First Oil Change

[Shaz]

I went in for my first oil change today. I have 3960 miles currently. My dealership, Mazda of Naperville, suggested a 5k interval for the CX7. I asked if I should follow the usual 3k or what Mazda says in the 5k. My SA suggested 3k for my peace of mind. Furthermore, the service sticker on the windshield that they put on calls for a 3k interval, thus 6960 miles for the next service.

I just opted for regular oil and not synthetic since I don't want to pay any extra for what I have already paid (I have the Total Care).

Pls share your first oil change scenarios. Did you have it at 5k, 3k? Synthetic or regular?

 

[CX-7owner]

(omg)

 

[HeavyH20]

I have free oil changes through my dealership, as well. They want me to come in every 3750 miles. The manual indicates 7500 miles between changes. Along with that, since we are in the northern climbs, they also recommend following the Canada service schedule to address strain caused by colder weather, so 5K according to the manual. But, since it's free, I just follow their recommended path and see them every 3750 miles.

 

[CX-7owner]

(omg)

 

[erhayes]

Your service manual is your good reference. The recommendations in your manual are based on 100s of thousands of vehicle miles and not someone opinion. So; unless you live within the Arctic Circle or in the Sahara Desert, just follow the manufactures recommendation.

 

[Mazdaspeedgirl]

I haven't made it to my first yet but it is coming up soon. I will always do 3K oil changes, esp with a turbo car. Clean oil also cools better than dirty.

 

[Zoom49]

Pls share your first oil change scenarios. Did you have it at 5k, 3k? Synthetic or regular?

Dealer provided my first service for free, took it in at 3,200 miles. I did the next oil change at 8,000 miles at which time i changed to synthetic and a Pure One oil filter. I plan on doing my oil changes at 7,000 miles now using synthetic oil.(drive)

 

[erhayes]

+1 Zoom49. This is approximatly what I did with my last 3 vehicles and they were sold at 154,000 + miles running excellent without any oil consumption issues. Mobil 1 5w30 & a PureOne oil filter every 6 or 7,000 miles. Ed

 

[SuperStretch18]

Just got my first oil change yesterday (4,606 miles). Free from the dealer I bought if from. Not sure if I will go there again, just because it is 30 minutes out of the way (each direction) and i had to wait almost 2 hours to get it done (watching Dance Revolution in the waiting room no less).

Rotated the tires and got the reflash done to improve lower rpm accelleration at the same time. I walked in knowing about the tsb and when I mentioned it, the service guy says "it's a turbo, so that's the way it is". I said, "yeah, I know about turbo lag, but I also know that there is a bulletin issued and I'm not sure if it was already done before delivery". He responds "no problem, we'll check if it was done." Not sure if they would have done it without me pushing the fact...

 

[crashkelly]

i always do oil at 3k just because my father works for ELF/Total fina and brings home boxes of FREE race synthetic! Its always nice to change my own oil for just the cost of the filter!

 

[koala]

i always do oil at 3k just because my father works for ELF/Total fina and brings home boxes of FREE race synthetic! Its always nice to change my own oil for just the cost of the filter!

Have you ever bothered to get UOA (used oil analysis) tests done? You might find that 3k intervals are actually causing more harm than good.

Might still be a good idea to change the filter every 3-5k, but a good synthetic will protect better over a longer period of time, depending on the additive packages it comes with.

For most people, 7,500 miles on synthetic is pretty reasonable, even in harsh climates with hard driving. It's usually just the filter that doesn't work 100% after this period of time.

Not to mention way less environmental impact this way.

 

[crashkelly]

Have you ever bothered to get UOA (used oil analysis) tests done? You might find that 3k intervals are actually causing more harm than good.

Might still be a good idea to change the filter every 3-5k, but a good synthetic will protect better over a longer period of time, depending on the additive packages it comes with.

For most people, 7,500 miles on synthetic is pretty reasonable, even in harsh climates with hard driving. It's usually just the filter that doesn't work 100% after this period of time.

Not to mention way less environmental impact this way.

i dont need to pay someone to analyze my used oil...i can look at it myself (not to sound like an a-hole). And honestly i dont see how keeping good oil in your car and changing the filter frequently is going to hurt the car. and if i cared about the environmental impact id probably have catalytic converters on my car.

