SkyActiv Oil Analysis Thread

It's "funny" when I saw RepeatMazda bought 40+ bottles of Idemitsu oil just like I did getting 24 made in Japan Mazda oil filters clearing out the inventory for something we really like for our CX-5. I said that "jokingly" and nothing but "happy" to see some people who love cars would have similar behavior like me and another member here who ran and ordered 2 dozens of Japanese made filter for his CX-5 a while ago!

I still prefer Tokyo Roki Japanese filter. It's the heaviest and has the best quality among 3 OEM filters. It comes with greased O-ring gasket、shrink wrapped seal on baseplate preventing dust、and packaged in a sealed paper box. Thai and Mexican OEM oil filters do serve their purpose but definitely are not made as very high standard as the Japanese one, including the packaging. :)

Yeah, I get where you are coming from on that front.

If I can somehow find some Japanese made filters for mine in the future, I will certainly be picking those up.
 
Hey everyone! First post here, though I have checked in and read a few threads on occasion. I've been on BITOG for a long time now but never had a need to do a UOA. With the purchase of my second CX-5 (First one was a '14 GT) and the OLM option that was given on the '16.5 model year, I decided it was the perfect opportunity. Based on my driving it seems optimistic. I've never had it get below 50%

0 - 1,169 - Factory Fill
1,169 - 10,120 - Mag1 0w20
10,120 - 19,949 - Mobil Super Syn 0w20
19,949 - 30,031 - Mobil 1 EP 0w20
30,031 - Present - SynPower 0w20

am I reading this correctly?
You did 10,000mi on the oil and the in-car oil life monitor still had oil life at 50%!?
 
am I reading this correctly?
You did 10,000mi on the oil and the in-car oil life monitor still had oil life at 50%!?

Yes, that is correct. Interestingly enough, I just changed the oil a week ago at around 9,200 miles and it read 40%. I mailed that sample on 3/6 so hopefully I receive the report soon.
 
The Japanese made filters are going to be for the JDM only. So a trip to Japan [emoji627] would be your best bet but then that would make the filters super expensive not to mention customs when you arrive back home.
 
The Japanese made filters are going to be for the JDM only. So a trip to Japan [emoji627] would be your best bet but then that would make the filters super expensive not to mention customs when you arrive back home.

Uhh yeah...then Thailand filter it is!
 
Yes, that is correct. Interestingly enough, I just changed the oil a week ago at around 9,200 miles and it read 40%. I mailed that sample on 3/6 so hopefully I receive the report soon.

Seems like it could go all the way to 20k! Makes me feel even more comfortable running mine on Schedule 1 (7,500mi) instead of 5000mi

What are your driving habits? Very few short trips I assume?
 
Seems like it could go all the way to 20k! Makes me feel even more comfortable running mine on Schedule 1 (7,500mi) instead of 5000mi

What are your driving habits? Very few short trips I assume?

Mostly suburban. One or two long highway trips to the in-laws each month which are each roughly 180 miles round trip. Work commute is 10.5 miles each way, 3-4 days a week. We're driving about 100-120 miles a week. I definitely wouldn't run the oil to 20k. I believe that Mazda's OLM system isn't calibrated correctly and is potentially allowing users to go longer than they should. Even using the 10k max which was given for the '16 model, at 10k miles in the winter with my driving style, I'm seeing higher than acceptable fuel dilution. A proper OLM system should be calibrated in a way where it takes these variables into account so that oil is changed more often in order to reduce the fuel buildup. The fact that Mazda decreased the maximum to 7,500 miles in '17 is telling. I have an e-mail ouy to Mazda about the matter and will post a response when (if) I receive one.


Ha, that's me.
 
I have an e-mail ouy to Mazda about the matter and will post a response when (if) I receive one.

Good luck. Sent an email asking about the "lifetime" transmission fluid and what they were defining as "lifetime". That was 3/1. Still waiting...
 
Hey everyone! First post here, though I have checked in and read a few threads on occasion. I've been on BITOG for a long time now but never had a need to do a UOA. With the purchase of my second CX-5 (First one was a '14 GT) and the OLM option that was given on the '16.5 model year, I decided it was the perfect opportunity. Based on my driving it seems optimistic. I've never had it get below 50%. Seems to me that the cold weather we experience here definitely is a cause for fuel dilution in the winter. I've got about 1k miles left on this OCI and I suspect to see similar results as UOA #2. I'll be dropping down to 1 year or 8k miles on the next two OCI and see if that improves the dilution results. Let me know if you have any questions!

