First oil change?

[dandydaniel]

i'm off at school year round, with 0 time to work on my car without even a garage (park my car out in the street outside my townhouse complex) so I buy my own full synth oil + oem filter and bring it to my guys at the service department. I pay $20 for labor and everything gets done with what I brought in.

 

[tuOdekcalB]

Just got my first oil change at the dealer, at like 660 miles with full syn. Told them many time i want Mobil 1 and they were like ok, hope they used it. Think next time I will buy the oil and stuff and just let them do it for me.

 

[Peter B]

Fist oil change @ 3000 miles.
I use Mobil 1 5w-30, I'm a true believer in M1
Penzoil platnum as a backup when mobil decideds to blow up one of their plants or whatever they did
Mazda oil filter-same as the regular 3 so u don't need to go to a speed dealer
Change my oil every 5000 miles, or more accurately every 4500-5000, depending on when I can get to it.

 

[Saskatchewan17]

Why is everyone saying to use the factory filter?

 

[Peter B]

I just use it cause its just as easy to get as any other filter.... and im not worried about it not fitting or anything like that.

That and half the time i have the shop do it fore me

 

[coololddude]

turbo motors---synthetic oil---mmmmm good!! mobil 1-- top manufacters find it very tasty!!

 

[Saskatchewan17]

Doin it tommorow! Thanks for all the advice. I still only have about 3150 miles on the car:

 

[SleekDJ]

Good info, guys!

I just bought a used MS3 with 4k miles on it and I'm reading in the manual that Mazda recommends oil changes only every 7.5k?!

From what I've been reading on this forum, most people change their oil every 3-5k. That's normal for other cars, but since Mazda says in the manual that changing oil at a longer interval is okay, why not do that? Is everyone on the forums just being a "loving" owner and baby-ing their cars?

 

[ElGaspo]

Is everyone on the forums just being a "loving" owner and baby-ing their cars?

speaking for myself, yes. i put the hammer down but believe in regular TLC. had the same mechanic for ~10 yrs. last car was a 91 crx, sold it at 90k mi, still ran as new- if not downright better! (drive) vs (drive2) for long-term usage.

 

[Hank3]

BTW...FYI - Walmart has Pennzoil Platinum for $20 for the 5-quart jug. Got that and a quart for $27.91 yesterday. I just did an oil change but wanted to buy some while they're on sale. Bought those last month for over $30. Every penny counts!

 

[MikeHTally]

Good info, guys!

I just bought a used MS3 with 4k miles on it and I'm reading in the manual that Mazda recommends oil changes only every 7.5k?!...

That's the schedule that's the least strenuous. The heavy-duty schedule is every 5K. I do mine every 4K. That's twice a year. Probably too long time-wise, but it's driven every day, just short distances. I just switched to synthetic at 8,500.

 

[Mz3Hatch]

I see everyone here swears by M1 and Pennzoil, but personally, I LOVE my Royal Purple. A tad more expensive at $6.42 per quart at walmart but I've heard nothing but amazing and great things about it. I also change my oil every 4k, have done 4 already, 5th coming up soon, gets easier and easier everytime! I use the Fram filter, no problems there either.

Does anyone do anything differently other than removing the underbody to change the filter?

 

[Saskatchewan17]

BTW...FYI - Walmart has Pennzoil Platinum for $20 for the 5-quart jug. Got that and a quart for $27.91 yesterday. I just did an oil change but wanted to buy some while they're on sale. Bought those last month for over $30. Every penny counts!

Good advice thanks!
The 6 quart box and extra was ridiculous... I think it was like 50-55 bucks if I can remember right.

 

[camrycev6]

I am going with a standard oil change at Mazda every 5,000 miles. I figure that is the "worst case" of the two recommendations in the manual, so I see no need to go synthetic. If this car called for it, and some do, Mazda would have said so. I am aware of the argument for synthetic, but I don't plan on keeping the car past 60,000 miles (Giving it to my g/f at 40K, and I plan to get rid of it around 60K), so the extra miles that synthetic might add to the engine are irrelevant to me.

 

[Saskatchewan17]

I thought the car did call for synthetic? Tell me if I'm wrong...

 

[camrycev6]

You may have misread something, the MS3 does not call for synthetic.

 

[Saskatchewan17]

Hmmm... wierd... I could have sworn that I saw somewhere that it does take only Synthetic.

 

[TheRealDefman]

Based absolutely on nothing... changed with dino oil at 2500, will go synthetic at 5000. Using the OEM Mazda filters for now, might change to something else later.

 

[MikeHTally]

The Mazda book makes virtually no mention of synthetic lubricants.

 

[Saskatchewan17]

Okay okay... I get it... I just had some sort of thought that synthetic was required.

I remember now! It was when we asked the salesman at the dealer if the car took synthetic oil and he said yes, and the dealer will use synthetic for all of its changes.

Well, I'm putting in synthetic anyways.