Oil Change question for 2010 M3 GT

[jgerald]

Before I start, I already tried searching the forums for any topics related to this but couldn't find what I was looking for or maybe I was reading too fast. If so, let me know.

Anyway, I have a '10 GT and right now it has only 4500++kms on it and I'm wondering if I should take it for the first service / oil change at 5000kms or at the manufacturer's suggestion of 8000kms / 4months.

I've read that most people especially enthusiasts change oil every 5000kms. So my questions are

1. Should I change oil every 5000kms?
2. If I use Fully synthetic oil do I still need to change every 5000kms or 8000kms will be just fine. (I don't drive the car hard and i'm under the impression that highly tuned engines or turbo engines need more regular oil changes.)
3. What brand of fully synthetic oil should I use on my Mazda and where can I get it for a reasonable price? I know Oakville Mazda offers full synthetic oil for oil change service, what brand of oil do they use?
4. Lastly, 5w30 or 5w20 for my engine? I ask because maybe I can buy the oil and have the dealership change the oil/filter for me.

If I missed out anything or if I should be aware of anything, I'd appreciate any heads up. Thanks!

[jgerald]

Hi Lars,

Thanks for the reply.

2 things that I want to clarify is

a. if I buy engine oil myself and have the dealership change my oil, will they void my warranty if something goes wrong? even if I use 5w20 or 5w30?
b. i know some people swear by the GC 0w30, would that be a good choice for our GT? I think its on sale right now at CT.

[shu5892001]

I am using Amsoil XL 5W-20

[TheMAN]

I've read that most people especially enthusiasts change oil every 5000kms.

Correction: TM3 members. No regular driver or car owner does this. Only enthusiasts do.

It's unnecessary, and no harm will come to your car by doing your first - and future - oil changes every 8,000 KM. I did the first oil change on my 2010 GT at ~8400 KM.

1.) No. Every 8,000 KM; every 5,000 KM is throwing money away.

2.) Not really relevant - you should do it every 8,000 KM to maintain your car's warranty. Synthetic oil actually allows you to extend the time between oil changes (up to 12,000 KM?), but you'll have to stick to changing the oil every 8,000 KM to keep your warranty intact while your car still has warranty.

3.) I use whatever synthetic oil the dealer offers - the brand likely doesn't matter. It's all good. People here use Castrol or Mobil 1. (And some others I'm sure.)

4.) With regular oil, you may as well use 5W20, as recommended per the manual, but QEW Mazda uses 5W30 if you go with their synthetic option - either type is fine and both keep your warranty intact.

how is 5000km "throwing money away" when it is known that driving in canada (and toronto for that matter) constitutes "severe" driving conditions? it's clearly stated in the manual that 5000km is for "severe" conditions
99% of the population in the whole continent do not qualify for "normal" driving conditions because there are many ideals that must be met for that to work

[PearlM3]

When I ran regular oil I always changed it every 5000. first of all it's a easy number to remember 5, 10, 15, 20 etc.....And it is just better for your car, people can say whatever they want, but even after 5000 km the oil drained was always nasty. Now I run Castrol Syntec 5w30, and change the oil every 8-10, I would definatly recommend switching to full synthetic!

[TheMAN]

When I ran regular oil I always changed it every 5000. first of all it's a easy number to remember 5, 10, 15, 20 etc.....And it is just better for your car, people can say whatever they want, but even after 5000 km the oil drained was always nasty. Now I run Castrol Syntec 5w30, and change the oil every 8-10, I would definatly recommend switching to full synthetic!

syntec 0w30 is more value for your money btw

[TheMAN]

To each their own - I've lived in Toronto since 2006 and never changed my oil more frequently than 8,000 KM and my car(s) are fine.


http://www.jiffylube.com/education/normalvsserveredriving.aspx

you can try to say that they're just out to make money, but (per 2004 Mazda3 owners manual, page 8-3):
Follow Schedule 1 if the vehicle is operated mainly where none of the following conditions
apply.
If any do apply, follow Schedule 2 (Canada and Puerto Rico residents follow Schedule 2).
• Repeated short-distance driving
• Driving in dusty conditions
• Driving with extended use of brakes
• Driving in areas where salt or other corrosive materials are being used
• Driving on rough or muddy roads
• Extended periods of idling or low-speed operation
• Driving for long periods in cold temperatures or extremely humid climates

schedule 2 = "severe"

and:
http://carguide123.com/articles/What_Are_'Severe_Driving_Conditions'_and_How_Do_Th ey_Affect_Your_Maintenance_Schedule%3F.html
http://www.atra.com/Bulletin/Details/What_Are_Normal_Driving_Conditions
http://www.filtercouncil.org/uploads/docs/TSB/English/94-1R1.pdf


