Wrong Oil! HELP!!!

[PCspeed3]

So today I noticed that my dealer put 5-20 in my car instead of 5-30 and I am really pissed off.
The regular Mazda 3 takes 5-20 oil, it also takes 2 quarts less oil than the MS3.
So now what I am guessing is that they put 2 quarts less than needed of the WRONG oil in my car.
I am going to take it in tomarrow and bitch, in the mean time, how can I tell if my car is hurt?
(this very well could be a factor in the smoking turbo issue) Thanks for your help.

[oldnotdead]

I think you really should check your dipstick to determine if it's two quarts low. If they have had you that low on oil that should be documented for future reference. In my opinion that could be as serious or more serious as running the wrong weight oil for a short period. I'm curious how long you have driven the car since it was serviced. Also of interest of course is the manner in which you have driven since the oil was changed.

Makes me glad I change my own even though it's a pain in the butt this time of year.

[sephiroth]

short term use won't hurt the car(ie you got it serviced today and noticed it was the wrong weight), just make sure it's at the full mark and take it easy on the gas. enjoy the temporary 1mpg gain.

As far as suggesting documenting the wrong weight, I would do it, but in the long term it won't matter. If your motor or turbo goes in 4 months that could defentaly be used as evidence however.

[MTuning]

i would check the oil level from your mz3 comment but a lighter weight isn't going to be catastrophic. the starting weight is fine if your not getting cold weather. relax. go in and show them your owners manual. btw, they changed your oil with that turbo?

[sephiroth]

i would check the oil level from your mz3 comment but a lighter weight isn't going to be catastrophic. the starting weight is fine if your not getting cold weather. relax. go in and show them your owners manual. btw, they changed your oil with that turbo?

why not? it's maintiance not warranty service.

[MTuning]

well its documented and it could come into play if he needs warranty services down the line.

[PCspeed3]

So I just checked the oil and the level seems to be fine, just under max on the dipstick. So I am breathing a big sigh of relief,
my theory is that they put 5-20 in because it rarely gets up above 45 degrees where I live in the winter, so the lighter oil should be just fine for the winter.
Thanks everyone for the replies, I was freaking out there for a second! (wiggle)

[sephiroth]

So I just checked the oil and the level seems to be fine, just under max on the dipstick. So I am breathing a big sigh of relief,
my theory is that they put 5-20 in because it rarely gets up above 45 degrees where I live in the winter, so the lighter oil should be just fine for the winter.
Thanks everyone for the replies, I was freaking out there for a second! (wiggle)

it's the winter, your oil temps probaly won't get high enough to take advantage of the extra weight unless you like to floor it at every light. You could probaly get away with the thinner oil for the whole oil change, but do what makes you feel better.

[PCspeed3]

One more question, (total noob BTW) I will be putting on a full TBE soon, do you think I should go back to 5-30 oil just to be safe? I have been hearing stories about smoking turbos if the wrong oil is used, especially with aftermarket exhausts.....

[GoFast]

So I just checked the oil and the level seems to be fine, just under max on the dipstick. So I am breathing a big sigh of relief,
my theory is that they put 5-20 in because it rarely gets up above 45 degrees where I live in the winter, so the lighter oil should be just fine for the winter.
Thanks everyone for the replies, I was freaking out there for a second! (wiggle)


while that is a good theory you are giving the dealership too much credit. the reality of it is that they just grabbed the hose that was there(5w-20) and stuck it in your oil hole. Considering the majority of the oil requirements for mazdas is 5w-20 that is in the auto feed tube. its all about getting em in and out as fast as possible not making sure you get the best thing for you car. go in there and tell them you want 5w-30 next time and see what the reciept says. it will say customer requested 5w-30 and then filled with 5w-20(boom07)

[stageup]

rofl same exact shit happened to me
told them the ms3 takes 5w30 and the service manager
said that all their receipts show 5w20 no matter what
but the techs know that it needs 5w30......

so i showed him my first oil change and it said 5w30
so what did he do? just wrote a new receipt for me
that said 5w30.... and said it's fine.

i just used my last free oil change from buying the car
and i'll be changing my own oil from now on so oh well.
car is running fine.

