New CX-5 - When Should I really get my first oil change?

Thanks for sharing your knowledge, zroger.

Would your opinion on when to do the first oil change differ if the first two oil changes/tire rotations were included free with purchase, but only within a 12-month period? I was thinking based on that, to just get the oil change done at 6 months and then at 12 months, which will probably be less than 5K miles OCI with covid and working from home.

I printed off the service bulletin for the next time the dealership tries to sell me one of the non-recommended services. On a previous vehicle, I've had them try to sell me gasoline additives and fuel injector cleaning, which are not in the manual, while questioning why I wanted the spark plugs changed, which is in the manual.

Personally, I avoid dealers due to the inconvenience and propensity for the vehicle to be damaged or soiled while in their hands, so I prefer to pay for my own oil and change it myself even if the dealer would do it for free.

Changing the oil prematurely certainly won't damage the vehicle, but to me, that's like taking an inch-thick stack of napkins from the dispenser at a restaurant when you only need a couple and end up throwing the rest in the trash. :)
 
Thanks for sharing your knowledge, zroger.

Would your opinion on when to do the first oil change differ if the first two oil changes/tire rotations were included free with purchase, but only within a 12-month period? I was thinking based on that, to just get the oil change done at 6 months and then at 12 months, which will probably be less than 5K miles OCI with covid and working from home.

I printed off the service bulletin for the next time the dealership tries to sell me one of the non-recommended services. On a previous vehicle, I've had them try to sell me gasoline additives and fuel injector cleaning, which are not in the manual, while questioning why I wanted the spark plugs changed, which is in the manual.
Just check your Maintenance Monitor via infotainment screen making sure your “Oil Change” schedule is set to “Flexible” from factory. It should display less than 7,500 miles of oil life remaining. Due to the pandemic a lot of people drive less. With Mazda recommended Flexible OCI which is UP TO 7,500 miles or 12 months whichever comes first, you most likely reaches 12-month time before 7,500 miles. Do the oil change based on wrench indicator and “Oil change due” notification, which will keep your warranty intact. And I personally would only do the first oil change a bit earlier at about 5,000 miles or 12 months (from your CX-5’s manufacture date on door jamb sticker), and not be worried about 2 free oil changes within a year. You may try to negotiate with your Mazda dealer to keep the second free oil change on the later date due to much less miles driven during pandemic.
 
And I personally would only do the first oil change a bit earlier at about 5,000 miles or 12 months (from your CX-5’s manufacture date on door jamb sticker), and not be worried about 2 free oil changes within a year. You may try to negotiate with your Mazda dealer to keep the second free oil change on the later date due to much less miles driven during pandemic.
Good points, thanks. We just bought it, but the date of manufacture per door jamb sticker is 07/20, so that would make the 1st oil change in 6 months anyway.
 
I’d do the oil changes per the schedule or earlier, doesn’t matter imo. For grins and giggles, I did my first oil and oil filter change early on my ‘19 RAV4 at 2500 miles. I did the next one at 10k miles (what would have been the first scheduled one) and tested the oil. My Blackstone used oil analysis still showed some elevated break in metals for the oil that was in there from 2500-10000 miles. That means the engine actually wasn’t done breaking in by 2500 miles, or that oil picked up some of the stuff left behind in the original fill.

The insoluble content within that oil was also less than 0.1% indicating that the OEM filter was working exactly as intended for those 7500 miles. The original filter from 0-2500 very likely would have kept catching stuff fine for the full interval in my opinion. If I did it over again, I wouldn’t have any concerns having kept the original oil in there from 0-10000 miles per the schedule. My ‘13 CX-5 didn’t get its first change until 7,500 miles in and it’s chugging along just fine with no oil consumption 8 years and 86k miles later.
 
Good points, thanks. We just bought it, but the date of manufacture per door jamb sticker is 07/20, so that would make the 1st oil change in 6 months anyway.
Can you check Maintenance Monitor from infotainment screen and see if your maintenance schedule on oil change is still set to “Flexible”? If it does, how many miles remaining on your oil life? If your maintenance monitor still has “Flexible” on your oil change set from factory, you should get a wrench indicator and “Oil change due” message in your dash in about 12 months from the manufacture date if you don’t drive much.

Looking forward to seeing your report in about 6 ~ 7 months to verify this.
 
Can you check Maintenance Monitor from infotainment screen and see if your maintenance schedule on oil change is still set to “Flexible”? If it does, how many miles remaining on your oil life? If your maintenance monitor still has “Flexible” on your oil change set from factory, you should get a wrench indicator and “Oil change due” message in your dash in about 12 months from the manufacture date if you don’t drive much.

