recall PCM software update done today. It took probably 30 minutes. The trip meters were reset. The dealer didn't put much information on the invoice--nothing about the PCM software version--but it does say the PCM reprogramming was done with M-MDS using IDS version 114.05, which is...

I'm speculating, but the following makes sense to me. The figure below is a revised (by me) version of a figure from the patent. I suspect that the oil pressure variations involved in operating the locking pins in the HLA have the unintended side effect of interfering with the free flow of oil...

Oil pressure isn't what holds the lifter against the rocker. The large, axial-acting spring inside the HLA is what forces it into contact with the rocker. The conventional function of a hydraulic lifter in regulating (setting to zero) the rocker-to-valve clearance is still present in the...

Although the engine-wide oil pressure is regulated in response to a lot of engine parameters, the oil pressure change seen by the HLAs that turns CD on/off is controlled by a couple direction switching valves (number 46 and 47 in the schematic at figure 4). Here's a picture of those valves. I...

I found Mazda's patent (US20150377151A1) that describes the cylinder deactivation mechanism. Like any patent, it's not light reading, and there's an extra layer of difficulty because it's been translated from the original Japanese. However, if you're willing to slog through it, you'll get a very...

I'm not sure any of us completely understands how the HLAs work when switching between normal and cylinder deactivation modes. So I'm open to the possibility that the following reasoning is flawed, but here's how I see it. What little CD documentation exists online (see this page) describes a...