Oil Change/Tire Rotation

[joshb003]

When I bought my car, one of the selling points was free oil changes. I went and brought the car in for the first oil change, at 3600 miles, and when I looked everything over I noticed they filled it with 5w20 instead of 0w20. I'm assuming they did this to save money, is this an okay thing to do? I don't know much about oil so I was wondering if it's going to cause problems.

Also, when rotating tires, can I just do that myself or do they need to be balanced when rotated too?

Thanks!

 

[MyPrecious]

My two cents worth....yes...you can rotate your tires yourself...if you have the skills and tools. No I don't balance with each rotation. You had your 2 serviced at a Mazda dealership...and they put in 5w20? If so...then I would go back and have a talk with the Service Manager...and tell him/her that I would like the oil to be changed...free of charge....to 0W20...to conform with the Mazda service specifications. If this is not received well by the service manager...I would contact the Mazda zone representative...as outlined in the owner's manual. And...if I had the option...I would begin to take my business to a Mazda dealership that wanted to conform to my...and Mazda's....expectations.

 

[POODLES]

have your tires rebalanced if you notice a vibration. vibrations at higher speeds are not noticed at lower speeds. otherwise only ask for a balance if you notice a vibration in your steering. also, check the wear on your tires as it my indicate that an alignment may be necessary, especially if you don't get on the highway often to feel it pulling in either direction.

 

[joshb003]

Yeah they are basically being cheap. They give free oil changed with new cars, but they don't wanna fork up the cash for 0w20. I left a message with a manager, and will be calling again tomorrow.

In the mean time, is it going to hurt my car?

 

[joshb003]

Any tips for the rotation? My basic plan is to take tires off, swap the back for the front, bolt them back on and make sure they are tight. I have steel rims so I don't need to worry about the special crap with aluminums, anything I'm missing??

Josh

 

[joshb003]

UPDATE:

Spoke with the sales manager/service manager. They are both adamant that 5w20 is fine and perfectly safe to use. I'm a little pissed that they went the cheap route and are cutting corners, but at the same time I get free oil changes for 5 years... so 5w20 it'll be then I guess.

I told them I wanted a letter in writing saying that 5w20 is perfectly safe and won't void any warranties, they have agreed to give that to me.

I was thinking about forwarding that letter to Mazda and getting their opinion on the situation.

 

[DrWebster]

Honestly, 5W20 won't hurt anything. Your fuel economy might suffer ever so slightly, but it won't kill your engine or cause long-term problems.

I know that the Morries oil changes are free, but you may want to consider just doing them yourself (assuming you have someplace to do them, like in a garage). I have a thread in the How-To section that walks you through it. It's stupid easy on the 2 to do an oil change, and you'll have the peace of mind of knowing exactly what oil and filter went in the car and that the job was done correctly.

 

[Racebrewer]

To me, part of the question would be 5W20 what?

Lots of oils out there and some are better than others.

John

 

[MazdaTwo]

I think that's total BS. Your MAZDA owners manual specifies 0W-20... it does not give a range of oil options. Whether it is safe or not is completely irrelevant. 0W-20 was chosen by engineers at Mazda because it is an ADVANCED FUEL ECONOMY viscosity. Fuel economy was likely a selling point when you bought the car. I wouldn't put up with that. They offered free oil changes and they should adhere to the specified 0W-20 full synthetic. There's no price difference from a consumer standpoint between 5W and 0W.

 

[shaowq]

you're not the only one...they offered me a free oil change at my mazda dealer here in ca as well. when I got there they asked me whether I wanted the free oil change that would be 5w-20 or if I wanted to add some money for.the 0w-20 . I was very unhappy when they told me this and felt very betrayed by the dealer that treated me so well up until that point. they informed me of the same, that the car will run fine on conventional 5w-20 oil and that synthetic 0w-20 is for slightly better gas mileage and wont affect car performance at all. they wanted 25 bux for the synthetic oil and filter change, plus they rotated my tires and washed my car. all in all I figured that quaked star synthetic oil costs me about 18 bux plus a filter which is anywhere from $3-$6 depending on which one you get and I don't have to get all sweaty and s*** for them to do it for a couple dollars more, I just let them change it with synthetic. keep in mind though I wont be going back to them for any other service. they were supposed to give me a booklet outlining the cost of everything wheni bought my car but I guess it got lost or I never got it because the dealership was closing. so lesson learned and let's hope that our experiences will help people in the future save themselves some money and surprises. ill be changing my own oil from now on.

 

[Slow Paul]

Interesting the dealer went as far to divulge the info about the oil. As a Socal resident myself, I'm a bit curious as to what dealer this was (I'm assuming Romero as you location is Chino) because I had a similar experience when I went to Puente Hills Mazda to buy an oil filter a few months ago when I couldn't find one at the local parts store. The told me about the coupon and made it seem like the oil change was going to be with synthetic oil, but when I questioned just what oil would be used they played dumb. Needless to say I got my oil filter and left. Nothing wrong with that dealer at all, after all that is where I bought my 2. I even got the oil filter for around $8.00.