8000km is really pushing it (on dino oil)... if you really want to do 8000km with a peace of mind, then an oil analysis NEEDS to be done
there are many instances where people have followed the "normal" schedule and sludged up during warranty or blew up their engines not long after their warranty expired.... do the manufacturers really care? not really.... they're in the business to sell cars, and the idea is, they sell cars better if less or no maintenance is involved... why do you think most cars out there today have extreme long life coolant, iridium spark plugs, and no transmission drain recommendations?

trying to say you drive "normal" is almost the same as saying you're a good driver... how can you explain the amount of idiocy on the roads? is following the "normal" schedule really worth it?

[PearlM3]

8000km is really pushing it (on dino oil)... if you really want to do 8000km with a peace of mind, then an oil analysis NEEDS to be done
there are many instances where people have followed the "normal" schedule and sludged up during warranty or blew up their engines not long after their warranty expired.... do the manufacturers really care? not really.... they're in the business to sell cars, and the idea is, they sell cars better if less or no maintenance is involved... why do you think most cars out there today have extreme long life coolant, iridium spark plugs, and no transmission drain recommendations?

trying to say you drive "normal" is almost the same as saying you're a good driver... how can you explain the amount of idiocy on the roads? is following the "normal" schedule really worth it?

I agree, manufacturers set standards that will make the car last out the warranty, and will make the car more enticing to buy. Beyond 80 km, or whatever the warranty is they don't give a crap it's not their problem. I believe it's because of the way people keep their cars nowadays, no one keeps their cars beyond their financing terms. After 5-7 years they get a new one. I am hoping to keep my car (we always have 2, one new one, and an older one). I would like to get 300-350 out of the car, therefore I do maintenance more often.

[Honva]

how is 5000km "throwing money away" when it is known that driving in canada (and toronto for that matter) constitutes "severe" driving conditions? it's clearly stated in the manual that 5000km is for "severe" conditions
99% of the population in the whole continent do not qualify for "normal" driving conditions because there are many ideals that must be met for that to work

5000km is really throwing money away. "Severe" driving conditions usually refer to when using car as Taxi or in very hot and dusty area like desert area. Toronto's traffic is nothing when compared to other major cities in the world and we are amount the best in terms of air quality and temperature. My previous 2 Pointac was equipped with oil monitor (now every GM car has it), at 8000km, it still reads ~25%. GM recommends only changing oil around 10%. (about 5 months). I asked Agincourt Mazda's chief tech and he confirmed there is really no need to change oil more frequently. He said the 8000km is for regular oil and he doesn't recommend synthetic oil at all unless you are racing.

[aris]

5000km is really throwing money away. "Severe" driving conditions usually refer to when using car as Taxi or in very hot and dusty area like desert area. Toronto's traffic is nothing when compared to other major cities in the world and we are amount the best in terms of air quality and temperature. My previous 2 Pointac was equipped with oil monitor (now every GM car has it), at 8000km, it still reads ~25%. GM recommends only changing oil around 10%. (about 5 months). I asked Agincourt Mazda's chief tech and he confirmed there is really no need to change oil more frequently. He said the 8000km is for regular oil and he doesn't recommend synthetic oil at all unless you are racing.

You know that TheMAN is a mazda mecanic right???

