Anti-tamper or stripped drain plug?

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Elbass74

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Mazda cx-5 touring 2015
Now that my CX-5 is out of warranty and the nearest dealership has moved to an inconvenient location I decided to start doing my own oil changes. It's been 5-6 years since I've been under a car so when I removed the access panel on my 2015 CX-5 I was surprised to find this orange sealant around my drain plug. Before I mess with it I'm hoping someone can tell me if this is normal now, just something dealerships do now to know if someone has been in there since they performed their last service? I'm highly concerned that my dealership stripped out my drain plug and never told me about it.

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Ok sorry for the delay on updating this thread. While I was out of town our other vehicle was totalled in an accident. I wasn't about to possibly render our one running vehicle undrivable by messing with a shady looking drain plug so had to wait until we got that all sorted out.

I went ahead and proceeding with changing the oil myself after calling the dealership and asking the same type of question about my drain plug (I had never identified myself when I stopped in personally) and they were adamant that it was just a drain plug sealer compound and they put it on strictly in case a crush washer fails and to keep the plug from vibrating loose. As they put it, an extra bonus for having them perform the oil change.

Started out by...
I put a 5 Q jug in and check after running 10 minutes or so. The oil level is about 1/8 inch under max which is well up in the safe zone. Why do some have so much issues with something unimportant.
Firstly, many car owners have get used to trust specifications on owner’s manual, “approximately” of not. And when the fluid quantities state 4.8 quarts for engine oil replacement, it’s 4.8 quarts to make oil level to the Max / Full mark. Nor we put in 5 quarts which is 0.2 quart more than specific quantity for convenience, and it still ¼ ~ ⅛ below the Max / Full mark. Those the first timer changing oil on CX-5 start to wonder what’s wrong, and how many times we’ve have seen such questions popping up?

Specifications should be as accurate and consistent as possible, but Mazda failed to do it, and caused too many confusions.

To me, I want to fill the engine oil to the full capacity at each oil change for maximum safety margin. If you experienced only once leaking oil during the long road trip (Toyota dealer did the oil change under factory maintenance program) and almost ruined the engine, you’d know even the extra 0.45 quart is very important!
 
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Amen, Eddie. I toss in a 5 qt. jug and call it good. Remember when most 4 cylinder engines only had 4 quarts. Mazda gave us 5 quarts and people debate minute fractions of oil level on the dipstick.
No, on 2.5L Mazda gave us 4.8 quarts, and did it this way on factory fill (I’d verified this on several brand new CX-5’s with 2.5L). If Mazda believes 4.8 quarts is a good quantity, they should give us a proper dipstick with correct Max / Full mark set to 4.8 quarts. If Mazda believe 0.45 / 0.37 quart is the correct quantity for rear differential, they should either lower the fill hole, or at least change the wording in Factory Workshop Manual and states that fill the gear lubricant how many inches BELOW the fill hole.

Especially since the level varies with temperature (yes oil does expand and contract with temperature changes). If there's a decent amount in the sump and the oil passages are full then it gets to be academic.
Yeah, but your forgot to mention more oil will drain back to the oil pan if you wait for longer time. Several people have verified it with pictures, including me, that the oil levels are almost the same between the hot and cold engines.

In addition, the expansion / contraction ratio on engine oil is not as significant as ATF, or a temperature spec will be given when we check the engine oil level like checking the ATF level.

We aren't talking about the Space Shuttle here.
Everything has its tolerance on specification. But there’s also the convention to follow. If every other car manufacture says the oil capacity in specs meant the oil level is to the full mark, why Mazda want to be different? How many DIYers will put more oil than specified quantity the first time they change the oil for the vehicle? Why everybody else uses a single value on torque specs in factory shop manual, but Mazda gives us a range?
 
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And when the fluid quantities state 4.8 quarts for engine oil replacement, it’s 4.8 quarts to make oil level to the Max / Full mark.

You keep arguing this point. It isn't true in practice, and it isn't what is specified in the manuals. The manual states that the oil level is normal if it is between the MIN and MAX marks/holes on the dipstick, and that if the oil level is at or near the MIN mark/hole, to add enough oil to bring the level to MAX.

The direction above and the engine oil capacity being listed as approximate complement each other. If you put in 5 quarts, and the oil level is right in the center of the two marks/holes, that satisfies the manual's definition of a normal oil level. But adding an extra 0.2 quarts to bring the level to MAX would also qualify as normal, so Mazda uses an approximation to accommodate owner preferences.

As far as why Mazda does what they do, that's something you should probably ask them yourself, as it seems that nobody here has answers you're willing to accept. I can justify most of what they specify for myself (and I have in some previous posts), but I think you'd only be satisfied if you got an answer straight from the horse's mouth, so to speak.

OP got his answers a few posts ago, so to prevent this from continuing on the tangent it's on, thread locked.
 
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