First Oil Change For A Brand New Car?

[Dinu]

Hi guys,

I got a Mazda 3. did my first service last wednesday. In the days leading to the service people kept saying 'change the engine oil'. they say most new cars change their engine oil around 1k-1.5k km. Is this true? but the carmart service people only change it at 5k km. I've only done 1.5k km. Is it really necessary to change engine oil this early?

regards

Dinu

[maithri]

Dinu,

Nice choice of car-oil change after "Running in period" was the norm in the old days. Modern engines are engineered better and to closer tolerances so they need a much shorter bedding in process. How ever there still can be a residue of metal particles from the initial running of the engine within the engine oil so there is no harm in draining the oil after around 1500 Km and and replacing the filter. Manufactures hold back from requesting this as they feel it adds to the cost of ownership of the car. If you can afford it nothing wrong with doing this.

Maithri.

[nira74]

Some manufacturers use a special less viscose oil during the running in period of the engine which needs to be flushed out and changed to regular oil after 2000 km or so.

Whichever the case it will be clearly spelled out in your owners manual. Safest thing is to follow the instructions in the Manual.

[big Daddy]

Yeah I agree. No harm in changing the oil. Later you can go for full synthetic oil and increase the oil change mileage considerably since your car is a new one. So money spent now will be saved later

/bigDaddy

[kumudug]

Ya. Its advisable to change the engine oil. What does your manual say. I think the manual should say to do the first oil change at an early stage. Normally after the running in period. By the way wish you are using synthetic right? Also check the manual to see what does it say about oil filter. To my knowledge ( I'm no expert ) its better to change the oil and the filter after the running in period. Well obviously for an expensive car like that its worth it I guess. And also one more thing. Its really really advisable to use fully synthetic oil. Though don't drive it for more than 5k. I know they say that fully synthetic does retain the properties for more millage. But 5K is enough I guess.

Edited January 20, 2008 by kumudug

[GearHead]

yes agree with kumudug regarding the synthetic engine oil changing interval...its mainly because of the stress that our motors get on srilankan roads....but 5000km feels like a little too early to change a synthetic motor oil ....7000 km seems much more reasonable...I used to use synthetics and those days i did all the engine oil and the filter changing work after every 7000km....anyway this is my view and ideas of the other members may vary...

Edited January 20, 2008 by GearHead

[JwesT]

Hi guys,

I got a Mazda 3. did my first service last wednesday. In the days leading to the service people kept saying 'change the engine oil'. they say most new cars change their engine oil around 1k-1.5k km. Is this true? but the carmart service people only change it at 5k km. I've only done 1.5k km. Is it really necessary to change engine oil this early?

regards

Dinu

It is highly unlikely that u will need to change engine oil at 1500kms. Remember that ur engine is built from high precision machinery and all the parts are more or less ready to use as soon as they come out of the manufacturing plant and If there are any impurities left, the oil filter should prevent them from circulating around the engine. But during ur initial 1000 to 1500miles try to keep the revs below 4000 and avoid full throttle in any gear. Also avoid quick starts and hard braking. These are of course not MUST DO's, but they will help the engine to settle in initially.

If the main dealer recomends 5000Kms for an oil change then stick with it because even in extreme conditions It will need atleast 10,000miles for synthetic oil to start breaking up. So in Sri Lankan conditions 5000Kms for an oil change sounds very reasonable. Try to change oil atleast once a year even if u don't do 5000kms. Hope this helps

[miniace]

Im bit old fashioned. Suggesting you change both engine and transmission oil prematurely atleast twice before resume normal specified intervals.

Further recommend sticking with what owners manual specifies.

MINIACE

[Axela]

Dinu

If I remember right, you inquired from the forum about Mazda 3 before you bought it.I am also keen to upgrade from my familia to M3.Now you can enlighten us on the important aspects such as fuel efficiency etc,based on your first hand experience.

[Dinu]

Thanks for the replies guys...they were really helpful.

So as I understand it, in modern cars its not really necessary to change engine oil after running in priod otherwise mentioned in the user manual. But doing it wont harm the engine anyway.

the user manual doesnt say to change oil after the running in period. it gives 10k km intrvals for oil changes, but if conditions are dusty it says to shorten the oil changing interval.

This is what the manual says abt running-in:

No special running-in is necessary, but a few precautions in the first 1000km may add to the performance, economy and life of the car.

1) dont race the engine

2) dont maintain one constant speed for a long period of time

3) dont drive constantly at full throttle or high engine rpm for extended period of time

4) avoid hard stops

5) avoid full-trottle starts

so I think I'll change the oil in another 500k or so...no harm in doing it and the oil change at 5k is free from carmart...so no worries.