0 - 1,169 - Factory Fill
1,169 - 10,120 - Mag1 0w20
10,120 - 19,949 - Mobil Super Syn 0w20
19,949 - 30,031 - Mobil 1 EP 0w20
30,031 - Present - SynPower 0w20
am I reading this correctly?
You did 10,000mi on the oil and the in-car oil life monitor still had oil life at 50%!?
I believe something may be wrong with the OLM on RepeatMazda's 2016.5 CX-5. The red wrench indicator and "Oil change due" in the right cluster should pop up when the calculation by OLM is reached to the maximum OCI at 10,000 miles or 12 months for 2016(.5) CX-5. Mine would display about 30% oil life left at about 5,000~6,000 miles of oil service with mostly city driving. I did have an ECM software update for Flexibleg oil change monitor which fixed most weird issues on it based on a TSB.

ENGINE OIL FLEXIBLE MAINTENANCE DOES NOT WORK 2014-2016 Mazda Vehicles
 
And it started here at Mazdas247 ⋯ ;)

1. Never mentioned sourcing a cheaper filter.
2. Which specs are you referring to and where is this written material?
3. New max OCI is 10k miles.
According to Mazda, in the US for Gen-1 CX-5 before 2016 MY the maximum OCI is 7,500 miles or 6 months whichever comes first. 2016 CX-5 added Flexible OCI which can be up to 10,000 miles or 12 months. For Gen-2 CX-5 Mazda has changed its Flexible OCI to up to 7,500 miles or 12 months.
Good info! I was not aware that they reduced the maximum setting to 7,500 miles for the 2018MY. Hmm, very interesting and could explain the rather high dilution levels I've been having in my '16.5 on the flexible oil schedule. Thank you for this tidbit.

With regards to the filter, if you have a copy of the statement where corporate mentions differences in the internals I'd greatly appreciate that. This seems like a situation of a rumor run amok and is now being taken as fact. I simply can't find the data to support it.
 
And it started here at Mazdas247 ⋯ ;)

The Internet is a B-E-A-utiful thing. I know you skim BITOG quite a bit but you should join some time, we're always welcoming new people who share an interest in oil and maintenance as a whole. (drinks)
 
Just to add another set of data to this conversation, I've used the OLM since my first oil change at 5K. I was using Mazda Moly oil anyway and wanted to confirm to myself (and the dealer) that Schedule 1 (7.5K mi.) OCI was appropriate for me. I've had 3 oil changes (12.5K, 20K and 27.5K) and the OLM indicated 20-30% remaining each time. I've never seen evidence of fuel dilution. Average trip length about 20 miles (often longer, rarely shorter) and speeds of 40-50 mph on rural roads, 55-60 mph on state highways and 70-75 on freeways.
 
Since Mobil 1 doesnt provide more detailed specs such as by-pass psi pressure and filtering media rating, nobody knows. .

Got this response from Mobil 1 tech:

The Mobil 1 M1-108A oil filter has a by-pass valve setting of 11-17 psi. The micron rating for the filter media is 30 micron at 99 plus % efficient.
 
Just to add another set of data to this conversation, I've used the OLM since my first oil change at 5K. I was using Mazda Moly oil anyway and wanted to confirm to myself (and the dealer) that Schedule 1 (7.5K mi.) OCI was appropriate for me. I've had 3 oil changes (12.5K, 20K and 27.5K) and the OLM indicated 20-30% remaining each time. I've never seen evidence of fuel dilution. Average trip length about 20 miles (often longer, rarely shorter) and speeds of 40-50 mph on rural roads, 55-60 mph on state highways and 70-75 on freeways.

Have you done a UOA? I've seen very few without a low flashpoint or some percentage of fuel showing up. In this thread alone, of the 6 UOAs posted all of them have shown a low flashpoint at one point or another. Granted, one was marginally low.

According to the TSB for the OLM my VIN is outside of the range of effected vehicles, but it's certainly possible that mine is an outlier and does indeed have a glitch. Regardless of that fact, I'm weaning my way down on mileage between OCIs to see if the numbers track back into target ranges. I'm suspecting that they will and this is simply a case of pushing the oil longer than it can healthfully go.

