Looking for Recommendations

[MrGiggles]

I bought a Mazda Protege5 last winter for a great price, knowing it likely needed an engine. It smoked very badly until it warmed up, and consumed a lot of oil. The engine was killed from severely neglected oil, the oil rings were stuck from carbon and sludge, and there was a a lot of gunk under the valve cover. The main and rod bearings were damaged as well.

I installed a JDM engine with around 50,000 miles on it. It runs perfectly and doesn't consume any oil. The JDM engine is identical to the USDM engine, with the exception of the pistons (more dome raises the compression to 10.4:1, from 9.7:1) and the camshaft profiles.

The factory spec is API SL/SG/SJ/SH 10W-30. I've been using Valvoline Maxlife and a Purolator Classic filter, at 5k intervals. I've only changed it once since I put the engine in, but it'll be due for another change shortly.

This is a high RPM engine that I frequently drive pretty hard (I take it to 6000 daily). It cruises 70mph at nearly 3500 rpm. It's high geared and doesn't have any considerable low end power. Additionally, I live and frequently traverse lime gravel roads that are very hard on engines. I check my air filter frequently, but I don't want to run an extended OCI because of this. The car is driven around 200 highway miles per week, and 50-100 mixed miles on top of that. I'd prefer to stick with a 5k interval, not into extended OCIs with an oil filter that's smaller than the one on my lawn mower.

Am I running an adequate oil/filter right now? If not, what would be a better choice? Availability is a concern, Walmart is the only reasonable supplier near me.

 

[aquariuscsm]

I'd stick with the Maxlife 10W30.

 

[slacktide_bitog]

There is nothing wrong with what you're doing now, so keep the Maxlife. The Purolator Classic is fine, too, but you may also want to consider Motorcraft for not too much more.

 

[Kuato]

Valvoline is good to go at that distance, but the media in the Purolators has been tearing for awhile now so I would choose a different brand of filter.

 

[Ram01]

Valvoline is good and try wix for the filter. Or go to Mazda and use there's

 

[Merkava_4]

You're running good oil, you just need a better filter.

 

[gathermewool]

Are you able to check the air filter without disturbing the gasketed seal? When you do inspect it, is it usually in good or bad shape?

If the answers are 'no' and 'good', respectfully, I'd suggest you stop inspecting it until it's needed, to minimize ingress of debris.

 

[bigt61]

You're fine - keep doing what you're doing.

 

[SR5]

I like Valvoline Maxlife, it's a good oil, and 5k miles, is a good distance.

With the higher compression engine, listen for pinging or preignition when driving, especially under load. if you have any problems, go to a higher octane fuel. No problems with pinging, then your fuel is fine

A friend at work had a Mazda Protege and loved it.

 

[sicko]

You're good with the MaxLife. I personally prefer a 5w-30, but you should be fine with the 10w. How cold are your winters?

 

[MrGiggles]

Originally Posted By: slacktide_bitog
There is nothing wrong with what you're doing now, so keep the Maxlife. The Purolator Classic is fine, too, but you may also want to consider Motorcraft for not too much more.


The Motorcraft filter is a little hard to come by in this area, but I'll try to find it.

Originally Posted By: sicko
You're good with the MaxLife. I personally prefer a 5w-30, but you should be fine with the 10w. How cold are your winters?


The manual shows 10W being good down to -20. It never gets that cold here, at least not ambient temp.

Originally Posted By: SR5
I like Valvoline Maxlife, it's a good oil, and 5k miles, is a good distance.

With the higher compression engine, listen for pinging or preignition when driving, especially under load. if you have any problems, go to a higher octane fuel. No problems with pinging, then your fuel is fine

A friend at work had a Mazda Protege and loved it.


I have been running 93 since putting the engine in.

Originally Posted By: Ram01
Valvoline is good and try wix for the filter. Or go to Mazda and use there's


I am curious about who manufacturers the Mazda filter. Unfortunately the closest dealer is 50 miles.

Originally Posted By: gathermewool
Are you able to check the air filter without disturbing the gasketed seal? When you do inspect it, is it usually in good or bad shape?

If the answers are 'no' and 'good', respectfully, I'd suggest you stop inspecting it until it's needed, to minimize ingress of debris.