Edited January 21, 2008 by Dinu

[Dinu]

Dinu

If I remember right, you inquired from the forum about Mazda 3 before you bought it.I am also keen to upgrade from my familia to M3.Now you can enlighten us on the important aspects such as fuel efficiency etc,based on your first hand experience.

well machan, the bottomline is, it has been pleasure driving it so far(much better than the vanette,carina i had ) who says Mazda vehicles are crap!! to hell with them!

as you can understand I havent been able to fully test it as yet, since I havent done any high speed driving so far.

Max is 80km/h (dont laugh )

acceleration : I get the feeling that for the engine to really kick in i have to rev it above 3.5-4k rpm.

handling : excellent. well better than what I have driven.

fuel economy : average for me is 9.5km/l, that is by keeping the rpm below 3k.

seating: id say average. even though the drivers seat has lumbar support its not that comfortable for a tall guy. the back seats dont have much legspace for a guy around 6 feet tall.

sounds: the 6-speaker system is very gud but it may be lacking for a music junkie since no equalizer,woofer.

thats abt it...the only downside for me is the fuel economy. other than that its a fun car to drive.

just let me know if u need to know anything else.

cheers

Dinu

[Dinu]

hi, a small question for our experts in here:

the user manual of the Mazda 3 has this:

Engine oil - type and classification : API SG/SH/SJ/SL/SM or ILSAC GF-II/GF-III/GF-IV

I have no idea what this means. can anyone of make meaning of this?

regards

dinu

[kumudug]

hi, a small question for our experts in here:

the user manual of the Mazda 3 has this:

Engine oil - type and classification : API SG/SH/SJ/SL/SM or ILSAC GF-II/GF-III/GF-IV

I have no idea what this means. can anyone of make meaning of this?

regards

dinu

These are the Oil standard thingies. The oil can's specify which standard they follow. Dont use mineral oil. Check whether the free oil change is a synthatic. Its really important cause it is very important for the engine. The experts will comment with more technical stuff I guess

[Mani]

In Sri Lankan driving I think synthetic is a waste of money. Regular mineral oil should do fine. You will not have a chance to run the engine to a point where synthetic oil will benefit you. However, as it is said here, it's good to change your oil and filter at around the 1000 - 1500 km. No matter how carefully the engine is built, you will still have metal particles in a new engine. Part of this is as the engine is broken in and the rings are being seated as well as initial "washing" of the engine with the new oil will gather all the small particles in the new oil. Once you take off the first oil then go with something little thicker. Most auto manufacturers will recommend the oil type based on many factors. Fuel economy is one of them, among other factors.

For Sri Lankan driving, where the weather is hot and lot of stop and go slow driving, running a little thicker oil will benefit the engine. By thicker I mean something like 10W40 to 20W50 .

Braking in an engine process is controversial. Most of the recommendations that is being followed are many many years old. It may have been the proper method 40 -50 years ago when engine honing machines were much less sophisticated than they are now. The honing is much more precise now. Ideally, in order to properly brake in a modern engine you do have to drive it hard. The idea is to bring the RPMs up under engine load but not for extended periods of time. You need to "heat treat" the parts AND seat the rings. You may have less than a 500 mile window to properly seat the rings. Driving the car easily will not seat the rings properly. It will glaze the cylinder wall and not seal completely. This will be along discussion so I'll leave it at that.

For the time being, my recommendation is to change your oil and filter. Go with somewhat THINNER oil until you hit about the 5k Km mark and go for a little thicker oil and you should be good to go. Lastly, I would stick to changing the oil at least once every 6 months or 5k Km which ever comes first. By about the 6 month mark your oil will break down regardless of the mileage driven.

Edited January 21, 2008 by Mani

[Dinu]

In Sri Lankan driving I think synthetic is a waste of money. Regular mineral oil should do fine. You will not have a chance to run the engine to a point where synthetic oil will benefit you. However, as it is said here, it's good to change your oil and filter at around the 1000 - 1500 km. No matter how carefully the engine is built, you will still have metal particles in a new engine. Part of this is as the engine is broken in and the rings are being seated as well as initial "washing" of the engine with the new oil will gather all the small particles in the new oil. Once you take off the first oil then go with something little thicker. Most auto manufacturers will recommend the oil type based on many factors. Fuel economy is one of them, among other factors.

For Sri Lankan driving, where the weather is hot and lot of stop and go slow driving, running a little thicker oil will benefit the engine. By thicker I mean something like 10W40 to 20W50 .

