First Service

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rickypicky

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2016 Touring AWD CX-5
I've had my 2016 CX-5 for about 2 months now and love it. I have about 1600 miles on it so far. On Sunday, we're driving to the beach and staying a week. The round trip is about 1000 miles.

My question is should I take it in for it's first service before we leave? What would you do?
 
I don't think it's necessary. First service should be after 5k miles at minimum, and even after your road trip you're going to be under 3k. It's a new car - what do you think needs to be done? All they do at the first service is change your oil and check your fluid levels. Your oil definitely doesn't need to be changed and you can check your levels yourself, though they should have all been topped off when they prepped the car for you when you bought it. Before your trip - and before any trip - you should check your tire pressure.
 
socalcx-5 said:
... Before your trip - and before any trip - you should check your tire pressure.
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Great point. Many people ignore this. Do the same at season changing time. I also put in 38 lbs which is 3 lbs over recommended pressure.

To OP, you don't need the first service at less than 3K- miles and 2+ months. 5K ~ 7.5K miles or 6 months should be sufficient. Do ask your dealer what kind of oil they are using. My dealer uses an unknown brand 0w-20 oil if you don't ask. I'd ask for Mazda Moly 0W-20 oil which is the same as factory filled oil in your engine.
 
rickypicky said:
I've had my 2016 CX-5 for about 2 months now and love it. I have about 1600 miles on it so far. On Sunday, we're driving to the beach and staying a week. The round trip is about 1000 miles.

My question is should I take it in for it's first service before we leave? What would you do?
Click to expand...

At 1-1500 miles, I usually change the rear diff and transmission fluid (in manuals, not autos). Also the oil (unless specified NOT to by the manufacturer).

Why? You can argue all you want about refined processes, but initial break-in of ANY mechanical device is going to cause wear and wear metals to be higher. I challenge anyone to pull a UOA from a new CX5 and a 30K mile old CX5 using the same oil and refute this. I notice it on my M4's, I notice it in UOA's, I notice it anywhere that two parts slide against each other. Wear happens in a decreasing curve.


All that said...the owner's manual is very specific about when the first diff fluid change is to occur. It is nebulous on the first oil-change. Since the diff fluid change is so cheap, I'd be tempted to do it as well as the first oil change. Realistically? I'd just do it when you got back. But it probably won't matter over the life of the vehicle.
 
yrwei52 said:
Great point. Many people ignore this. Do the same at season changing time. I also put in 38 lbs which is 3 lbs over recommended pressure.

To OP, you don't need the first service at less than 3K- miles and 2+ months. 5K ~ 7.5K miles or 6 months should be sufficient. Do ask your dealer what kind of oil they are using. My dealer uses an unknown brand 0w-20 oil if you don't ask. I'd ask for Mazda Moly 0W-20 oil which is the same as factory filled oil in your engine.
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Why the 38 lbs? Mine had about 40 lbs in each tire when I drove it off the dearler lot and I deflated each to about 36 lbs.

And yes, I did read the owner's manual Robert. Just thought I might possibly get some other opinions on the subject :)
 
rickypicky said:
Why the 38 lbs? Mine had about 40 lbs in each tire when I drove it off the dearler lot and I deflated each to about 36 lbs.
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We picked up the CX-5 on the same day it was delivered to the dealer. Apparently our dealer didn't do the tire pressure and oil level check. Tire pressures were from 35~38 lbs and oil level was at 3/4 between maximum/minimum marks. My friend's CX-5 getting from the same dealer from the lot was having 38 lbs all around. I put in 38 lbs all around (when the tires are cold in the morning before I start the engine) based on my best guess from past experience. If I follow manufacture's tire pressure specification, it'll always be too low which makes tires wearing on both sides more. Our '98 Honda CR-V would be 26 lbs according to owner's manual but I have to put in 35 lbs just to make sure the thread wear is even. In the old days the owners manual always suggested that you need to put at least 3 more lbs to the specified tire pressure if you're going to drive on the highway. Putting in a little more air on tires can save a little gas too.
 
GP 2004 said:
Why don't you change the ATF as well?
Click to expand...

For one, Mazda says it's not needed, provides no instructions to the dealers on doing so, and calls it a "life time fill".
For two, It is my opinion (and maybe wrong) that auto transmissions do not have as many gears meshing to create wear metals as do manual transmissions, thus it is less important.

I typically don't buy cars with automatics, either. This and my last are kindof a departure for me.
 
yrwei52 said:
We picked up the CX-5 on the same day it was delivered to the dealer. Apparently our dealer didn't do the tire pressure and oil level check. Tire pressures were from 35~38 lbs and oil level was at 3/4 between maximum/minimum marks. My friend's CX-5 getting from the same dealer from the lot was having 38 lbs all around. I put in 38 lbs all around (when the tires are cold in the morning before I start the engine) based on my best guess from past experience. If I follow manufacture's tire pressure specification, it'll always be too low which makes tires wearing on both sides more. Our '98 Honda CR-V would be 26 lbs according to owner's manual but I have to put in 35 lbs just to make sure the thread wear is even. In the old days the owners manual always suggested that you need to put at least 3 more lbs to the specified tire pressure if you're going to drive on the highway. Putting in a little more air on tires can save a little gas too.
Click to expand...

