Mazda 3 High Mileage Synthetic Oil change, should and can i ?

CTAZOOM

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04' MZ3 HB
I apologize if this EXACT thread is open but i have looked, a lot.

Some History.
I own a 2004 Mazda 3HB manual touring with 120xxx. I purchased it like so becuase it is in beautiful yellow condition, rare with one owner fully loaded. It uses regular oil, 87 octane.

Dilema.
I live in Boston and i hate it, roads and weather are horrible. This year was one of the coldest, snowiest season and i remember the car took time to warm up, using regular oil. Once it warmed it drove beautiful but when it is cold it rattles, go figure. I want to switch to synthetic oil and plus or super Octane to keep it in even better condition. I need something to make the engine grese and eat the oil faster, i believe it will better perform. Do you reccomend doing it?

if curious, here it is >> winter mess
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>> regular mess
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If you are asking if you should switch to synthetic oil? Yes, it flows better (faster) in cold weather and has little to no break-down over time. Also tends to be cleaner, little or no sludge. As far as fuel goes, 87 octane should be fine. I run 87 all the time in my 06 no problems. Hope that helps, cause I am not too sure what you were after. lol! Btw love the yellow. Good luck.
 
If you are asking if you should switch to synthetic oil? Yes, it flows better (faster) in cold weather and has little to no break-down over time. Also tends to be cleaner, little or no sludge. As far as fuel goes, 87 octane should be fine. I run 87 all the time in my 06 no problems. Hope that helps, cause I am not too sure what you were after. lol! Btw love the yellow. Good luck.

Thank you, lol shes my sunshine, well my second sunshine. So the issue was that i always believed regular oil is much thicker and dirtier than syntheitc and that you dont need to own a sports car to used synthetic, if you want your car to last and drive good. The second thing is that i live in Boston and i really want to wait less than 10 min for my car to warm up in the winter, its soo cold but dont want it to be too hot in the summer.
 
Did that particular model hatchback actually come in YELLOW??? I want another yellow MAZDA!!! I saw near downtown Dallas (TX) awhile back and thought, "he must've had it painted...I didn't think the 3 HB came in yellow." I could be wrong!
 
I have an 09 Mazda 3 GT..

It's my winter beater and it has 14xxx Km... so Whatever that is in miles...

It's had 2 Oil changes.
 
Synthetic is good stuff. Try switching to it... just keep an eye out for oil consumption. A buddy I work with had an 06 MZ3 with about 90k and when he switched to synthetic, it burned about 1.5qts of oil between changes at 5,000 miles. Not a big deal but just make a habit of checking it every 1k miles and you'll be fine.

As far as warming up... oil will make zero noticeable difference(unless it's all psychological...). Your car takes forever to heat up because it's cold as balls outside... get used to it. Synthetic oil will flow easier when cold so it gets to your vital engine parts a second or two quicker each time you cold start it. It also resists breaking down due to temperature and you can go longer on oil changes.

Are you expecting it to warm up to temp just idling and sitting still? If so don't do that... it's terrible for your cats and it's a waste of time... some cars will take over 20 min to get up to operating temp in cold weather when just idling. It will warm up fastest by just hopping in and driving. It will suck but you get used to it.

Things you can do that may need to be done/could be contributing to your warming up problems:
-Change and flush your coolant. Clean coolant transfers heat better.
-Change your thermostat... it just MIGHT be hanging slightly open when it should be completely closed, allowing coolant to flow before it's up to temp. Generally when it gets bad enough(thermostat stuck open), you will get a P0128 code because it takes too long to get to operating temp. FWIW if you do not have the CEL on for that, then it's pretty safe to bet there is nothing wrong with your warm up times as they are generally very sensitive to this.



FWIW I use the Mazda 5 year coolant, and will use it again when it comes time to replace it(I have an 09... not quite time yet). I use Mobil1 5w20 synthetic and change it every 5k miles. I have 36k miles on my car FWIW.

You should look into having a plug-in block heater installed. Basically it should replace one of the freeze plugs in your engine block, it has a 110v cord that comes out of it.. plug it in overnight and you have coolant that is mostly up to temperature and you have warmish air coming from the vents before you leave the driveway.
 
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What others have said. Switch to synthetic and you should be fine. I've been using Mobil 1 5w20 since about 20k miles (now at about 120k) without issue.

As far as gasoline octane don't start putting premium or super in your car. The engine was designed for 87 octane, not 89/91/93. The greater the octane the more the fuel resists igniting so you could end up with more gunk building up from not completely burning. Basically your car doesn't need it and it's a waste of money. If you want it for the fuel system cleaning properties then you'd be better off throwing a bottle of cleaner into the gas tank every once in a while.

To zero6three, the Mz3 did come in Solar Yellow in both the sedan and hatchback in the US for the 2004 year only. Next to the Carbon Gray Mica it's one of the rarest colors on the road.... again in the US.
 
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