SciFiMan

Just got my 2003 Protege last week as a dealer demo with 5400 miles on it. It has had two oil changes so far with natural oil but I would like to use fully synthetic oil. Is it to late to change now? Has there been enough wear that the tolerances are not like new? Could not find this doing a search......

Way back in the old days if you wanted to use synthetic oil you had to start it right away after the break in period. But maybe that rule no longer holds. My Civic (good riddence) lasted almost 15 years of daily commuting and I expect that from the Mazda too.

a223818

Nope. Go ahead. No issues. Make sure you stick with the same weight, 5W30 as Mazda recommends.

walight01

you can swtich to synthedic anytime, its jsut the sooner you do it, they better the results will be , if a car has 100K miles on it, you might not have a difference at all, but a 5400 miles, you will be alright.

gcs118

I actually heard switching to synthetic at high mileage can damage the engine, or it is at least harmful to a certain extent. Not sure how true this is, but just a thought. Also, I've been using synthetic 10W-30 without a problem. Screw 5W-30!

pingdum

I don't know, in Chicago at this time of year, you might want to stick with the 5w-30. I don't really need it down here, but it's a bit colder up there.

walight01

at high millage you should do a engine flush, b/c the synthedic will lossen up gunk and glog up the oil filter.

SciFiMan

Thanks to everyone for the help and advise. I was hoping that was the case.

Regards.



____________________
PIAA fog lights

Next month:
AEM short ram intake
Mazda strut tower bar
Cat back exhaust (not sure which brand yet)

ES2.0GT

how about when to switch to synthetic tranny oil?

I've got 4200 miles right now and i plan on going to synthetic motor oil at 6200

but would 5000 be good for tranny oil?

pingdum

I thought about doing the same thing at 15,000(check out this thread ) but after checking the manual I don't think our trannies are really designed for it so I think I'll just wait for like 50,000 and then just change it with regular.

ES2.0GT

well, atf fluid is different from manual tranny oil, im looking for some insight on that. Thanks.

a223818

Same as switching your engine oil. Do it whenever you want. I have tried Mobil 1 synthetic and just changed this weekend again to MT 90. I found the MT 90 to be much better, especially cold weather.

As far as engine oil goes, I would not recommend running 10W30. It is thicker and newer engines are much tighter tolerence wise. Stick to what the manufacturer tells you to use. Most engine wear occurs when you start the engine. The thicker the oil the longer it will take to pump around.

gcs118

Are there any reputable online retailers of Redline's MT-90 gear oil?

carguycw

They have a list of mail order dealers on their website.

http://www.redlineoil.com/dealers.htm

I've always bought mine from Motorsport Sales in Dallas, and they're really nice folks, but I've always bought it in person rather than mail ordering it. However, the list on the website is a *distributor* list, not a list of every single individual dealer; try calling the distributor nearest to you, they may sell it to some neighborhood speed shop or auto parts store that's a lot closer to you than the distributor itself, although the local shop may mark up the price.

Good luck!

gcs118

Thanks for the help, I'll be on the phone this next week.

pingdum

Well, duh....I guess I got my terms wrong, when you said tranny oil I thought you had an A/T. I've always said gear oil when talking about manual. My