Approved oil for Mazda 6 Skyactiv

Status
Not open for further replies.
Any 0w20 will probably be fine, and there is actually a debate among Mazda fans about running 5w30 in a Skyactiv (I think you can, but 0w20 is fine and where I live it's very cold so thin oil is good) but, if you want a high moly oil like Mazda's OEM, there are some options.

First, there's Idemitsu Zepro EcoMedalist w/ Moly (yes, that's a mouthful) which is very similar to the Mazda OEM oil, if not the same. IIRC, Mazda OEM moly oil is manufactured by Idemitsu, so you know it will be good for your Mazda. Just make sure you get the version that is specifically labelled as having Moly, Idemitsu makes another oil called Zepro EcoMedalist which only has a normal amount. Yes, it's confusing. That said, the regular EcoMedalist would also work just fine, it just doesn't have as much moly.

Second would be Toyota Genuine Motor Oil. It actually has even more Moly than the Mazda/Idemitsu and is generally cheaper. It's good oil from all the testing I've seen of it. Sure, it says Toyota on the bottle, but it's made by ExxonMobil and the specs are good. You can get it online or at a Toyota dealership. It generally sells for $80-85 for a case of 12. I'd recommend this one, if you want a high moly oil, because it does everything the Mazda oil does, but cheaper.

Third, you can move into the boutique oils like Redline. They have tons of moly, but they're also very expensive. I don't think these are bad oils, by any means, but I also don't really see how they're worth the extra money. Up to you on that one.

All that said, seriously, you really don't need to worry that much. Just get oil from a reputable manufacturer and you'll be fine. I generally just buy what's on sale, or default to the cheaper synthetics like Castrol Magnatec and Quaker State Ultimate, both of which perform very well, if UOAs are to be believed. You will never notice a difference over the life of the car. I spend the extra on a better filter, which I view as more important.
 
Originally Posted by littlehulkster
All that said, seriously, you really don't need to worry that much. Just get oil from a reputable manufacturer and you'll be fine. I generally just buy what's on sale, or default to the cheaper synthetics like Castrol Magnatec and Quaker State Ultimate, both of which perform very well, if UOAs are to be believed. You will never notice a difference over the life of the car. I spend the extra on a better filter, which I view as more important.


Not sure about that. There's a school of thought that oil filtration is overrated. I think there was a time when they thought that perhaps filter technology would advance to remove micron sized particles, but there are Honda engines with hundreds of thousands of miles on 25 micron filters that are changed every other oil change.
 
Originally Posted by y_p_w
Originally Posted by littlehulkster
All that said, seriously, you really don't need to worry that much. Just get oil from a reputable manufacturer and you'll be fine. I generally just buy what's on sale, or default to the cheaper synthetics like Castrol Magnatec and Quaker State Ultimate, both of which perform very well, if UOAs are to be believed. You will never notice a difference over the life of the car. I spend the extra on a better filter, which I view as more important.


Not sure about that. There's a school of thought that oil filtration is overrated. I think there was a time when they thought that perhaps filter technology would advance to remove micron sized particles, but there are Honda engines with hundreds of thousands of miles on 25 micron filters that are changed every other oil change.


I think the issue is that if the filter is too good, it would clog up very quickly and be rendered unusable at best, or damage the engine at worst.

That said, from all I've seen from decent sources, a filter with a better micron rating and efficency will cause an appreciable difference in engine wear. How much does it matter in the long run? Hard to say. But a Fram Ultra is only $8. I think it's worth it.
 
Like Littlehulkster said. High moly oil would be Idemitsu Zepro with moly, most likely is the same as Mazda synthetic oil with moly. Or you might think about this oil at about $7.50 a quart (12 for 90 bucks) It has loads of moly. (787ppm) The Skyactiv engine has a very high compression ratio.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/12-Quarts-Synthetic-Motor-Oil-SAE-0W-20-Genuine-00279-0WQTE-For-Toyota/362225012960?epid=526554124&hash=item54564b10e0:g:X4EAAOSwk~Fak~0d:rk:1:pf:0
 
Last edited:
Seriously don't over think it. Most folks go to Jiffy Boob and have put in whatever they use and the car lives a perfectly normal life.
 