 

[maxuz]

UPDATE:

Spoke with the sales manager/service manager. They are both adamant that 5w20 is fine and perfectly safe to use. I'm a little pissed that they went the cheap route and are cutting corners, but at the same time I get free oil changes for 5 years... so 5w20 it'll be then I guess.

I told them I wanted a letter in writing saying that 5w20 is perfectly safe and won't void any warranties, they have agreed to give that to me.

I was thinking about forwarding that letter to Mazda and getting their opinion on the situation.

If you get the letter on a mazda dealer's letterhead, post it up here, please. I've had 2 dealers and a mobil I went to specifically tell me that mazda issued a notice that using anything other than 0-20 full-syn in the engine can void the engine warranty. The mobil went so far as to dig the bottle out of the trash so I could see it because i told them I usually change my own oil and they didn't want me to do anything that would risk it.

now *I* know that 5-20 won't do anything to the engine, but if something random were to happen to my engine due to a manufacturing flaw and they refused my warranty because I was running 5-20 instead of 0-20, i'd be pissed. But with two 2s in our household, being able to run a more readily available and more affordable oil in both of them is a not-insubstantial savings if we can get it on record from someone "official" that it's just a fuel economy thing (which it is)

 

[DrWebster]

...being able to run a more readily available and more affordable oil in both of them...

FWIW, Walmart carries Mobil 1 synthetic 0W20 for about $6.50/quart, and you only need 4 quarts.

 

[maxuz]

oh wow, either they've come down in price or it's much steeper in my area. I looked a couple weeks ago and it was around 8 bucks a pop.

still, i guess now that my wife doesn't have an hour commute we'll only be changing our oil 3-4 times a year, so even if it's 8 bucks, i'm only paying like 80 bucks more a month. not that big of a deal.

 

[MazdaTwo]

But with two 2s in our household, being able to run a more readily available and more affordable oil in both of them is a not-insubstantial savings if we can get it on record from someone "official" that it's just a fuel economy thing (which it is)

I just don't get it. The extra $1 per quart (if that)... so like $4 per oil change... or even be ridiculous and say the difference was $4 per quart, that would save you $16 on the oil change... but then your fuel economy would suffer for 5-7K miles (depending on your location and preferred interval). And you're still not using the oil that was spec'd by the engineers.

Not to mention, every Autozone/Advance Auto Parts I've been to carries 0-20 (mobile and castrol) and it's always the same price as the rest of the synthetic oils. The dealers buys 5-20 in bulk and that's how they save money, so the dealer isn't simply saying 0-20 is more expensive in general, they are passing the cost of doing business along to you, the customer. It's total BS and should not be stood for. I guarantee the DBs at the dealership aren't putting 5-20 in the skyactives, so why should the 2 be any different?

 

[maxuz]

yah, i came to that realization directly above your post

anyone who pays extra for premium fuel is also paying for something that doesn't cost the vendor any more. or higher SPF Sunscreen. Or txt messaging on your cell phone. It sucks every time, but, except for the people that change their own oil, pointing it out to the consumer isn't going to change the fact that they need to put oil in their car and the dealer is charging them more for the factory recommended oil.

The only real answer is to go get some ramps, get an drain pan, and do it yourself, but even then, the guys who have coupons for free oil changes and are only paying a small premium to go up to syn would probably pay less paying the premium over buying the oil and doing it themselves, and getting people to spend more on principle is never an easy thing to do.

 

[shaowq]

Interesting the dealer went as far to divulge the info about the oil. As a Socal resident myself, I'm a bit curious as to what dealer this was (I'm assuming Romero as you location is Chino) because I had a similar experience when I went to Puente Hills Mazda to buy an oil filter a few months ago when I couldn't find one at the local parts store. The told me about the coupon and made it seem like the oil change was going to be with synthetic oil, but when I questioned just what oil would be used they played dumb. Needless to say I got my oil filter and left. Nothing wrong with that dealer at all, after all that is where I bought my 2. I even got the oil filter for around $8.00.

i actually bought it from Tustin Mazda cuz i work in Orange and am really close to them. They were very nice in telling me that it wouldn't harm the engine, which I knew it wouldn't and seeing as I normally switch all my cars over to synthetic after the first 2-3 oil changes anyways, I went ahead and let them do it. But yeah, they treated me great up until that point.

 

[c7scayman]

What are you guys talking about?

5w-20 is allowed and does not affect gas mileage or reliability of the Mazda 2.

0w, 5w. That is the oil weight. In Cold weather, you are supposed to use one and in warm weather you use the other. As long as it is 0w-20 or 5w20. The 20 is the important part. The 0w or 5w depends on outside temperature or what season it is. Cost for 0w-20 should be the same for 5w-20.

I have worked as a technician at Jiffy Lube and learned all about oil. Also worked in car sales business for over 5 years.