When I say frequently, I mean every 1 or 2 weeks. I always check the upper half of the air box for dust intrusion but have yet to see any. The filter has some debris but it's usually nothing excessive. The air intake on this car is behind the grille, so even while driving on gravel it's not pulling in any dust.

 

[Festiva_Man]

i cut a motorcraft apart a while back and was unimpressed, i dont think it would be any better than what your using. out of all the filters i have cut apart the wix/napa gold look the nicest to me but that says nothing about filtration (although they are one of the very few companies that actually posts publically how well they filter). if your looking to switch brands and they are available to you they are a nicely built filter.
that oil for that interval should be just fine.
factory spec is 10w30 however, something to chew on: it takes about 20 min of highway speeds in warm weather (+25c)for oil to reach operating temperature of 212f. you say you drive it daily and drive 200 miles per week. im gonna assume 5 days a week and commuting so thats 32km each way. even with revving high and the higher loads on gravel roads your probly only doing the last 10km at operating temperature. you could quite possible reduce wear in your motor and increase fuel economy (if you care) by going with a 5w30 as it will be closer to the correct viscosity sooner. same brand, same line of oil 10w30 will take longer to shear than 5w30 but your going with short intervals so i dont think thats a concern. 5w30 will give you less wear and less power loss to the thick oil for sure in the first 10 minutes of driving, especially if you start driving it hard right away.

what type of air filter do you use and how often do you change it? i would suggest that you are letting a decent amount of fine dust in every time you check it even if your careful. i would suggest picking a change interval and just changing it then and not check it between. if it looks good go longer the next time, if it looks dirty go less distance the next time... or if your real concerned instal a restriction guage. your air filter doesnt suck in the dirt from your wheels but it obviously does from everyone going the other way. i always hit the clutch and let the rpms drop when someone comes the other way on gravel and their dusty but i drive on very not buisy gravel roads...

whats the oil filter number? my wife used to have one of those cars and i think it took the same filter as mine was supposed to and i use oversized filters for 2 oil changes. you could use a bigger one for one oil change if you cared about that.

 

[MrGiggles]

Originally Posted By: Festiva_Man
i cut a motorcraft apart a while back and was unimpressed, i dont think it would be any better than what your using. out of all the filters i have cut apart the wix/napa gold look the nicest to me but that says nothing about filtration (although they are one of the very few companies that actually posts publically how well they filter). if your looking to switch brands and they are available to you they are a nicely built filter.
that oil for that interval should be just fine.
factory spec is 10w30 however, something to chew on: it takes about 20 min of highway speeds in warm weather (+25c)for oil to reach operating temperature of 212f. you say you drive it daily and drive 200 miles per week. im gonna assume 5 days a week and commuting so thats 32km each way. even with revving high and the higher loads on gravel roads your probly only doing the last 10km at operating temperature. you could quite possible reduce wear in your motor and increase fuel economy (if you care) by going with a 5w30 as it will be closer to the correct viscosity sooner. same brand, same line of oil 10w30 will take longer to shear than 5w30 but your going with short intervals so i dont think thats a concern. 5w30 will give you less wear and less power loss to the thick oil for sure in the first 10 minutes of driving, especially if you start driving it hard right away.

what type of air filter do you use and how often do you change it? i would suggest that you are letting a decent amount of fine dust in every time you check it even if your careful. i would suggest picking a change interval and just changing it then and not check it between. if it looks good go longer the next time, if it looks dirty go less distance the next time... or if your real concerned instal a restriction guage. your air filter doesnt suck in the dirt from your wheels but it obviously does from everyone going the other way. i always hit the clutch and let the rpms drop when someone comes the other way on gravel and their dusty but i drive on very not buisy gravel roads...

whats the oil filter number? my wife used to have one of those cars and i think it took the same filter as mine was supposed to and i use oversized filters for 2 oil changes. you could use a bigger one for one oil change if you cared about that.


I will likely switch to 5W-30 now that the weather is cooling off. IIRC the manual states that 5W is only good to 90* or something like that, and it gets hotter than that here in July and August (I'm in Missouri).

The filter is likely OEM, but I didn't put it in so I don't know for sure. It was in the car when I bought it. I tap/blow them out now and then, I don't think I've ever replaced one that wasn't physically damaged.

Been doing some filter research and it looks like a Wix from Oreilly's is the best option. The OEM replacment is 51365, but the 51356 is supposed to be larger and have more filter media.

