Oil oil brand and weight for 24k miles

J

JCurry

Member
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08.5 Mazdaspeed3
Well i have a 08.5 speed3 with quite a few mods...all oil changes have been done at the dealer but there priced are getting too high so im gonna do it myself from now on...wat brand and weight does everyone recommend...car has right at 24k miles on it now...catless downpipe and midepipe...full 3" exhaust...bov, intake and turbo inlet and colder plugs is about all i have done to it...

thanx
 
Like the book says: 5w-30. Some might recommend 5w-40 for Texas summers. Lizards or synthetic: your choice. I use synthetic in mine, but it isn't necessary. You'll find oil changes easier if you do the spin-on conversion and the Fumoto valve.
 
Go with Pennzoil Platinum 5W-30, but eventually you may want to go with 5W-40 (you can get Rotella Synthetic at Walmart) to cover up the smoking turbo. Been on 5W-40 for the last week and a half and the smoking seems to have subsided.
 
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wat brand and weight of oil does the dealer use?? it isnt synthetic i dnt think...if not is it gonna hurt for me to switch over to full synthetic at 24k miles?? 5w40 just for summer here in tx or can i run it year round? also is mobil 1 good? or castrol full synthetic?
 
Any good full synthetic 5w-30. There is an oil line to the bearings in the turbo housing. That housing gets scorching hot, probably over 1500 degrees. Full synthetic is going to hold up better in a turbo engine, IMHO.

It does not matter whether the engine has 0 miles, 24k miles, or 100k miles. Full synthetic in the factory recommended weight is going to be the best and safest choice for long, reliable engine life.

Personally, I don't use synthetics to extend oil change intervals, I use it because it hold up better inside a super hot turbo. If this were a NA engine, I'd probably run dino oil. I just feel more comfortable knowing that the synthetic will not be breaking down under the extreme heat of a turbo that already has a tendency to overheat those bearings and seals, and needs all the most effective lubrication and cooling it can get. The turbo on our car has only a 5mm diameter center shaft (much smaller than most aftermarket options) and our turbo turns into a heat factory at any sustained rpm much above about 5,800 rpm.
 
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This is my third track car, the first two I used Redline, which is a great oil.

Like comments here, any good 5-30w full synthetic is the way to go. I am trying Eneos 5-30W this time just for grins. So far, no issues. I spoke to their engineers from Japan during SEMA. They consider their oil to be more like perhaps Redline rather than brand name full synthetics. However, in Japan they are kind of like Mobil or Pennzoil here.

The real plus is the fact the synthetics handle the turbo heat issue better than standard oil. MSMS3 was spot on on that point.
 
Has anyone every used Mobil 1 0w-40???????? I use Mobil 1 5w-30 but last time I went to get an oil change a tech recomended I use 0w-40, he said its better for the turbo and the oil wont have the burnt look that 5w-30 has after a few thousand miles, he also said I would get better performance and I would not regret it.
I have never heard of people putting 0w-40 in our cars. Anybody??
 
Timshadi said:
Has anyone every used Mobil 1 0w-40???????? I use Mobil 1 5w-30 but last time I went to get an oil change a tech recomended I use 0w-40, he said its better for the turbo and the oil wont have the burnt look that 5w-30 has after a few thousand miles, he also said I would get better performance and I would not regret it.
I have never heard of people putting 0w-40 in our cars. Anybody??
Click to expand...

I run 0W-40 in my BMWs and -based on UOAs- I haven't had any problems. The oil meets some pretty severe European OEM standards so I certainly don't think it would be a bad choice.
 
Was at the dealer today. Asked this question to one of the master mechanics. He recommended full synthetic 5-40 and said more and more people within Mazda are recommending this for the MS3.
 
Oil

I've been using Mobil 1, 5W-30. The oil looks burnt after 1,000 miles. I'm going to Pennzoil Platinum next time. I belong to the Big5 Oil Club at Livermore Ford, (I have a S/C Mustang too). You pay $19.95 per year to join and they perform a $5 oil change for their synthetic blend plus $5 per quart over 5. Since I'm using full synthetic, I buy a case of oil when its on sale at the local parts store which usually includes a filter and just bring it to them for the $5 labor charge. I changed to full synthetic at about 15,000 miles and wished that I could go back to the synthetic blend because of price.
 
On a direct injection turbocharged engine that is running pig rich you oil will get black (burned) looking very quickly no matter what oil you run. And the heat the oil sees passing through the turbo bearings is approaching or exceeding 1500 degrees. Dino based blends might not perform well for very long at those temps.

You need all the protection from that heat breakdown you can afford, and synthetic oil is pretty cheap insurance compared to turbo or full engine failure That's why I prefer to spend a little more and run full synthetic oil.
 
MSMS3 said:
On a direct injection turbocharged engine that is running pig rich you oil will get black (burned) looking very quickly no matter what oil you run. And the heat the oil sees passing through the turbo bearings is approaching or exceeding 1500 degrees. Dino based blends might not perform well for very long at those temps.

You need all the protection from that heat breakdown you can afford, and synthetic oil is pretty cheap insurance compared to turbo or full engine failure That's why I prefer to spend a little more and run full synthetic oil.
Click to expand...

This is my first turbocharged car. I've noticed the chrome tail pipe tip is always black too. Is it a fact of life that these cars always run pig rich? How often do you guys change plugs? Will an oil catch can help at all?
 
Yes, the tailpipe is always black because of the factory pig-rich tune. An OCC doesn't really help with that, but it's good to have. According to Mazda per the Owner's Manual, it states to replace the plugs every 75K miles.
 
Plugs will not be gray like a NA car. They will have a black/sooty superficial look on the exposed edges that are inside the combustion chamber (but not the tip) when you get around to checking them, but that does not mean they are fouled or need to be replaced.

Yes, it's pig rich and maybe a little more than it needs to be, but this is very protective of the engine and helps cool the combustion chamber. Part of the design. High pressure boost, high pressure direct injection and relatively high compression ratio in a turbocharged engine equates to the oil turning dark quickly. But that does not mean it is "bad."

Just change oil with full synthetic at recommended viscosity and change filter with it at each regular change interval and all will be fine.
 
After my car starting smoking (had dealership oil in my car semi-synthetic 5w-30 for past couple oil changes) dealership installed 5w-40 full synthetic. Thats what they are supposed to do after a customer brings in a smoking car.

and then if it smokes again, they'll change the turbo. if there's no more smoke, they will keep changing the oil until Mazda comes up with a new PCV design.

So I've been running on 5w-40 full synthetic now with no smoking issues so far. Its winter time in WI now too. I have noticed lower MPG though.
 
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