Oil Change… 3k, 5k, or 7.5k?

[jandree22]

How often do you guys change your oil… 3,000mi, 5,000mi, or 7,500mi? The Owners Manual Schedule has you choose between 5k and 7.5k intervals, but common practice is usually 3k.

[njaremka]

the oil companies are the only ones that benefit from a 3000 mile oil change. you should be fine with 5000 basedon modern engine manufacture tolerances and modern oil technologies. with full synthetic, you can be good up to 10,000 miles. i believe the new corvette has 15,000 mile oil change intervals. (on mobil 1)

[zoomzoom mazda5]

Change my oil every 3500 miles

[the_saint]

I go every 5k miles, and I run semi-synth.

[paging_drburgos]

im around 4,500

[Andrewsmc]

I change mine just cuz im OCD about the damn car every 2500 and keep the reciept(for when we sell it) (if we do)

[B1GHAM]

I change mine between 3-5k miles... USUALLY 3k but I have let it go until 5k. I know I dont HAVE to change my oil that frequently (3k), but I also drive my car harder than "normal driving" so I figure its preventative maintenance... esp. on a turbocharged vehicle.

[bulwnkl]

I approach this differently than most. I analyze the oil and see how far I can go. 5,000 miles has been OK so far, but then we take quite a few extended highway trips. If you really want to know, sample the oil and see.

[jandree22]

I’m thinking of opting for the 5k as specified in the OM, but I was sort of caught off guard when the Service Advisor suggested it after 3.5k miles while it was in for unrelated service. I decided to get it changed to at least get the new-car-oil-nasties out of there, plus I had a free oil change coupon from when I bought the car :)

I plan to get another change at 6.5k, then 10k, then 5k intervals from that point on.

[olddaddy]

The way I read the Maintenance Heavy Duty Driving schedule (which applies to most) oil and filter changes should be done every 5k or every 4 months.

[Wytchdctr]

5k

[2cam16]

3k or 3 months, whichever I can afford for both cars.

[dommo_g]

Manual says 5k, I go with 5k. My SRT I change every three. Mazda gets 5w-20 Mobil1, and the Dodge gets 5w-30 Royal Purple.

Oil is cheaper than metal.

[Partsguy]

I go 8,ooo K with Mobile1. I keep all the receipts to prove I changed the oil according to the manual. I've had the car for 10 months and just crossed 22,000 Km's.

Go full synthetic or dino-oil. The synthetic blend really makes no difference.

[Rocket]

I have 30,000 miles in 13 months. I use the 5,000 mile schedule.

[mountjonas]

5k.

[MD5]

I was changing it at 4k using Mobil1, but this last change 2 days ago, the oil didn't really look that bad.

I think I'll change it at 5k the next time and see how it looks and go from there.

Matt

[chuyler1]

4K +/- 500mi.

[irloyal]

I...snip...
Go full synthetic or dino-oil. The synthetic blend really makes no difference.

Actually it is the additive package that makes the difference in Dino's. And a semi-synth typically has a better additive package for high mileage engines.

FWIW, I recommend running mobile 1 5K formula and testing your oil. Do the 5000 test first and establish a base line, then stretch the oil change by 2000 mile intervals until you see changes in the oil results. When you start to see carbons go up, or reductions in esters or oxygenation you are going to far.

Here is a great resource:
http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/

[07MZ5SA]

@ 3.75K w/ OEM filter and Exxon 5W-20.

@ 7.5K will go either OEM or PureOne and Mobil 1 0W-20 or 5W-20.

I get the benefit of synthetic protection and maximum (factory allowable) OCI.

Besides, removing lower engine shield is a pain.

[bulwnkl]

07MZ5SA, be advised that the PureOne oil filter crushes and twists noticeably in this application. So does the Wix, though perhaps slightly less. The OEM filter is the way to go and is definitely NOT the limiting factor for OCI.

Separately, I've just changed after a 9,000+ mile OCI with Red Line. I took a sample and will have the analysis back in probably a couple weeks.

[07MZ5SA]

07MZ5SA, be advised that the PureOne oil filter crushes and twists noticeably in this application. So does the Wix, though perhaps slightly less. The OEM filter is the way to go and is definitely NOT the limiting factor for OCI.


Which part of filter element is easily crushable?

Are you referring to pleated area gets deformed when filter cap is installed and compressing the circular ends?

[Wytchdctr]

I saw it on mine, went OEM on the last oil change. That really bothered me.

[geezerz99]

Every 4k on Mobil1.. been doing the same set up on every car i owned since dirt was young.

[bulwnkl]

Which part of filter element is easily crushable?

Are you referring to pleated area gets deformed when filter cap is installed and compressing the circular ends?

You can see pictures of my last NAPA Gold (Wix) at this URL:
on BITOG (http://theoildrop.server101.com/forums/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=353449&page=0&fpart=2&vc=1).

I use the same username there and my Wix is on page 2. The Purolator pictured on page 1 of that thread is NOT mine. Mine did not look that bad, but was part way between the appearance of that PureOne and my Wix in that thread. HOWEVER, my PureOne's pleats were not damaged at all, whereas my Wix's pleats appeared as though they may have been compromised.