Looking forward to seeing your report in about 6 ~ 7 months to verify this.
There are three choices, once you select Vehicle Status Monitor from the Applications menu: Scheduled Maintenance, Tire Rotation, or Oil Change. Oil change can be set to fixed or flexible. Initially it was set to Fixed. On the Fixed setting, it says oil change due in 4717 mi., no time given (which is weird, because the car has only 97 miles on it). Once I changed the setting interval to Flexible, it says oil life is 7500 mi. The only screen which gives a time indicator is the Scheduled Maintenance screen, which is separate from the Oil Change Screen. If the Setting box is checked, it displays Time, due in 0 day, and Distance, due in 4967 mi. So I don't think it is time set from date of manufacture.
 
There are three choices, once you select Vehicle Status Monitor from the Applications menu: Scheduled Maintenance, Tire Rotation, or Oil Change. Oil change can be set to fixed or flexible. Initially it was set to Fixed. On the Fixed setting, it says oil change due in 4717 mi., no time given (which is weird, because the car has only 97 miles on it). Once I changed the setting interval to Flexible, it says oil life is 7500 mi. The only screen which gives a time indicator is the Scheduled Maintenance screen, which is separate from the Oil Change Screen. If the Setting box is checked, it displays Time, due in 0 day, and Distance, due in 4967 mi. So I don't think it is time set from date of manufacture.
Among 3 selections from Maintenance under Vehicle Status Monitor, Scheduled is for some maintenance you want to give you a notification in preset time duration or distance. Tire Rotation is for tire rotation notification in preset miles. Oil Change can be set as Flexible or Fixed for oil change interval. The factory default is Flexible and it starts its calculation after the car assembled. Unfortunately your Mazda dealer did a reset on Oil Change with Fixed which can be set to any miles they want. You should do a reset on Oil Change again with Flexible if you haven’t done so. It gives you a fresh 7,500 miles of oil life remaining to start with. This new oil life calculation won’t be accurate for you now, but can be a reference for your first oil change for the 12-month duration since the car has assembled. The mile display by Flexible setting will go down faster than your actual miles driven depending on your driving conditions, as the Flexible setting will cover both Schedule 1 normal driving condition and Schedule 2 severe driving condition. Once the oil life remaining is down to 600 miles, the wrench indicator and “Oil change due” message will be displayed in dash. Just remember you need to do the reset each time you changed the oil so that the oil life monitor can restart a new oil life calculation for both miles and time.

Here’s the action of Maintenance Monitor from my 2016 CX-5 where it uses % for oil life remaining which won’t get confused easily like using the mile on gen-2 CX-5. The oil change due notification came on for 2,728 miles but 12 months from the last oil change and reset.

Before my oil change:
1BCCB449-5D6F-47DA-8139-85FBFAE2F72D.jpeg

2D934EC2-E9D7-4539-8359-A893BE65A612.jpeg


After the oil change and reset:
649F86D4-FC07-4BAE-A990-656B9797A5A8.jpeg
 
I prefer Honda's Maintenance Minder. It calculates engine oil and transmission fluid life based on actual driving conditions only and aligns distance-based maintenance items with the nearest oil change for convenience. It takes all the guesswork and decision-making out of the process and is a more thought-out and thorough system. It prompts you for all the vehicle's maintenance needs - not just engine oil and tire rotations.
 
I prefer Honda's Maintenance Minder. It calculates engine oil and transmission fluid life based on actual driving conditions only and aligns distance-based maintenance items with the nearest oil change for convenience. It takes all the guesswork and decision-making out of the process and is a more thought-out and thorough system. It prompts you for all the vehicle's maintenance needs - not just engine oil and tire rotations.
Or you could just do fixed service intervals, based on either distance/time.
Works on my Mazda and it worked on all the cars I have owned. :)
 
You need to understand how the dealership and manufacturer relationship works.

If you want to own a dealership, you must buy a certain amount of parts and lubricants from the manufacturer per year, therefore you need sell to people as much as possible and somtimes dealerships cheat people and tell the customer to buy a new part instead of fixing it, and therefore the customer is being offered "deals" in maintenance and parts. The real money is in the parts, not the labor.
It’s good for them but not necessarily for the customer.

Sure follow the maintenance in the manual to a tee but do it at a good authorized shop, never at the dealership. Plus the best mechanics are always independent mechanics.
 
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