[TheMAN]

5000km is really throwing money away. "Severe" driving conditions usually refer to when using car as Taxi or in very hot and dusty area like desert area. Toronto's traffic is nothing when compared to other major cities in the world and we are amount the best in terms of air quality and temperature. My previous 2 Pointac was equipped with oil monitor (now every GM car has it), at 8000km, it still reads ~25%. GM recommends only changing oil around 10%. (about 5 months). I asked Agincourt Mazda's chief tech and he confirmed there is really no need to change oil more frequently. He said the 8000km is for regular oil and he doesn't recommend synthetic oil at all unless you are racing.

thanks for making a fool of yourself by completely ignoring my other post explaining exactly what mazda considers "severe"driving conditions, and what others had to say

[5_Alive]

Just change it now. There are lots of particles and shavings that come off a new car's engine that will contaminate at first, so its best to do it now and have peace of mind. Lots of people who rebuild motors will change their oil at the 500km mark and then at the 2,000km mark to be safe most of the contaminants have been removed.

Secondly, companies, like Mazda, will stretch service intervals for as long as possible to make the numbers look good for $$$ amount spent over ownership period.
Eg. Change oil every 8,000km; average new car at 100,000km, you will have changed your oil 12.5 times, so let's round to 13. At an average of $45 per service, you will have spent $585 just on oil changes for owning the car over the span of 100,000km, not including other services.
Now, change your oil every 5,000km, for a total of 20 times, and the oil change cost over 100,000km of ownership will have jumped to $900.

I'm sure each company has to issue figures for cost of ownership per vehicle somewhere. The less it costs the customer, the more appealing that specific car and brand will be.
I'm not trying to start a debate or argument here, but this has a lot to do with it. Remember, the company doesn't earn money on service; the dealer does. That's why they try to upsell you when you have no "required/recommended service" due.

Good luck with everything. As well, switching to synthetic isn't a bad idea.

BTW, I now know not to take my car to Agincourt. Synthetic only if your racing? Really? Geez, when I first bought my car, regular oil after 1.5k would burn one quart. After the immediate switch to synthetic Total/Elf 5W-30, I don't burn any at all. But I'm not racing my car. Funny how that works, eh? (insert late-night sarcasm here)..

[jgerald]

Thank you everyone for the comments but I still don't know if:

a. The dealership will void my warranty if some engine problems happen from buying my own oil (either GC 0w30, any brand of synthetic 5w20, 5w30), have the dealrship use it for my regular maintenance. (it's a far cry but who knows right?)

b. theMan mentioned that GC 0w30 is value for money but will it be ok to use it on the 2.5 N/A engine and will it void any warranty?

[aris]

Thank you everyone for the comments but I still don't know if:

a. The dealership will void my warranty if some engine problems happen from buying my own oil (either GC 0w30, any brand of synthetic 5w20, 5w30), have the dealrship use it for my regular maintenance. (it's a far cry but who knows right?)

b. theMan mentioned that GC 0w30 is value for money but will it be ok to use it on the 2.5 N/A engine and will it void any warranty?

They will not void your warranty if you bring in your own oil..and it's up to you if you want to run synthetic ...

[Honva]

thanks for making a fool of yourself by completely ignoring my other post explaining exactly what mazda considers "severe"driving conditions, and what others had to say

I do see the explanation of "severe condition". The fact is: Most of this is marginal in Toronto. Also, changing oil every 8000km is already doing Schedule 2 in severe condition as recommended by Mazda in the user manual.

[zoom4106]

im about to do a change oil next month too and i was wondering if there's a need to flush down the old oil off the engine with a fresh new oil from the dealer.
then put the Castrol synytec 5w20 which i have?

thanks!

[pacmann33]

I always change at 5k intervals. My last car went to 480,000kms, and didn't burn ANY oil. Ran like a top when I sold it. For the Mazda3, I am doing 5 k intervals as well, however I will be switching to GC 0w-30 at next change, and will go for 8k intervals.

If you change less frequently but don't put 500,000kms on your car, then you don't have any right to tell people that you are throwing money away. Almost any engine would last to 200 or 300k with next to 0 maintenance.

do what you want, but many people don't even change their oil every 8 k, it's often 10k plus, and one reason why I avoid buying used vehicles.

8k is fine with synthetic, more than that really depends on a lot of factors.

[pacmann33]

oh, and always do your first 1 or 2 oil changes way way early. the metal particulates in the oil from the first few thousand kms of use is incredible. I would also change the gear oil if you have a manual car early. I changed mine to MT-90 at 8k or so.

[PearlM3]

I always change at 5k intervals. My last car went to 480,000kms, and didn't burn ANY oil. Ran like a top when I sold it. For the Mazda3, I am doing 5 k intervals as well, however I will be switching to GC 0w-30 at next change, and will go for 8k intervals.

