oh, i've had the car for a little over 2 months, and have 6,500 km on it now.

 

If synthetic is that cheap then I should put it in my car too. Last time I checked it was still pretty expensive. Maybe the price has come down.

Off topic here.

I got my oil changed for free at a dodge dealer for
the first year I had my car. (My stepdad gave me that gift for christmas). Anyway, when it ran out I took my car to the mazda dealer to get the oil changed. They said my warranty could be void if my engine had problems because I didn;t get the OEM filter from the Mazda Dealer. I had a generic one put in at the Dodge dealer. What kind of crap is that He said that the mazda OEM filter has an extra valve in it and that it is better.

I personally think they just want my business and are trying to scare me into getting my oil changes done there.

 

I asked my Mazda service guy today if there was anything special about the Mazda oil filter and he said that there was not. So either my guy is dumb / doesn't care, or your guy lied.

I'm at about 1100 miles, and I went out and bought 4 quarts of CastrolGTX 10w-30. I live in maryland, where it gets hot in the summer (got up to 99 today) and pretty cold in the winter. Should I be using 10w-30 or 5w-30? Also, can someone give me a list of ALL of the things I'll NEED to do an oil change? I'd prefer to not spend 40 bucks on ramps and wrenches and stuff.

I also bought a Mazda filter (wow that thing is tiny).
I hear the factory filter is really hard to remove, any tips?

 

*** clears throat, in Moderator voice ***

do a search...... on 'oil change'.....

 

bought my 91 LX new in Dec '90 with 15 miles...

broke it in...varied the rpms on the interstate by driving between 50-60mph and occasionally shifting between 5th and 4th gears.

when i got to the magic 600 mile mark.... ....well lets just say i had fun revving it some!!
actually i remember that night - streets were empty and i took it to 7000rpm 3 or 4 times

1st oil change at 1,500 miles...used dyno oil(can't remember which brand) for the 1st 20,000 or so miles; then i went on a diet of Mobil1, Pennzoil Performax(it was cheaper)....even used slick50 once!!

so now my car is at 197,000 miles and i have had NO problems with the engine; it uses(loses) oil...but i don't thing its really burning ANY - probably just leaky seals/gaskets.

looking back...the one thing i've thought i would do differently is *gradually* bringing it up to redline over the 1st 1,000 miles - instead of bam! 600 miles means REDLINE!!!

then again, what i did evidently was just fine for the engine...why change anything?

 

I actually did do a search before my original post. Didn't find any good info. There's a lot of conflicting stories about when to put in synthetic and how much it helps or doesn't help or whatever (I've decided to stay with dino for now, but I'll go to mobil1 at 5 or 10k). There's also a story about how the stock filter has 15 flat sides, but the mazda filter I just bought (which is supposed to be the same as the one in the car) has 14 flat sides. I also found that a 19mm wrench should be used for the drain plug. I know I can get rhino ramps for 30 bucks or whatever, but is there a way to do it that does not require spending much money? Should I put the thing up on the curb, or will that not be enough of a rise? I am told that it is not safe to simply jack the car up. If I get a wrench for the stock filter, will it work on a purolator filter if I get one later? etc...

 

hey guys, i got my brand new 323 serviced 2day with 1600kms on the clock. im not sure what that is in miles as im from Oz Land!!

 

ah, some ORIGINAL and CONCISE questions, now I will throw in my comments

regarding when to switch to synthetic, as you've seen, opinions vary widely from person to person. What's my take on all these comments? To me, basically these comments say to me, I can switch to synthetic whenever I feel comfortable doing it, be that at the very first oil change, or at 20,000 miles.

as for the oil filter issue, may I suggest a more pragmatic solution? Instead of trying to remove the impossibly tight filter from the factory by yourself, why not let the dealer/oil change place do your first oil change? You can do all the oil changes yourself afterward WITHOUT a filter wrench, because subsequent filters are all installed BY HAND by the mechanics, and they are very easy to take off with your bare hands. Waiting one oil change to start doing your own oil change wouldn't hurt you much now would it?

and as to equipments for oil change. you WILL need to lift up the car to be able to go under the engine far enough to reach the filter. If you're not planning to work on your wheels/tires yourself, ramps (Rhinoramps are very good) are probably a better choice compared to a hydraulic jack along with a pair of jackstands. You just drive your car up the ramp and you're ready to go under the car. With the jack/jackstand combo, you have to jack up the car, place jackstands, and repeat on the other side of the car. You WILL need a lot of clearance under the car to move your arm around to reach stuff, so just lifting up one side of the car won't work.

yes, the initial investment in equipments is quite steep when compared to the $20 quick lube, but it will pay for itself in the long run, plus you'll have the satisfaction of a job well done

so for now, go return all those silly filter wrenches, take your car to the dealer/lube joint for its first change, then enjoy!

