Mazda excessive time (vs miles) recommended OCI.

[pezzy669]

Hey guys - been a long time since I have posted but decided to pop in to get some expert advice. This is regarding a 2010 Mazda 3 with the MZR 2.5.

I have recently moved to Atlanta and my commute pattern has changed quite drastically. I have gone from ~18k miles annually to ~3k annually. I decided to consult the owners manual since I won't be hitting the 5k mark anytime soon and wanted to find out what time intervals Mazda recommends.

I have pretty much always fallen under the severe service section by default due to living in a "hot" climate, however now more so with my ultra-short commute + high temps. I was expecting to find oil changes at most annually when you won't hit the mileage mark in any reasonable amount of time. To my surprise Mazda recommends an oil change every 4 months on the severe schedule, I calculated this out to an oil change every ~1,000 miles if not less than that. This is even BEYOND excessive in my book and I try to take very good care of my car. I understand my commute is loading my oil up with fuel, acids and other stuff and not allowing any of it to burn off but I highly doubt a 5W-20 is done in 4 months under these circumstances. The car has been on a steady diet of Valvoline conventional 5W-20 since new @ 5k intervals, now with 30,700 on the clock.

To add confusion I consulted my past service invoices where my selling dealer had me tagged @ severe service. They list their severe service schedule as 6 months/5,000 miles, Mazda does list 6 months as the time limit for the standard maintenance schedule. Should I go out 6 months, see what my new dealer prints on the invoice and use that to cover my rear should I have a powertrain problem in the next 4 years? Or should I just change my oil every 4 months/1,000 miles and know my car is anally retentively maintained?

I never had a problem following the severe service schedule as Mazda oil changes are relatively cheap (you can get them for $35-40 all day long with a Full Circle Inspection + car wash), however it was easy to justify them after driving 5,000 miles. I have a hard time justifying it after driving only 1,000 miles.

Thanks in advance.

 

[CharlieJ]

How does an OCI every 6 months running conventional 5w-20 with an occasional highway run to boil off fuel and condensation sound?

 

[pezzy669]

Oh and let me add some more fuel to the fire (literally??).

Fuel dilution. My commute is just under 3 miles each way with ~25 stoplights going in and maybe 20 on the return, I usually hit ~70-75% greens, bad days it will be a 50/50 split of green/red. My fuel economy has been at SUV levels since I began my commute. I went from easily averaging the 28 MPG hwy rating on my long commute in FL, now I am lucky to get 17MPG with my range being between 15-16.5 MPG on any given tank. I have not checked my oil since we have been here as I have only gone ~1200 miles since my last change but I am sure it smells like a gasoline dump.

 

[CharlieJ]

With that much brake use I would recommend flushing the brake fluid more often as well. I like good pedal feel and keeping the fluid fresh with keep the brakes firm and responsive.

 

[Quattro Pete]

Don't you take this car out on weekends to stretch its legs at all and therefore help burn off any moisture and fuel? If not, you should.

Also, is living in hot climate really considered severe driving? I thought cold climate would be more severe since in low ambient temps it takes longer for engine and oil to reach operating temp.

 

[pezzy669]

Originally Posted By: CharlieJ
How does an OCI every 6 months running conventional 5w-20 with an occasional highway run to boil off fuel and condensation sound?


I thought about this, but there is just no where to go to make this happen unless I just randomly drive around ATL which just sucks any time of the day, any day of the week with no real destinations to go to. Everything we need is within a couple miles of our place, our friends all live within 1-2 miles of us and the recently acquired BMW 128i is now our long haul go to car.

I think my longest trip since we have moved here will be to the dealership for an oil change.

 

[pezzy669]

Originally Posted By: CharlieJ
With that much brake use I would recommend flushing the brake fluid more often as well. I like good pedal feel and keeping the fluid fresh with keep the brakes firm and responsive.


Funny you should mention that. One thing I noticed going from German to Japanese is that the Japanese seem to consider brake fluid a lifetime fluid based on the maintenance schedule from an '09 Scion tC and my '10 Mazda 3, no recommendations at all for brake fluid service. I am taking the VW recommendations (every 2 years) to my Mazda so it will be done on my 3 next service - she will be 2 on July 27th. After experiencing boiling brake fluid on a Toyota truck I wont mess around with that ever again.

