Mazda 6 oil change, 5w-20 or 5w-30

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Good day. I will be changing the oil in my mom's 2007 Mazda 6 tomorrow. I have bought the oil and Motorcraft filter for it aleady.
A few questions.
The 2.3L calls for 5w-20. I bought some dino Valvoline 5w-30 for it. I have researched online and I have read that 5w-20 gives 1% better gas mileage, but yields 30% more engine wear than 5w-30. If this is simply false, I may go with Mobil Clean 5000 5w-20 since that is what's recommended. On the other hand, my F150 calls for 5w-20, and I have always put 5w-30 in it.

Any truths to this or simply a myth?

There is also a conversion kit through Mazda that will allow screw on filters to be used instead of the cartridge. An arguement that you can only get the cartridge from Mazda and it is very expensive seems to be the driving force for people getting the conversion kit. However, I found the motorcraft filter at Wal-Mart for less than 4 dollars.

Has anyone made the conversion to screw on filters for the Mazda 6??
 
I think the 1% fuel mileage increase is exaggerated, and the 30% engine wear number sounds like a number someone pulled out of their @ss. If you already have a supply of 5W-30, use it with confidence...it will make little or no difference to a car that's spec'd for 5W-20. These engines were spec'd for 5W-30 at one time, and were dropped to 5W-20 to help pad CAFE numbers. There's nothing about this engine that REQUIRES 5W-20 so save yourself some money and dump in what you already have.
 
If you read through the UOAs on this board you'll see that the use of 5W20 produced low wear numbers. No evidence here of any increase in wear associated with using 5W20. Run it with confidence!
 
The 2.3L Mazda 6 engine is shared with several Ford products. I'm pretty sure that I have read that some Mazda 6 owners have purchased a Focus 2.3 oil filter bracket to enable the use of a spin on filter.

You have nothing to fear in using 5W20. There has been no rash of engine failures or short engine life from its use where specified. 5W20 has returned exceptional used oil analysis reports.

It is my opinion that 5W20 is better, but there will be no significant long term adverse effect to using 5W30.
 
Originally Posted By: blackcherry06
...... and the 30% engine wear number sounds like a number someone pulled out of their @ss.


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I have a 6, but with the V6, and i use either 5w20 or 0w20 in my car. I thought i read somewhere on one of the other Mazda sites that some users of 30wt. oils reported a slght sluggishness in their 6's, as opposed to using the thinner oils.
 
Originally Posted By: FiremarshalRob
Good day. I will be changing the oil in my mom's 2007 Mazda 6 tomorrow. I have bought the oil and Motorcraft filter for it aleady.
A few questions.
The 2.3L calls for 5w-20. I bought some dino Valvoline 5w-30 for it. I have researched online and I have read that 5w-20 gives 1% better gas mileage, but yields 30% more engine wear than 5w-30. If this is simply false, I may go with Mobil Clean 5000 5w-20 since that is what's recommended. On the other hand, my F150 calls for 5w-20, and I have always put 5w-30 in it.

Any truths to this or simply a myth?

There is also a conversion kit through Mazda that will allow screw on filters to be used instead of the cartridge. An arguement that you can only get the cartridge from Mazda and it is very expensive seems to be the driving force for people getting the conversion kit. However, I found the motorcraft filter at Wal-Mart for less than 4 dollars.

Has anyone made the conversion to screw on filters for the Mazda 6??



Use what the oil cap says with peace and confidence...your Ford err Mazda will break down for non oil reasons...buddy has a Ford Ranger Sport and he uses 5w-20 instead of the 5w-20 that is on the cap..and Royal Purple at that.. meh

I've been using 5w-20 on my 2006 V6 Honda that calls for 5w-20 but in 2005 asked for 5w-30 and my car is running stronger then when brand new...ofcourse that is due largely to break-in but I have full confidence that the design of the engine is good enough to offset in extra wear and get me to the 250-300 thousand mile pinnacle we Japanese car wanters seek in earnest..
 
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Thanks guys. Just to follow what the manual and cap says, I'll keep the 5w-30 for my V8 gas guzzler that I've used for years and go with the 5w-20 for the Mazda 6.

Thanks for the replies gentlemen.
 
when using filter housing u need tool from mazda its easy to damage it... and use torq thats saying on housing
 
I have a Ford Fusion with a 2.3L and it uses the same cartridge filter. I have yet to pay more than 5 dollars for any filter for this car. I have five K&N filters and 4 PureOne's that I got off of Amazon for less than 5. Plus, like you said, you can find the Motorcraft filter for less than five bucks.

I wouldn't recommend changing it out to a spin on. The cartridge filter is easy to do, especially the second time around. Plus, you get to see your filter element every time instead of having to cut open a metal case.
 
Originally Posted By: Ndx
when using filter housing u need tool from mazda its easy to damage it...



No you don't...you can get a filter cap wrench from any auto parts store. You don't have to buy from Mazda.

I use filter cap wrench "B" from Auto Zone without incident and it's three bucks.
 
The PureOne cartridge filters for the 2.3 are posing problems for some folks. Pictures posted to a Mazda forum show several twisted, collapsed filters. I'd stick with OEM or K&N.
 
Globey maybe i saw so many leaking housing because of use of wrong tool.. :) maybe they sell same as Mazda :)
 
since the Motorcraft cartridge filter is available at wally for a decent price, I won't be changing to the screw on. I don't see how people are saying you have to go to Mazda to get an OEM filter. Motorcraft is OEM for Mazda. No?
 
I have a CX-7 that uses the same filter. The filters appear to be readily available in several brands. I have purchased OEM, PureOne, MC and Baldwin(which has "Mann Filters" stamped on it). All of the filters were under $5 except for the PureOne.

I picked up the filter wrench at Advance Auto for about $3 and have used it with no issue.
 
I run nothing but 5w-20 in mine. I like Motorcraft and Havoline, and looks like I'll be adding yellow bottle Pennzoil to the list. As for filters, anything works. I've used OE (which I believe is a Fram!) with no issues, a PureONE that exhibited some crushing, but was not a problem (did not have the internal plastic cage), and most recently a WIX/NAPA Gold. I bought a couple Motorcraft filters from Wal-Mart since they appear to be a plain Purolator with internal cage, but at the best price I've seen yet.

I wouldn't worry too much about what filter you put in there, even if they do crush a bit no one has reported filter related problems. Just don't crack the oil filter cover!
 
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Originally Posted By: FiremarshalRob
since the Motorcraft cartridge filter is available at wally for a decent price, I won't be changing to the screw on. I don't see how people are saying you have to go to Mazda to get an OEM filter. Motorcraft is OEM for Mazda. No?


Apparently not from what I can find. The factory fluids are Idemitsu and I think the OEM filter is another japanese brand. I cant remember if the battery is motorcraft or not.
 
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