If you change less frequently but don't put 500,000kms on your car, then you don't have any right to tell people that you are throwing money away. Almost any engine would last to 200 or 300k with next to 0 maintenance.

do what you want, but many people don't even change their oil every 8 k, it's often 10k plus, and one reason why I avoid buying used vehicles.

8k is fine with synthetic, more than that really depends on a lot of factors.

I've been with my wife for 6 years and i'm pretty sure her parents have changed the oil in their car maybe 1-2 times. the only thing is that it only havs 100 000 km and it already works like crap.

[jgerald]

After reading all the comments, it looks like it would be "safer" to change oil every 8K intervals when using synthetic. Other than that, it would seem like a "risk"

I think I know what to do now but my last question is, will the dealership/service refuse to change my oil if I bring the GC 0w30? I'm sure they will tell me it is not the recommended 5w30 oil.

[stock3]

I'm not sure about 2010 models, but my 2006 owner's manual list 8,000 km as severe service, 12,000 for normal, the only 5,000 km OCi is for Mexico, so I don't know where some of you get the 5,000km OCI from??

To me, the safest bet is to follow owner's manual. Oil is one of those "mystery" things that we have a lot of individual opinions on, but little fact, even oil anallysis is not a proper tool to determine engine wear and oil life, unless you do extensive trending and 100's of analysis, like in a fleet for example.

So, if you want to be on the safe side, read owner's manual, pick an oil that meets Mazda's requirements, synthetic or dino will make no difference at 8,000 OCI's, oil brand matters little as well, stick to the maintenance schedule and you will enjoy a lot of trouble free miles from your car.

[5_Alive]

With all the comments flying around, in all honesty, change it when you want. Hell, change it at 6,238km every time. Screw the owners manual and if your dumb enough to follow their rehab shit in that thing.
Owners manual is useless..

[jgerald]

I guess everyone has their opinion on the oil change topic.
But right now I think the question is would you use GC 0w30 on your Mazda GT for the first oil change or for the duration of the warranty?

Update:

I called up QEW Mazda service department and ask them if they will change my oil using the GC 0w30 I bought and and their reply is "yes but we don't recommend it because the recommended oil is 5w20"

this makes me think that if something happens with the engine (hopefully nothing), it will not be covered by the warranty because i didn't use the "recommended" oil.
Why would they still say yes to using my oil then?

[Jeff-TheBiz]

Let's survey all drivers in Toronto and see how often they change their oil and see how many do it every 5000 KM that don't include car club members, and then calculate how many of those have destroyed engines, and then from that number, how many of those destroyed engines could have actually been prevented if the oil was changed every 5000 KM instead of whatever other interval they were going by.

Of course, we can't do the above. Too bad. It would put this discussion to an end.

Don't forget to take out all of the Domestics that require 3 months / 5000km.. :D

As for our cars.. Mazda uses a semisynthetic oil in their cars, so 4 / 8000km is totally acceptable. If you want to change it every 5000km, 2000km do whatever you want..

[aris]

As for our cars.. Mazda uses a semisynthetic oil in their cars, so 4 / 8000km is totally acceptable. ..

You might want to double check casue i was told a while ago that MAZDA swicthed from using semi synthetic to dino oil..and that was right from service manger at my dealer

[Jeff-TheBiz]

You might want to double check casue i was told a while ago that MAZDA swicthed from using semi synthetic to dino oil..and that was right from service manger at my dealer

Nope... not that I have heard.

[aris]

Nope... not that I have heard.

Hmm..the serive manger at Bay Mazda in Belleville told me that they buy their oil from Mazda and that Mazda changed it

[jgerald]

BTW, if anyone wants to buy GC oil at 6.95 each I saw 10+ 1L bottles still available at Rexdale/Kipling CT.

[5_Alive]

Mazda buys bulk oil from Petro-Canada..

[jgerald]

UPDATE:

I finally had my oil changed with GC 0w30. Engine response is noticeably smooth and "solid" (for a lack of a better word). Maybe its just in my head but I don't care. Makes me want to drive my Mazda 3 even more!

[TheMAN]

told you