[MikeHTally]

One more reason to NEVER let the dealer perform maintenance. Yep, they put 5w-20 in 'cause they didn't know better.

[Je5ter]

OMG do you people seriously think that putting 5-20 in over 5-30 is really going to damage anything??? :/

[FrequentFlyer]

OMG do you people seriously think that putting 5-20 in over 5-30 is really going to damage anything??? :/

Who knows? The point is, these people should do their F'ing jobs correctly and not falsify documents.

I got free oil changes for life when I bought my MS3. Guess how many of those I've cashed in over the last 15,000 miles. None.

[Je5ter]

I know, the answer is no. Fuck people are humans they make mistakes, and this one is not a big deal for anyone to get their panties in a bunch over. Stop with the crying and worry about something that actually matters.

Who knows? The point is, these people should do their F'ing jobs correctly and not falsify documents.

I got free oil changes for life when I bought my MS3. Guess how many of those I've cashed in over the last 15,000 miles. None.

[coololddude]

The dealer using 5W-20 instead of 5W-30 probably did more damage to you than the engine!!

[khoney]

Actually, the 2007 Mazdaspeed Factory Service Manual specifies an oil viscosity of 5W-20 for the L3 with Turbocharger. Isn't that interesting...

[arkenzo]

OMG do you people seriously think that putting 5-20 in over 5-30 is really going to damage anything??? :/

Considering the euro spec Speed3 recommends 5w40 and the early Speed3 shop manuals were recommending 5w20, something tells me that politics play a heavy roll on the USA Speed3 oil recommendations (you'll get more gas mileage with 5w20 than you will with 5w40).

On a turbo that oil/water cooled, it's crucial to have the correct weight of oil for proper seal lubrication, so is it going to damage something in the short run? Probably not, is it going to damage something in the long run? Probably will.

A lot of people with early 2007's and 2008's had oil recommendations of 5w20 and had smoking turbos....Forum advice was to switch to a heavier weight of oil, 5w40 solved their smoking issue. But not after the car was beaten hard for thousands of miles with cheap 5w20 oil.

I think the best oil for the car is either 10w30 or if you have 50+hp more with mods, 10w40 semi-synthetic.

[khoney]

I used 10W-30 Mobil 1 since day 1 on my stock '07. Still got a smoking turbo (replaced under warranty).

[phillyb]

So today I noticed that my dealer put 5-20 in my car instead of 5-30 and I am really pissed off.
The regular Mazda 3 takes 5-20 oil, it also takes 2 quarts less oil than the MS3.
So now what I am guessing is that they put 2 quarts less than needed of the WRONG oil in my car.
I am going to take it in tomarrow and bitch, in the mean time, how can I tell if my car is hurt?
(this very well could be a factor in the smoking turbo issue) Thanks for your help.

i didn't read any of this thread, but i noticed my oil was filled with 5-20 as well. i'm super pissed. but i'm not going to do anything about it. i'll just change the fucking oil

[Alexsered]

I know, the answer is no. Fuck people are humans they make mistakes, and this one is not a big deal for anyone to get their panties in a bunch over. Stop with the crying and worry about something that actually matters.

there was a thread somewhere on hear about people having seal problems on their turbos and them using 5w20. There were also some people that had their turbo's smoking but once they switched to a 5w30, the turbo's didn't smoke anymore. I know enough about oil, and I would never put 5w20 in a turbo'd car, I started with 5w30 and now am with 10w30.

[phillyb]

this shit's been in there for 5k, no smoke. i just realized this last week or the week before.
instead of 10-30, which only makes the oil thicker when it's cold...one should try 5-40

[arkenzo]

this shit's been in there for 5k, no smoke. i just realized this last week or the week before.
instead of 10-30, which only makes the oil thicker when it's cold...one should try 5-40

10w30 isn't just thicker oil in cold temperatures..Do some research and then report back .