Braking in an engine process is controversial. Most of the recommendations that is being followed are many many years old. It may have been the proper method 40 -50 years ago when engine honing machines were much less sophisticated than they are now. The honing is much more precise now. Ideally, in order to properly brake in a modern engine you do have to drive it hard. The idea is to bring the RPMs up under engine load but not for extended periods of time. You need to "heat treat" the parts AND seat the rings. You may have less than a 500 mile window to properly seat the rings. Driving the car easily will not seat the rings properly. It will glaze the cylinder wall and not seal completely. This will be along discussion so I'll leave it at that.

For the time being, my recommendation is to change your oil and filter. Go with somewhat THINNER oil until you hit about the 5k Km mark and go for a little thicker oil and you should be good to go. Lastly, I would stick to changing the oil at least once every 6 months or 5k Km which ever comes first. By about the 6 month mark your oil will break down regardless of the mileage driven.

thanks for the info bro. ya im going to change oil and filter soon. first I have to find a garage that knows abt mazda cars.

so you dont recommend synthetic oil for sri lankan conditions? I thought synthetic will be better for our conditions and also reduce engine sludge.

Edited January 22, 2008 by Dinu

[Dinu]

These are the Oil standard thingies. The oil can's specify which standard they follow. Dont use mineral oil. Check whether the free oil change is a synthatic. Its really important cause it is very important for the engine. The experts will comment with more technical stuff I guess

ya, have to see what they put at the next service...its free so they might put something cheap

[gunat]

hi, a small question for our experts in here:

the user manual of the Mazda 3 has this:

Engine oil - type and classification : API SG/SH/SJ/SL/SM or ILSAC GF-II/GF-III/GF-IV

I have no idea what this means. can anyone of make meaning of this?

regards

dinu

Its the standards certification by American Petroleum Institute...

Here's a link for everything you ever wanted to know about Engine Oil:

http://www.carbibles.com/engineoil_bible.html

Also, i don't agree in skimping on synthetic oil- it may cost a lot more, but there is a noted difference in how much more quieter, smoother an engine will be. Again, it all depends on your pocket and how you choose to maintain your car...

Edited January 22, 2008 by gunat

[Dinu]

Its the standards certification by American Petroleum Institute...

Here's a link for everything you ever wanted to know about Engine Oil:

http://www.carbibles.com/engineoil_bible.html

Also, i don't agree in skimping on synthetic oil- it may cost a lot more, but there is a noted difference in how much more quieter, smoother an engine will be. Again, it all depends on your pocket and how you choose to maintain your car...

thanks for the link mate... ya, i think i'll go with synthetic as well.

[Axela]

thanks for the link mate... ya, i think i'll go with synthetic as well.

Thanks mate.9.5km is good enough.considering the size of the car.Even Allion does around that much.

[Ruslan]

Even this is a old thread have some questions for you guys. what exactly is Toyota Type-IV ATF oil?. guys at Toyota Lan** said that i should use Type-IV in My Corolla. i just googled a bit about this and came across and got to know that actually it's Mobil ATF 3309. normally i have seen people using Dexron II or Dexron III type using with corollas. since this is my First tranny fluid change, wonder what might happened if the box already got Dexron III? i ws just scared that this will cause (Mixing the two types of fluid) permanent Damage to the tranny? or should i flush the entire thing and replace with Toyota T-IV?

http://www.mobiloil.com/USA-English/MotorO...l_ATF_3309.aspx

[maithri]

Hi,

I am very surprised as always by the very short oil change intervals in SL. The oil companies must love you lot buying ever more expensive oil and changing it sooner and sooner! The Mazda3 in the uk uses the same engines used by a number of Ford models. All these have an oil change interval around 10,000miles which is approx.16,200Km. The oil suggested mostly is a Semi Synthetic, the longer service interval cars such as the VW's Audi's, Skoda's,Seat's and some of the Mercedes Benz, Peugeot etc Uses different spec Fully Synthetic oils with change intervals ranging from 17,500 miles to 30,000 miles. These vehicles are used by all,the taxi drivers to little old ladies doing 1000 mile a year. The cars that seem to suffer most from oil related problems,i.e.sludge is the very low milage ones that does not get up to temperature. The ones that have a hard life like the Taxi's and the Couriers cars seems to have the least problems as long as they stick to the correct oil and change when due. I service 3 to 4 year old cars doing 500 mile a DAY! and rarely find trouble with engines such as Bearing, Piston Cam shaft wear etc. We may crawl in the Traffic in Colombo but the engines are not worked hard or on high revs with big loads. So I wonder are the oil companies selling inferior oils to the SL motorist?

Or are the leading you by the nose to rip you off by selling nearly 4 times the oil they should be selling?

I noticed a similar shortening of oil change intervals in Canada- I put it down to the extreme cold-even then the interval was only 1/2 the UK interval of 20,ooo miles for VW's.

Any theories?

Maithri.