 

[ottotheclown]

So you have to change it!! Simple as that.

 

[pezzy669]

Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
Don't you take this car out on weekends to stretch its legs at all and therefore help burn off any moisture and fuel? If not, you should.

Also, is living in hot climate really considered severe driving? I thought cold climate would be more severe since in low ambient temps it takes longer for engine and oil to reach operating temp.


This is cut and paste from Mazda maintenance schedule. It is so vague as it seems to cover pretty much the entire 50 states, there may be a couple hundred people who fall under their normal schedule.

Follow Schedule 1 if the vehicle is operated mainly where none of the following conditions
apply.
l Repeated short-distance driving
l Driving in dusty conditions
l Driving with extended use of brakes
l Driving in areas where salt or other corrosive materials are used
l Driving on rough or muddy roads
l Extended periods of idling or low-speed operation
l Driving for long periods in cold temperatures or extremely humid climates
l Driving in extremely hot conditions
l Driving in mountainous conditions continually
If any do apply, follow Schedule 2 (Canada and Puerto Ri

 

[Quattro Pete]

I'd like to know what "extremely hot conditions" mean to them.

 

[pezzy669]

Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
I'd like to know what "extremely hot conditions" mean to them.

It is so vague.....even the humidity part in the section above would apply to all of FL and GA so that throws me in there too. I can just see some random powertrain component (lets say VVT components since Mazda has had trouble with them) going out on the car and they use some nonsense like this to deny the warranty claim. "Well you know you live in an extremely hot and humid climate so you should have had your oil changed every 4 months instead of every 6 months".

I think I might just follow the 6 months from my selling dealership service department and see what my new dealership service department will actually print on my invoice or put in writing for me. Now is the first time in my life I will actually be able to have the comfort of the full time period of my powertrain warranty, usually I blow past it after 3-4 years.

 

[JHZR2]

All this may or may not be an issue. A UOA is the only way to see if things like fuel dilution, shearing or oxidative thickening are occurring. We cannot tell for certain otherwise and it is all speculation.

My mother does five block commutes many times a day. We found that the non severe interval was usable with a good syn oil for her. And while you may say that NJ isn't as "severe" as the heat you get, well, I'll bet that on average you're within 10 degrees of us month to month, so likely what you consider as hot severe really isn't!

 

[KrisZ]

Since you're under warranty I would stick to 4 months OCIs using dino. After that I would chenge the oil every 6 months.

 

[PZR2874]

I don't get 5K OCI's under severe with conventional oil. Makes no sense to me

 

[Bladecutter]

Here's the real question that you need to answer, Pezzy:

What's more important to you?
Having your engine replaced under warranty if it has a failure in the last years of your powertrain warranty, or saving $40 on one less oil change a year?

Because, if you don't care about the powertrain warranty coverage, then just change the oil whenever you want.

If, however, you do care about the powertrain coverage, then you should do what the manual recommends you should do.

THough here's a question you should ask yourself:

How is the dealer/Mazda NAO going to know if you are severe service or normal service unless you tell them what your driving habots are?

If they ask how you drive it, you tell them you only use it on weekends to drive from Atlanta to Lake Rutledge and back. They really want to see the oil changes happen at least every 6 months, or under 5k miles, anyway.

BC.

 

[pezzy669]

Well I have caved and am getting my oil changed at the 4.5 month mark, selling dealership programmed my reminder at 4 months so funny enough the day after I posted the original the "Service Due" popped up on the nav display.

Got a coupon for $28.99 dino 5W-20 oil change with a full circle inspection @ a local Mazda dealership so I figured it was worth it. I honestly would be frightened to get an analysis on my oil, it is probably down to a 10 weight and loaded with gasoline. Well I guess the internals will be clean as a whistle with sewing machine oil washing gasoline all around.

Thanks for your help guys! I was leaning towards the 6 months but the warranty reminder thing just snapped me back into place.