 

[CX-7owner]

(omg)

 

[koala]

i dont need to pay someone to analyze my used oil...i can look at it myself (not to sound like an a-hole). And honestly i dont see how keeping good oil in your car and changing the filter frequently is going to hurt the car. and if i cared about the environmental impact id probably have catalytic converters on my car.

You can look at your oil and determine which, and how much of the following elements are present?

Fe, Cr, Pb, Cu, Sn, Al, Ni, Ag, Mn, Si, B, Na, Mg, Ba, P, Zn, Mo, Ti, V, and Cd

If so, I'd like to have your vision because seeing elements and measuring them on a PPM basis is quite a skill set to have.

And if you're going by the colour, you're sadly mistaken on how oil breaks down... the colour is not an indication of time to change... if it were, you'd want to change it after 100 miles because it's already dark by then.

And what I was saying is that you want to keep good oil in your car for longer periods of time... 7,500 or 1 year is a good interval for most people.

Changing it every 3,000 miles can actually do more harm than good (most oils do not perform as well when they are brand new as they do once they have actually gone through heat cycles and some molecular changes.

 

[crashkelly]

You can look at your oil and determine which, and how much of the following elements are present?

Fe, Cr, Pb, Cu, Sn, Al, Ni, Ag, Mn, Si, B, Na, Mg, Ba, P, Zn, Mo, Ti, V, and Cd

And if you're going by the colour, you're sadly mistaken on how oil breaks down... the colour is not an indication of time to change... if it were, you'd want to change it after 100 miles because it's already dark by then.

And what I was saying is that you want to keep good oil in your car for longer periods of time... 7,500 or 1 year is a good interval for most people.

Changing it every 3,000 miles can actually do more harm than good (most oils do not perform as well when they are brand new as they do once they have actually gone through heat cycles and some molecular changes.

im changing every 3000 miles...and it has yet to cause a catastrophic failure

 

[koala]

im changing every 3000 miles...and honestly its not hurting the car...according to the 7500mile idea it's basically almost at its halfway point and no i cant tell the tiny chemicals in my oil but i can look at it and see if there are tiny chunks of crap in it and if it is dark black and no longer as viscous as it was...there is no need for testing my oil just cause i change it every 3000 miles...do you test your oil every time you change it? **** i dont even know of any shops that would do that test unless you are anal enough to ask them. Name one time you ever heard of oil hurting a car because it was changed every 3000 miles instead of 7500...geez

You might want to spend some time reading through the "oil journals" at S2K International. An expert over there (screen name: road rage) sheds a lot of light on oil.

http://www.s2ki.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=195574

My guess is that you are in for some surprises about what you may and may not know about oil.

And shops wont do an UOA test, you have to send off to companies such as Oil Analyzers Inc. - which will advise you on how your oil is holding up, which elements are in it, how much of them, and a general recommendation on whether you could go longer drain intervals.

A UOA can also tell you whether or not your engine is wearing excessively (by the amount of iron, aluminium, etc that show up in your oil).

If oil is dark black this does not mean the viscosity has changed. Carbon (a byproduct of combustion) turns oil black and has no bearing on the actual protection qualities offered by said oil.

 

[koala]

im changing every 3000 miles...and it has yet to cause a catastrophic failure

lol why did you edit your original reply? I'm not trying to start anything here, I just think you might be very mislead and unaware of how and when oil actually stops protecting an engine properly... not to mention how to tell if this has even occurred (not something you can tell by looking at it)

 

[Mazdaspeedgirl]

lol why did you edit your original reply? I'm not trying to start anything here, I just think you might be very mislead and unaware of how and when oil actually stops protecting an engine properly... not to mention how to tell if this has even occurred (not something you can tell by looking at it)

Thanks for the read. I will have to look into it. Who knows, maybe my old ways will be changed. But the dealer did say they wanted the oil changed at 3K for the 1st oil change. Happy to oblige, sir! (usa)

 

[AWmustang]

I only have 3500 miles on it so far. Planning to go in every 7500 miles.

 

[koala]

Thanks for the read. I will have to look into it. Who knows, maybe my old ways will be changed. But the dealer did say they wanted the oil changed at 3K for the 1st oil change. Happy to oblige, sir! (usa)

It's tough to filter through some of the info over there, just because a lot is S2000 specific, but there is some generic oil stuff that is very interesting.