Mazda CX-3 oil change interval and options

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Hi folks,

So we pulled the trigger on the CX-3 the other day. It's seems like a great little car and my wife loves it.

The car takes 0w20 and they call for an oil change every 5,000 miles or 4 months at roughly 100 bucks at the dealer (not far off at Mr. Lube or a private)

So, I'm leaning towards stretching it to 6 months as that will bring her close to the 5k miles. Mazda said this should be ok.

As for the oil change, What is the final concensus on doing it myself while under warranty? 5w20 mobil 1 is on sale enough that the savings would be very noticeable....or for the $100 a year saved do I just take it in?

Any Mazda owners dealing with their slightly insane maintenance schedules?
 
Change and top-off the fluids yourself. Keep a log book of all maintenance, expenses and receipts. Keep the old, drained gas, transmission and oil filters in a sealed baggy with a flap from the oil and fuel filter box. For a log book use a spiral notebook so pages can not be inserted, later and can not be lost with a computer or memory failure. If there is a warranty claim later be prepared to go to war with good, clear documentation. If you really want to be OCD keep a 4 ounce sample of each batch of used oil, transmission fluid and coolant. Do a UOA early on to make sure you're getting a good start. Do one later to track progress. Documents and other hard evidence, not words are your only defense against a dealer and manufacturer when it comes to a claim. And fixing a modern engine can be very, very expensive.

This OCD process won the day for a co-worker that had a supercharged Mini instead of a real car (lol). The vacuum pump attached to the cam drive failed and that failure ate the cam drive that ate engine. The repair estimate was $7,500. The warranty claim was initially denied but after the owner presented his documentation it was covered in full. The approval came in days, not weeks or months.

The car was sold the week after the work was completed for the full advertised price with a brand new engine. The turn around did not happen because the manufacturer and dealer were good guys wanting to take care of a valuable customer.

Just remember, the other guys have their hands on the controls and have one shot at defending yourself. A modern vehicle is to expensive and complicated not to cost a bundle for even the most minor repair or replacement.
 
Congratulations on the purchase! The CX-3 has received excellent reviews. I was sorry to see that it's not available with a manual transmission here in NA.

We bought our Mazda 5 w/ about 10 months of powertrain warranty left. I took it to the dealer for the first couple of oil changes but have done my own changes since the warranty ran out.

I think if I'd bought new I'd have taken it to the dealer for the duration of the warranty.
 
I run Pennzoil Platinum 0W20 in my 2011 Mazda2(not related to the Skyactiv engine in your CX3) and it has returned wear numbers at or below the averages despite me running the oil longer than the average. I run 5k intervals, average was about 4200mi IIRC.


http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubbthreads.php/topics/3987054/2011_Mazda2_1.5l_-_PP_0W20_515

I would do it myself and save receipts, write dates/mileages on them should it ever be needed.


Being a direct injected engine fuel dilution could be a problem if you do short trips, but I really haven't followed the Skyactiv stuff too closely(I'll encourage you to dig up some UOAs from others). This may be the reason for LOF recommendations every 4mo, but I agree 6mo is more than fine.
 
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Some manufactures think that Canada is in severe service schedule. Otherwise, 0W20 SN is a good oil and can easily do 7-8k or 1 year OCI.
 
Does Mazda NOT have an Oil Life Monitor oil change dashboard light to tell you when to change oil? Takes the guesswork out, most cars have it these days.
 
Normally I would say that substituting 5w20 for the req'd 0w20 should not be an issue....but in Calgary (cold) I think I'd stick with 0w20 (AFE if you like M1).

I'd probably stick to 5K while under warranty but afterwards I'd run a couple of UOAs and extend out to....whatever the UOA suggests...
 
Thanks guys, some great stuff here.

I may stay with the Mobil 0w20 if I'm doing it myself. I'm just wondering how sticky they are about it.

Honestly the new Mazdas are really incredible, but their maintenance schedule needs work.
 
Originally Posted By: ryan2022
Thanks guys, some great stuff here.

I may stay with the Mobil 0w20 if I'm doing it myself. I'm just wondering how sticky they are about it.

Honestly the new Mazdas are really incredible, but their maintenance schedule needs work.


Move to the US, and then follow schedule 1.

Or, just buy more 0W-20 and an oil filter every 4 months, yet keep your 6 month oil change interval. As long as you have your receipts for the oil and filter, Mazda can't prove that you changed the oil two month later than what you said you changed it at.

Also, the chances of having an oil related engine failure on the SkyActiv-G engine is pretty close to nill. The engines have proven to be incredibly reliable for an all new design, for such a low volume manufacturer.

BC.
 
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