Got this response from Mobil 1 tech:

The Mobil 1 M1-108A oil filter has a by-pass valve setting of 11-17 psi. The micron rating for the filter media is 30 micron at 99 plus % efficient.

Thank you for the inquiry and this information.
 
Have you done a UOA? I've seen very few without a low flashpoint or some percentage of fuel showing up. In this thread alone, of the 6 UOAs posted all of them have shown a low flashpoint at one point or another. Granted, one was marginally low.

No UOA. Just an observation based on never seeing a rise in oil level or smelling gas in the oil. I may do one at 35K.
 
Got this response from Mobil 1 tech:

The Mobil 1 M1-108A oil filter has a by-pass valve setting of 11-17 psi. The micron rating for the filter media is 30 micron at 99 plus % efficient.
An oil filter filtering media rated at 30 micron is pretty bad. In summary for people easier to understand the difference on oil filter efficiency, here's a quote from GM engineer David Staley taken from a 1988 SAE paper on oil filter efficiency: Compared to a 40 micron filter, engine wear was reduced by 50 percent with 30 micron filtration. Likewise, wear was reduced by 70 percent with 15 micron filtration.. In other words, in general the smaller the micron number, the better the filtering efficiency provided they have similar flow rates.

Now here are product specifications on Wix 57002 which is custom made for Mazda SkyActiv-G engines which should have similar specs as Mazda "high-flow" OEM oil filters such as PE01-14-302A:
Part Number: 57002
UPC Number: 765809570023
Style: Spin-On Lube Filter
Service: Lube
Type: Full Flow
Media: Enhanced Cellulose
Height: 2.827 (72)*
Outer Diameter Top: 2.685 (68)*
Outer Diameter Bottom: Closed:
Thread Size: 20X1.5 MM
By-Pass Valve Setting-PSI: 11-14
Nominal Micron Rating: 15
( )* denotes metric

And here are product specifications on Wix 51365 which is equivalent to Mazda conventional OEM oil filter B6Y1-14-302A:
Part Number: 51365
UPC Number: 765809513655
Style: Spin-On Lube Filter
Service: Lube/Transmission
Type: Full Flow
Media: Enhanced Cellulose
Height: 2.58 (66)*
Outer Diameter Top: 2.69 (68)*
Outer Diameter Bottom: Closed:
Thread Size: 20X1.5 MM
By-Pass Valve Setting-PSI: 8-11
Anti-Drain Back Valve: Yes
Beta Ratio: 2/20=6/20
Burst Pressure-PSI: 300
Max Flow Rate: 9-11 GPM
Nominal Micron Rating: 21
( )* denotes metric

We can see how different these 2 oil filters are on specs although both can "fit" onto several different engines. Both Mobil 1 M1-108A and Bosch ST3300 claim they are compatible with Mazda's "high-flow" PE01-14-302A and conventional B6Y1-14-302A oil filters. Really?

Now let's compare other oil filters. I'll use the data provided by RepeatMazda from the other thread. As we can see SkyActiv oil filters have the best filter efficiency at 15 microns AND high flow rates (claimed by Mazda but no date; estimated larger than 9~11 GPM rated on conventional filter) which beat all other oil filters listed.

⋯ I've cross-referenced several filters below. ⋯ I'll put the Wix "custom" filter and the Wix equivalent to the B6Y1-14-302A at the top for direct comparison.

Wix 57002 - PSI 11-14 - Nominal Micron Rating of 15
Wix 51365 - PSI 8-11 - Nominal Micron Rating of 21

Purolator L14612 - PSI 14-18 - 96.5% @ 20 microns
Fram XG6607 - PSI 13 - 99% >20 microns
Bosch ST3300 - PSI 8 - Micron Rating of 20 (assuming nominal)
MicroGard MGL57002 - PSI 11-14 - 95% @ 29 microns (MicroGard is made by Wix)
 
Excellent effort yrwei52. I like real data and this is great. Thank you for the explanation. Ed
 
My understanding in pressure is that it’s the oil pump and not the filter that dictates the pressure.

The Wix numbers quoted above have the micron numbers but I didn’t see the percentage numbers to go with them.

Assumptions are to be taken as they are. Assumed.
 
Back