I received my analysis report back from my ~9,200-mile drain interval, and it looked very good. I was running Red Line and the oil itself was in fine shape and ready for thousands more miles. The issue, though, was fuel dilution. I had 1.5% fuel in the oil and that had been causing more wear than I'd have had without it. No biggie, but still more than perfect. Did you all know that Mazda's ECU programming dumps lots of fuel in on purpose to light the catalyst up quicker? It's an emissions-control thing, but it dumps so much that a little bit of it blows past the rings and into the oil. I'll be trying another strategy to reduce the issue this time. Fortunately, the Red Line oil protected like a champ despite the fuel and all is well.

[PolarBear]

How often do you change oil when you don't have to drive a lot?
Currently I drive around 400 mi per month. If I go just by mileage I'll have to change oil once per year :-)
I know about Mazda schedule every 4 month

[MD5]

@ 3.75K w/ OEM filter and Exxon 5W-20.

@ 7.5K will go either OEM or PureOne and Mobil 1 0W-20 or 5W-20.

I get the benefit of synthetic protection and maximum (factory allowable) OCI.

Besides, removing lower engine shield is a pain.

I don't remove the shield anymore. I cut an access hole in it.

The next time I do a change, I'll post a pic.

Matt

[Boston5761]

The P5 gets 4-5K oil change intervals.

[da1nonly]

Can someone please verify what it says in the 2006 manual about oil change intervals for Canada? The dealership told me that older model Mazda5s have to come in for oil changes at 4000KM but the newer 2007 models can come in at every 8000KM... I have the 2007 manual...

THANKS!

[daonly1around]

when i remember too...

[smmra]

Can someone please verify what it says in the 2006 manual about oil change intervals for Canada? The dealership told me that older model Mazda5s have to come in for oil changes at 4000KM but the newer 2007 models can come in at every 8000KM... I have the 2007 manual...

THANKS!

There is no significant differences between an 06 & an 07 - the scheduled maintenance is the same. For Canada, follow schedule 2 - oil change every 4 months or 8000 km. Here is page out of the 06 manual:
104231

[da1nonly]

Thanks!!! that's what I thought. I called the service departments of several dealerships (in the GTA) to get a guage/recommendation on when would be the best time to come in for the first oil change... My dealership was pushing for me to come in early...

I received several different responses...

"do not come early... wait until 4months or 8K (km) because the oil from the factory/dealership has special addititves that need to break the engine in"

"i know the manual says to come in at 8K but come in at 4k becuz its the first change and would be a good time to get a checkup on your vehicle"

"the manual says 4M or 8K but we suggest earlier (5K) becuz some oil may have trace amounts of metal shavings..."

"4M or 8K, whichever comes first... that's what it says in your manual... earlier is ok too but there's no problem if you go by your manual"

"what model is yours? 2007? 8K is fine... we only told people to come in every 4K if they had the older mazda5s"

I guess you can't go wrong if it says so in the manual... but it's funny how they don't have one consistent answer... those that said to come in earlier changed their tune once i mentioned what it said on the manual...

[Kid Red]

I read recently that newer car engines, running smoother, more efficient and better oils lead to longer oil change times. Meaning every 3k is outdated. I go 7,500 to 8k.

[07MZ5SA]

And better gasoline formulation.

[mietaa]

This is rather interesting.

In northern Europe the OCI is 20000 km (~12,4K miles). This is normal for any new gasoline powered car, and then there's the longlife oils with up to 50000 km OCI (not on Mazdas though). Now, i'm not that much in love with my ride that I'd want to do an oil change every 3-4 months or pay someone to do it..

[Sponge]

I got a 3/36 mile oil change card when I bought ours. Its good for every 3K mile oil change and 6K mile tire rotation...so that's how often I am getting it.

Easy for the wife drop, sit in the lobby for 1/2 hour, go and I am all about easy for the wife.

[timur]

I use full-synth Mobil 1 and I change the oil every 6 months. We do about 10K miles/year.

[dommo_g]

I use full-synth Mobil 1 and I change the oil every 6 months. We do about 10K miles/year.

There's speculation as to whether Mobil1 is still a full synthetic. They've done some recent reformulation, and they have a patent application for a type of a blend of Group III and Group IV base stocks. Not saying it's not good oil, just saying it may no longer be "true" synthetic.

Google it for more details and discussion.

[tehturbo]

^ Neons have ugly butts :P

[Wytchdctr]

There's speculation as to whether Mobil1 is still a full synthetic. They've done some recent reformulation, and they have a patent application for a type of a blend of Group III and Group IV base stocks. Not saying it's not good oil, just saying it may no longer be "true" synthetic.

Google it for more details and discussion.

I didn't think that was speculation anymore and just fact. I use it knowing its not a "full" in my cars. I was using Royal Purple, a true full syn., until they jumped a full dollar per quart. That and the fact that you can get jugs of mobil1 at walmart helped change the brand I use (lol2)

[Kojack]

Im going to be running 35,000 km oil changes on amsoil 3000 with amsoil filter after break in.

[07MZ5SA]

Amsoil only list Wix oil filter for MZ5 2.3L.

http://www.amsoil.com/storefront/detail.aspx?ID=8494

[Kojack]

oh...damn. i never looked in my price list yet...so what you do then is change the filter every 8k and oil every 35k...thats kms to btw

[tehturbo]

I think you mean 3.5k

[Kojack]

I think you mean 3.5k


nope...35k.....amsoil can go very long distances before needing a change...if you want some info on it, i can def send you an information package. I have been on extended drain intervals for everything i own for the past 2 years now.