[souper]

The same thing happened to me when I brought mine in for a change. I called up and asked about it and they told me the tech knows to put 5w-30 and the receipt is generic. They told me not to worry and that 5w-30 was used. I don't know how much truth there was, but these guys are the top rated dealer around in customer satisfactory so I would think if they fucked up they would make it right rather lie about it. Next time i'm bringing the oil in myself unless weather permits self service.

[phillyb]

10w30 isn't just thicker oil in cold temperatures..Do some research and then report back .

cold temps outside?
no, i mean when the oil is cold or warm.
also, i was comparing 10-30 to 5-30

taken from howstuffworks.com



The centistoke rating is converted into the SAE weight designation using a chart like the one shown on the Superior Lubricants Web site.

Multi-weight oils (such as 10W-30) are a new invention made possible by adding polymers to oil. The polymers allow the oil to have different weights at different temperatures. The first number indicates the viscosity of the oil at a cold temperature, while the second number indicates the viscosity at operating temperature. This page from the Sci.Electronics.Repair FAQ offers the following very interesting description of how the polymers work:

At cold temperatures, the polymers are coiled up and allow the oil to flow as their low numbers indicate. As the oil warms up, the polymers begin to unwind into long chains that prevent the oil from thinning as much as it normally would. The result is that at 100 degrees C, the oil has thinned only as much as the higher viscosity number indicates. Another way of looking at multi-vis oils is to think of a 20W-50 as a 20 weight oil that will not thin more than a 50 weight would when hot.

source - http://auto.howstuffworks.com/question164.htm

taken from yahoo answers



The viscosity is different. The 10w is the cold viscosity, 10 being thinner than 20. The second number is the hot viscosity, 30 being thinner than 40. So at cold temps these oils will flow the same. At hot temps the 10w-30 will flow easier than the 10w-40.

source - http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070710075248AAlZq8x

did we misunderstand each other?
or are you just wrong?

[arkenzo]

did we misunderstand each other?
or are you just wrong?

wow...Relax....

I wasn't quite referring to temperature affects only, there has been quite some research done on testing different types of oil weight, some studies show that 10w30 contains higher-grade detergents and does not degrade oil viscosity over 3-4K miles on a pig-rich engine like our 2.3 DISI engine...This was compared to 5w30.


I for one am a firm believer that the above statement is true, I used to use 5w30 and compared it to 10w30, my 5w30 oil seemed to smell like fuel and when checked for consistency, it looked like 5w20. 10w30 oil on my car after 4K miles had no fuel smell and consistency was in check.

Now it's time to test my 10w40
Thanks.(wink)

[phillyb]

cool. do it

[coololddude]

The W stands for Winter not Weight.

[arkenzo]

The W stands for Winter not Weight.

I'm sure everyone already knew that....(ugh)

[builthatch]

I'm sure everyone already knew that....(ugh)

on this forum? you'd be surprised....

[Alexsered]

there is a maximum "weight" our turbo's bearings can handle, if I remember correctly I think it was 40. There was a long write up on a website and I promise that as soon as I find it, I will post it. But it was refering to the turbo model, not the engine model.

[PCspeed3]

I talked to my service manager today and she said that even though the stickr says 5W-20 my car has always had 5W-30 put in it. She said that 90% or more of the cars that she deals with take 5-20 and that they simply dont change what is printed on the sticker. She assured me that the tech would write on the paper work that my car recieves 5-30 each time I come in for an oil change. That still dosint make me 100% confident that Joe Blow in the back is putting 5-30 in my car. But its good that she knows now I guess.

[Mocoso]

on this forum? you'd be surprised....

On any forum - I doubt 20% of those on any car forum know the W stands for Winter and not weight

[MikeHTally]

... the stickr says 5W-20 my car has always had 5W-30 put in it... Riiiiiggghhhhhhttttt.