 

[Festiva_Man]

Originally Posted By: MrGiggles
Originally Posted By: Festiva_Man
i cut a motorcraft apart a while back and was unimpressed, i dont think it would be any better than what your using. out of all the filters i have cut apart the wix/napa gold look the nicest to me but that says nothing about filtration (although they are one of the very few companies that actually posts publically how well they filter). if your looking to switch brands and they are available to you they are a nicely built filter.
that oil for that interval should be just fine.
factory spec is 10w30 however, something to chew on: it takes about 20 min of highway speeds in warm weather (+25c)for oil to reach operating temperature of 212f. you say you drive it daily and drive 200 miles per week. im gonna assume 5 days a week and commuting so thats 32km each way. even with revving high and the higher loads on gravel roads your probly only doing the last 10km at operating temperature. you could quite possible reduce wear in your motor and increase fuel economy (if you care) by going with a 5w30 as it will be closer to
the correct viscosity sooner. same brand, same line of oil 10w30 will take longer to shear than 5w30 but your going with short intervals so i dont think thats a concern. 5w30 will give you less wear and less power loss to the thick oil for sure in the first 10 minutes of driving, especially if you start driving it hard right away.

what type of air filter do you use and how often do you change it? i would suggest that you are letting a decent amount of fine dust in every time you check it even if your careful. i would suggest picking a change interval and just changing it then and not check it between. if it looks good go longer the next time, if it looks dirty go less distance the next time... or if your real concerned instal a restriction guage. your air filter doesnt suck in the dirt from your wheels but it obviously does from everyone going the other way. i always hit the clutch and let the rpms drop when someone comes the other way on gravel and their dusty but i drive on very not buisy gravel roads...

whats the oil filter number? my wife used to have one of those cars and i think it took the same filter as mine was supposed to and i use oversized filters for 2 oil changes. you could use a bigger one for one oil change if you cared about that.


I will likely switch to 5W-30 now that the weather is cooling off. IIRC the manual states that 5W is only good to 90* or something like that, and it gets hotter than that here in July and August (I'm in Missouri).

The filter is likely OEM, but I didn't put it in so I don't know for sure. It was in the car when I bought it. I tap/blow them out now and then, I don't think I've ever replaced one that wasn't physically damaged.

Been doing some filter research and it looks like a Wix from Oreilly's is the best option. The OEM replacment is 51365, but the 51356 is supposed to be larger and have more filter media.


Ok cool.
I used to tap and blow mine out, then heard all the people on here claiming that wrecks the filter... Lol, so i just cange mine, their like $10 and last 70,000km for me so im cool with that.
Ok, on the wix website they list all the specs for their filters. If you look at that check to see if the bypass valve pressure rating is the same and that the gasket dimentions will fit. If 51356 does indeed work thats what is reccomended for my one car. A slightly bigger filter is 51334. But te one i use is 51344. Its twice the size inside of filter media and i use them for 2 oil changes (daining it inbetween). Not saying thats something you should do but its a nice big filter

compare the sizes when your in the store.

 

[MrGiggles]

Originally Posted By: Festiva_Man
Originally Posted By: MrGiggles
Originally Posted By: Festiva_Man
i cut a motorcraft apart a while back and was unimpressed, i dont think it would be any better than what your using. out of all the filters i have cut apart the wix/napa gold look the nicest to me but that says nothing about filtration (although they are one of the very few companies that actually posts publically how well they filter). if your looking to switch brands and they are available to you they are a nicely built filter.
that oil for that interval should be just fine.
factory spec is 10w30 however, something to chew on: it takes about 20 min of highway speeds in warm weather (+25c)for oil to reach operating temperature of 212f. you say you drive it daily and drive 200 miles per week. im gonna assume 5 days a week and commuting so thats 32km each way. even with revving high and the higher loads on gravel roads your probly only doing the last 10km at operating temperature. you could quite possible reduce wear in your motor and increase fuel economy (if you care) by going with a 5w30 as it will be closer to
the correct viscosity sooner. same brand, same line of oil 10w30 will take longer to shear than 5w30 but your going with short intervals so i dont think thats a concern. 5w30 will give you less wear and less power loss to the thick oil for sure in the first 10 minutes of driving, especially if you start driving it hard right away.

