Oil, knocking and Dashhawk

[keymaster]

Took my car to the dealer yesterday...I have been having a knocking issue that needed to be looked at, and while I was there I had the oil changed and a couple other things done (can't do big things like that in the condo garage). A couple things came from the day:

- The service guy said that Pennzoil synthetic is bad because it has a lot of paraffin in it that clogs up the oil passages. I've read here that Pennzoil is one of the good choices to use for our engines...any opinions?

- The knocking issue I have is not right. I had a Dashhawk log of what happened (65 on freeway, ~2500rpm, give it gas, boost kicks in full, knock goes up to 8) and the tech basically said that was wrong. They will contact Mazda about it when their service is open during the week and see what they say.

- After I got the car back, the Dashhawk only came up with a message of something like "PID4513 not found". No start up image, no menus, no response at all, and when I shut the car off it stayed powered on. I can't get it to communicate with the Dasshawk software either (though I haven't found the cable that comes with it, which might not be a standard USB cable). Any ideas on what might be going on with it?

Thanks.

 

[vrspeedemon]

They had your battery or dashhawk disconnected too long and the memory on the dashhawk wiped out due to no power...used to happen to me every dealer visit.

you should have your dashhawk profile saved on your computer, just plug it back in, resave your profile and youll be all set

 

[batou079]

wow, still havent solved that knock issue eh reed? that sux.
best of luck, i hope they actually can figure out a fix.

good to know about that penzoil ill steer clear just in case.
and speedemon is right about the DH, any mini USB to USB cable should work, just gotta reload your profile.

 

[keymaster]

wow, still havent solved that knock issue eh reed? that sux.
best of luck, i hope they actually can figure out a fix.

good to know about that penzoil ill steer clear just in case.
and speedemon is right about the DH, any mini USB to USB cable should work, just gotta reload your profile.

I'm not so sure about the Pennzoil, it's just what they said.

And, if any USB cable will work then it's dead because I've already tried one and the PC didn't see the Dashhawk at all. I'll try again and see if it can somehow connect this time...I can reload the firmware and profile if I can get it to connect up.

 

[keymaster]

They had your battery or dashhawk disconnected too long and the memory on the dashhawk wiped out due to no power...used to happen to me every dealer visit.

you should have your dashhawk profile saved on your computer, just plug it back in, resave your profile and youll be all set

And, this was the solution...once I found a proper USB cable that fit it worked. I did have to reload the Dashhawk firmware to get it to work again, and then put the profiles back in.

Amusing thing...the driver side door request button quit working when the Dashhawk was not working, but started working again after it was fixed. That one still has me puzzled...another thing to keep an eye on.

 

[the_caruch]

good to know about that penzoil ill steer clear just in case.

The service guy said that Pennzoil synthetic is bad because it has a lot of paraffin in it that clogs up the oil passages. I've read here that Pennzoil is one of the good choices to use for our engines...any opinions?

don't listen to the service guy. there is nothing wrong with Penzoil. I've been using it in my car since it had 2k on it. I recently switched to Penzoil Ultra. it's good stuff. i'm coming up on 20k with no problems.

a quote from another forum

"The word paraffin is a very common and basic term for base mineral oil. The MSDS sheets for many motor oils use the word paraffin to describe the main oil ingredient...as in "SOLVENT-DEWAXED HEAVY PARAFFINIC PETROLEUM," which is how Valvoline phrases it in their MSDS sheets.

Paraffin is the proper organic chemistry word for aliphatic hydrocarbons...more commonly known as oil. It is also the correct name for wax and candles. But there is as much difference between paraffin wax and paraffin oil as there is between a chestnut horse and a horse chestnut. They just aint the same thing. Don't matter whether you're talking about Pennzoil, Castrol, Valvoline or your wife's Christmas candles. If you like Pennzoil, use it worry free. Hope this helps."