Originally Posted by littlehulkster
Originally Posted by y_p_w
Originally Posted by littlehulkster
All that said, seriously, you really don't need to worry that much. Just get oil from a reputable manufacturer and you'll be fine. I generally just buy what's on sale, or default to the cheaper synthetics like Castrol Magnatec and Quaker State Ultimate, both of which perform very well, if UOAs are to be believed. You will never notice a difference over the life of the car. I spend the extra on a better filter, which I view as more important.


Not sure about that. There's a school of thought that oil filtration is overrated. I think there was a time when they thought that perhaps filter technology would advance to remove micron sized particles, but there are Honda engines with hundreds of thousands of miles on 25 micron filters that are changed every other oil change.


I think the issue is that if the filter is too good, it would clog up very quickly and be rendered unusable at best, or damage the engine at worst.

That said, from all I've seen from decent sources, a filter with a better micron rating and efficency will cause an appreciable difference in engine wear. How much does it matter in the long run? Hard to say. But a Fram Ultra is only $8. I think it's worth it.

I've been following this, and I see a ton of smaller filters with large micron ratings on vehicles that live a long, long life. And as far as oil goes, the most important thing doesn't seem to be frequent changes, but regular ones that replenish the additives and perhaps remove the bulk of the oil before it sludges. I remember back when I heard a lot of claims that the important thing to do was remove contaminants from the oil. Some were big on selling bypass filtration to slowly remove the tiniest particles while the full flow filter kept out bigger chunks. But in the end that doesn't seem to be needed to live a long, long life short of random failures.

Sure there should be a filter, but a ton of OEM filters aren't filtering out the tiniest particles. And I'm using this tiny thing to filter out up to 20k miles of collecting stuff for up to 2 years in a rather small sump. I'm pretty sure it's advanced engine technology as well as lubrication technology that allows 300k miles on this small 4-banger with these OCIs.
 
Originally Posted by 1978elcamino
Just curious as to what Mazda would put in if you requested an oil change at the dealer. Do we think they would put in the Mazda brand 0w20 or what ever the least expensive 0w20 the oil distributor was able to sell the shop last month?


My last change on my 2018 came with a Pennzoil window sticker. I'm assuming they used that.
 
Originally Posted by Serge
Supertech 0w20 every 7,500-10,000. Should be good.


+1

This is what I would be doing if I were not going 30,000 miles between OCs with microGreen filters.
 
I've done two oil changes myself on my ‘18 6 with Zepro 0w20 first with moly, second with standard which still has higher moly than typically offered. I'm not obsessing over the high moly content moving forward though and may go Mobil 1. Also, I use a Wix 57002 filter.
Btw, my owners manual doesn't mention high moly.
 
I lovingly ran the Mazda 0W-20 OE Moly oil for the first few oil changes and noticed I lost about a quart over half the 7500 mile oil change interval. I switched to Mobil 1 0W-20 EP and I now don't lose a drop of oil over 7500 miles. My fuel economy is just as good, wear numbers are great, and it's cheaper and easier to find. I can safely recommend the Mobil 1 for this engine. I am interested in the new Valvoline Modern Engine synthetic too, but I will wait for the day I can't get Mobil 1 for $12 after rebate to try it. For what it's worth I only run the OE filter, it's cheaper than anything aftermarket and is readily available online or at my dealer.
 
Originally Posted by Dominic
I lovingly ran the Mazda 0W-20 OE Moly oil for the first few oil changes and noticed I lost about a quart over half the 7500 mile oil change interval. I switched to Mobil 1 0W-20 EP and I now don't lose a drop of oil over 7500 miles. My fuel economy is just as good, wear numbers are great, and it's cheaper and easier to find. I can safely recommend the Mobil 1 for this engine. I am interested in the new Valvoline Modern Engine synthetic too, but I will wait for the day I can't get Mobil 1 for $12 after rebate to try it. For what it's worth I only run the OE filter, it's cheaper than anything aftermarket and is readily available online or at my dealer.