what type of air filter do you use and how often do you change it? i would suggest that you are letting a decent amount of fine dust in every time you check it even if your careful. i would suggest picking a change interval and just changing it then and not check it between. if it looks good go longer the next time, if it looks dirty go less distance the next time... or if your real concerned instal a restriction guage. your air filter doesnt suck in the dirt from your wheels but it obviously does from everyone going the other way. i always hit the clutch and let the rpms drop when someone comes the other way on gravel and their dusty but i drive on very not buisy gravel roads...

whats the oil filter number? my wife used to have one of those cars and i think it took the same filter as mine was supposed to and i use oversized filters for 2 oil changes. you could use a bigger one for one oil change if you cared about that.


I will likely switch to 5W-30 now that the weather is cooling off. IIRC the manual states that 5W is only good to 90* or something like that, and it gets hotter than that here in July and August (I'm in Missouri).

The filter is likely OEM, but I didn't put it in so I don't know for sure. It was in the car when I bought it. I tap/blow them out now and then, I don't think I've ever replaced one that wasn't physically damaged.

Been doing some filter research and it looks like a Wix from Oreilly's is the best option. The OEM replacment is 51365, but the 51356 is supposed to be larger and have more filter media.


Ok cool.
I used to tap and blow mine out, then heard all the people on here claiming that wrecks the filter... Lol, so i just cange mine, their like $10 and last 70,000km for me so im cool with that.
Ok, on the wix website they list all the specs for their filters. If you look at that check to see if the bypass valve pressure rating is the same and that the gasket dimentions will fit. If 51356 does indeed work thats what is reccomended for my one car. A slightly bigger filter is 51334. But te one i use is 51344. Its twice the size inside of filter media and i use them for 2 oil changes (daining it inbetween). Not saying thats something you should do but its a nice big filter

compare the sizes when your in the store.


I've heard all sides of the argument. If you live in the city, a new filter every few years is great. Out here, I'd go broke replacing them once a month. I haven't lost an engine from dust either.

I picked up a Wix today, ran me 7.50 plus tax.

 

[MrGiggles]

I forgot to mention that I've been using Maxlife blend, not the full synthetic, which isn't available here.

Would there be any advantage to using Valvoline Synpower, or Supertech full synthetic? Both of these are not much more expensive than the Maxlife.

 

[53' Stude]

I personally think you can't go wrong with the Super Tech syn or stay the course using MaxLife synblend 5or 10w30 sir

 

[MrGiggles]

I'm gonna buy some oil today, but I still haven't decided what flavor yet.

I feel that the high RPM nature of this engine is better off with a full synthetic, and I wouldn't mind the lower drag and better flow in the cold that they bring to the table. It does get below zero here, and this car doesn't have a block heater.

These engines are also known to have oil ring problems at high mileage, that I would like to minimize. Weak tension and carbon prevents them from sealing against the cylinder wall properly, this is what killed the first engine, it still ran great and the compression was in spec, but it consumed oil because of the oil rings.

So, I have pretty much narrowed it down to Valvoline Synpower, Pennzoil Platinum, Supertech Syn, or Mobil 1. All are comparable in price, with ST being the lowest, and Pennzoil at the top.

With winter approaching I am considering lengthening my OCI as well, since the dust isn't nearly as bad, further taking advantage of a full synthetic.

 

[Festiva_Man]

I would never use a semi-syn myself. Reason being i read years back that the minimum amount of synthetic required to be in it was 12%. I quickly looked now and had no definate answer from google. I found sites claiming no minimum, sites claiming 12% and one said 20% but that writer knew less than i do about oil-as in he had false information. Anyway, if your not comefortable with conventional go full synthetic, just makes sense moneywise. Personally i would only switch to synthetic if i wanted to extend my oci. But thats just me. Have a look through the uoa section on this site. From what i have seen there a 7500-8500mile oci should be quite easy for any synthetic even in your car. Probably longer is fine yet. If your doing 25k miles a year thats 3 oil changes/yr @8500k oci's. In my opinion the 8500k is easy for synthetic to do and i would go with the cheapest syn unless you want to do farther oci's. Im planning to do an 8500k oci on my car with conventional oil. I dont beat on it though.

 

[donnyj08]

I like Valvoline Synpower. If you've been happy with the Maxlife im sure you will be happy with Synpower.

10w30 Synpower would work great for you.