Does it save gas, or just increase the diameter of the tire ever so slightly and throw the computer off so that your odometer calculation is incorrect and skews your calculations?
I have always followed manufacturer tire pressures and it's worked optimally. I think every vehicle is different, though, and agree that you should do exactly what your tires are telling you that you should.
 
Unobtanium said:
Does it save gas, or just increase the diameter of the tire ever so slightly and throw the computer off so that your odometer calculation is incorrect and skews your calculations?
I have always followed manufacturer tire pressures and it's worked optimally. I think every vehicle is different, though, and agree that you should do exactly what your tires are telling you that you should.
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I feel the tire pressure from manufacture was based on certain tires. As tire technology advances, it may throw manufacture specs off. Our '98 Honda CR-V recommends 26 lbs and the OEM tires were US only "P-Metric" tires which has maximum allowable tire pressure at 35 lbs. Nowadays the tires can have 50+ lbs for the same size and load capability which mainly for fuel efficiency purpose. The tire pressure has to get adjusted from original recommendation as I can imagine the tire shape will be different with different air pressure under the same load. So the new tire may need 50 lbs to have the same shape as older P-Matric with 35lbs which handle the same load.

No, it's not the tire size or computer. I simply learned it from practical way by riding bicycle since I was small. I put more air in the tires, I can pedal the bicycle more easily!
 
yrwei52 said:
We picked up the CX-5 on the same day it was delivered to the dealer. Apparently our dealer didn't do the tire pressure and oil level check. Tire pressures were from 35~38 lbs and oil level was at 3/4 between maximum/minimum marks. My friend's CX-5 getting from the same dealer from the lot was having 38 lbs all around. I put in 38 lbs all around (when the tires are cold in the morning before I start the engine) based on my best guess from past experience. If I follow manufacture's tire pressure specification, it'll always be too low which makes tires wearing on both sides more. Our '98 Honda CR-V would be 26 lbs according to owner's manual but I have to put in 35 lbs just to make sure the thread wear is even. In the old days the owners manual always suggested that you need to put at least 3 more lbs to the specified tire pressure if you're going to drive on the highway. Putting in a little more air on tires can save a little gas too.
Click to expand...

Same here. We picked up ours the same day it was delivered to the dealer. It still had the white protective film on the hood. I'll check the oil level tonight.
 
rickypicky said:
Same here. We picked up ours the same day it was delivered to the dealer. It still had the white protective film on the hood. I'll check the oil level tonight.
Click to expand...

You should really be checking the oil level monthly. Takes 2 seconds.

Anyway, I also run higher pressure on tires. Manufacturers try to blend comfort and fuel economy and give you a rating based on that. Our previous Volvo actually had a range in the manual, going from comfort to "performance." I'm running around 39 PSI on the CX5.
 
Unobtanium said:
Does it save gas, or just increase the diameter of the tire ever so slightly and throw the computer off so that your odometer calculation is incorrect and skews your calculations?
Click to expand...

That makes no sense.

While it's true that more air pressure changes the accuracy of the odometer, more pressure makes the computer think you have traveled less distance. So it will calculate worse mileage. But, more pressure reduces rolling resistance so dramatically that the computers MPG figures will still show an improvement in MPG even though it's under-estimating your MPG to a greater degree than if your tires were less inflated.

It's well accepted that higher air pressures save fuel.
 
Checked oil level today and it looks like it needs a slight top off, about 1/8 of an inch from full. If i use Castrol, should i use the Castrol/Edge Syntec or the Castrol/GTX Magnatec?
 
rickypicky said:
Checked oil level today and it looks like it needs a slight top off, about 1/8 of an inch from full. If i use Castrol, should i use the Castrol/Edge Syntec or the Castrol/GTX Magnatec?
Click to expand...

Nope. The low and high lines on the dipstick represent the normal operational range. Nothing to top off, so long as you are within the lines.
 
rickypicky said:
Checked oil level today and it looks like it needs a slight top off, about 1/8 of an inch from full. If i use Castrol, should i use the Castrol/Edge Syntec or the Castrol/GTX Magnatec?
Click to expand...
I'd not worry about topping it off in your situation. The factory fill is Mazda Moly 0W-20 oil and I'm not a fan of mixing up different brand of oil or fluid. If that little less oil is bothering you, I'd suggest to get a bottle of Mazda oil and top it off. The fact is when people is changing oil on CX-5 2.5L, putting in 5 quarts which is more than 4.8 quarts capacity specified in the owner's manual, the oil level is still about 1/4 ~ 1/3 short to the full mark on the dipstick. It'll take 5.2 quarts to top off to the full mark. In addition, I did check several brand new CX-5's just out of curiosity after my situation, they were ALL 1/8 ~ 1/4 short to the full mark! Now you're one additional.

Of course you need to keep checking your oil level to follow up just in case your engine might be burning oil.
 
MikeM. said:
That makes no sense.

While it's true that more air pressure changes the accuracy of the odometer, more pressure makes the computer think you have traveled less distance. So it will calculate worse mileage. But, more pressure reduces rolling resistance so dramatically that the computers MPG figures will still show an improvement in MPG even though it's under-estimating your MPG to a greater degree than if your tires were less inflated.

It's well accepted that higher air pressures save fuel.
Click to expand...

Very true. I had not considered that fully.

I did drive to Tulsa and around and back today (mix of city, 75-80mph turn-pike, and 55mph country roads), and averaged about 28mpg according to the computer. My tires were set at a HAIR over 36psi.
 
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