Yeah one issue I have with the Mazda/Idemitsu is that it seems to have a very high NOACK. It's just barely acceptable for the GF-5 spec, so it could lead to some issues with oil consumption.

The question I've always had with the ultra high moly oils is if the companies are doing it to reduce wear or simply because high moly should give fractionally better MPG to boost their CAFE numbers. I'm sure the moly doesn't hurt, but is it really necessary for engine protection? That's where I'm not entirely sold. 1/3rd of a MPG is something I'll never notice myself, but the lighter wallet from the more expensive oil is something I will.
 
I asked my Mazda dealer about the genuine Mazda oil. They don't even stock it in anything except bulk containers. The only way I could buy it from my dealer is if I pay them to do my oil changes.
 
I have a 14 Mazda6 and a 16 CX5. Until recently they both got a steady diet of 0w20 Castrol Edge. About two changes ago I switched to QSUD (which incidentally does have a significantly high moly content than Castrol). The motors in both cars quieted down noticeably. A side benefit is that it is significantly cheaper than Castrol at wallyworld.
 
Originally Posted by GaryMX5
I have a 14 Mazda6 and a 16 CX5. Until recently they both got a steady diet of 0w20 Castrol Edge. About two changes ago I switched to QSUD (which incidentally does have a significantly high moly content than Castrol). The motors in both cars quieted down noticeably. A side benefit is that it is significantly cheaper than Castrol at wallyworld.


QSUD is good stuff, but I think i'm going to try some Magnatec for my next change to see how it runs. It's just as cheap as QSUD and performs very well in a lot of engines. Not usually a Castrol fan (if only because I think Edge is way overpriced) but Magnatec seems pretty excellent.
 
Had a 2014 Mazda 6 sold it with 90,000 miles. It used no oil and I ran the first 40,000 with Pennzoil Platinum 0w-20 and the last 50,000 miles with Valvoline Synthetic and Wix oil filters.
No issues with ether oil or the oil filter.
 
Originally Posted by littlehulkster
Originally Posted by GaryMX5
I have a 14 Mazda6 and a 16 CX5. Until recently they both got a steady diet of 0w20 Castrol Edge. About two changes ago I switched to QSUD (which incidentally does have a significantly high moly content than Castrol). The motors in both cars quieted down noticeably. A side benefit is that it is significantly cheaper than Castrol at wallyworld.


QSUD is good stuff, but I think i'm going to try some Magnatec for my next change to see how it runs. It's just as cheap as QSUD and performs very well in a lot of engines. Not usually a Castrol fan (if only because I think Edge is way overpriced) but Magnatec seems pretty excellent.


I've thought about Edge or Magnatec for my next OCI, but I've used only Mobil 1 for the total 58k miles I now have on it. I'll likely stay with M1 as I want to use one brand for the life of the car just out of curiosity.
 
Originally Posted by buster
Originally Posted by littlehulkster
Originally Posted by GaryMX5
I have a 14 Mazda6 and a 16 CX5. Until recently they both got a steady diet of 0w20 Castrol Edge. About two changes ago I switched to QSUD (which incidentally does have a significantly high moly content than Castrol). The motors in both cars quieted down noticeably. A side benefit is that it is significantly cheaper than Castrol at wallyworld.


QSUD is good stuff, but I think i'm going to try some Magnatec for my next change to see how it runs. It's just as cheap as QSUD and performs very well in a lot of engines. Not usually a Castrol fan (if only because I think Edge is way overpriced) but Magnatec seems pretty excellent.


I've thought about Edge or Magnatec for my next OCI, but I've used only Mobil 1 for the total 58k miles I now have on it. I'll likely stay with M1 as I want to use one brand for the life of the car just out of curiosity.


M1 is perfectly fine and shouldn't cause any trouble for you. I'm thinking about the Magnatec because I always like finding good value, which both it and QSUD seem to provide in spades.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top