 

1.6km = 1 mile

so you did your service at 1000 miles

congrats on your new car

 

A good set of ramps is a MUST for somebody that wants to work on their own car. I use mine constantly. In terms of safety, ramps work fine. If you want to jack it up and work on it, get a set of jackstands to support it. You can always wedge the jackstands in there for a little extra peace of mind. I have a set of two 2-ton jackstands, which I use to support the car whenever I need to be under it. Buy the ramps, you'll be glad you did.

 

thanx dude. ill be posting pics real soon.

 

First I would like to express my apprieciation for all the info and advice on this forum. I am picking up my new MP5 today. That explains why I'm up at 4 am. Too exited to sleep. I read on another group how you can use an oil filter from a Mazda 6 cylinder on the 2.0 engine. It said this is a better filter and increases your capacity slightly. Has anyone here ever done that?

 

my car is running with the v6 filter as we speak

the v6 filter is about an inch taller than the regular Protege filter, so it has a bigger filtering capacity, hence it should last longer than the 4 cylinder filter

 

If you want advice that has very little bias then listen up.

The past 2 weeks I have researched everything possible about motor oil and that includes the "Marketed Synthetics" that everyone hypes up, to the lowly $1/qt (USD) oils that allot of people eschew.

To save bandwidth, if you want some in-depth info about motor oils of today then email me privately and I'll mail you some info written by chemists that sheds some light on how to better choose an oil for your engine.

From what I have found, there are a few types of "base oils" (oil that form the actual basis of a motor oil).

Base I oils- solvent refined or even hydrotreated petrol distillates.

Base II oil- base oils that are "hydrocracked" & pure. They are colourless and odourless. They also have a Very High Viscosity Index. Int he future, all 'cheap' motor oils will use this as their base oil. Only a few companies use this base oil for their regular oils. (i.e. a $1/qt motor oil). Because hydrocrakced oils are so pure they contain almost no wax that will sludge up in high or low temps.

Companies that use this base oil in their conventional formulations are: BP, Chevron, Royal Dutch/Shell, AGIP & Pennzoil. But only a few oil MANUFACTURERS make it and sell it to other oil companies.

Base III-ISO-DEWAXED or hydroisomerised base oil. This is made the same way as a hydrocracked oil but remains in the 'cracker' longer and at higher pressures and temps. This produces and even higher VHVI oil that contians almost or no impurities. Most synt. oils on the market today are a combo of base III and base II oils. They can be just as good however, as some PAO based syn. oils.

Base IV- your regular PAO based syn. oils.

The trick here is to find a great oil that will suit YOUR needs/wants. I personally wouldnt not pay $5/qt for any sy. oil in stores-not even Mobil 1. IMHO, you should look for a good base II oil with good flash points and viscosity points int he temp. ranges your engine will operate and change it every 2K miles.

If you do want a syn. oil then consider the following:

Castrol SLX 0W-30. Awesome oil but cost around $7/qt-in Europe!! This is an extended drain interval oil and unlike Syntec is a REAL syn. oil. Its is not available though in the U.S.

Or, BMW's synthetic oil for $3.80/qt. Its a 5W-30 but it exceeds the ACEA A3-B3 standards which NO synthetic that I have found can do in a 0W-30 or 5W-30 viscosity. Not even Mobil 1.

Here are, IMHO some great base II oils that range from $1/qt-$2.20/qt(USD).

Chevron Supreme (use their ISO-SYN base oils), BP Visco Sport (a semi-synthetic oil that only cost $2.20/qt at BP Connect. Also outperforms Castrol Syntec and many other semi-synthetics.), and Agip SMO (They are the ONLY company that says outright that they use base II oils for their "regular" oil.

I dont know everything, i am still just learning. But if you want to talk about this further then, email me privately.

 

Just to let you know, just got my car back from Mazda, (MS shortblock, and internals), and off the phone with the hotline, they advised wait 20,000 Mi before running synthetic. Just to let you know.