Pandoras box of oil

TJditallo · Postby **TJditallo** » Mon Apr 21, 2008 9:14

Ok so I am kinda lazy and was wondering if someone would either point me the right direction of a thread on perfered oil for a 2.3 turbo or give me your own input. As in natural oil vs synthetic (and mileage limits for the two), 10W30 vs 5W30, and different brands? I know Andrew (columbia28) started a thread on the weight but I am wondering for myself about all the rest. Sorry im still a noob but I figured asking some of the vets is the best way to learn.

dommo_g · Postby **dommo_g** » Mon Apr 21, 2008 9:14

I use Royal Purple. There's no denying the benefits of syn over conventional...so I'll spare you that. The manufacturer calls for 5000 mile intervals, so that's what I do. I know with syn, and especially a premium syn like RP or Amsoil, you can go a LOT longer than that....I choose to change at 5K anyway. Because oil is cheaper than engines.

MazdaTom · Postby **MazdaTom** » Mon Apr 21, 2008 9:14

I'm a big fan of Mobil 1. For a turbo car like yours, I would strongly recommend synthetic. And while Mobil 1 isn't "fully" synthetic, it's close enough for street cars to not really know the difference. Fully synthetic oils are harder to find and a couple bucks more per qt usually.

You can buy 5 qt jugs of Mobil 1 at Wal-Mart for about $22.

What weight does Mazda recommend? 5w-30? If so, defintely run that in the winter. The 5w characteristic of the oil in low temps will allow it to flow better when cold. You might be able to get away with 10w-30 in the summer.

As far as change intervals, what does your manual say? I've never owned a turbo car, but I would imagine it says something like 3 months/3,000 miles for extreme service and 5 months/7500 miles for regular service. I try not not exceed more than about 5000 miles on my cars. My VUE has one of those "oil life monitor" things and that light usually comes on around 7500 miles.

Chris Barnett · Postby **Chris Barnett** » Mon Apr 21, 2008 9:14

Modern oils can last 5000 miles in a turbo car. In a pure race car I change it quite a bit more often though.

Pick a brand, use their synthetic. I use Mobil 1 in one car, Castrol GTX in another, Q power in another. You'll never notice a difference unless you are an engine or oil manufacturer.

SpeedRacer · Postby **SpeedRacer** » Tue Apr 22, 2008 9:14

I will start doing my own oil changes shortly but everything I've ever read for MS3's says to use semi synthetic not a full synthetic so I'll keep that going. Whether it hurts it or not if you use full synthetic this car is gonna be needin extra lovin so i'll use what it says

goldrocket · Postby **goldrocket** » Tue Apr 22, 2008 9:14

I won't start the argument of syn vs. mineral oil, that's really up the the engine manufacturer as to which one belongs in your car. The most important thing as far as oil is concerned is how clean it is. 5K intervals are fine if the oil is CLEAN. IF you drive your car like it's stolen, then I would suggest you at least check the oil, if it's getting dirty before a change, then shorten the interval. I have a friend who is on a crew for a Nascar truck, that had a catastrophic engine failure during a race. Turns out the fresh batch of Royal Purple was contaminated, causing a main bearing failure. Needless to say, they no longer use Royal Purple after the loss of a twenty thousnd dollar power plant. I don't know about the turbo piston engines, but Mazda doesn't recomment syynthetic in rotaries. Yes, they used it in their monster four rotor car that dominted the 24 hr Lemans Race, but that engine was built with tolerances designed for synthetic. It comes down to was our engine broken in on synthetic or mineral oil. Synthetic oil is a thinner film of oil on the bearings and will typically run lower oil pressure then mineral oil. So if your engine was broken in on mineral oil, the bearing clearances will be larger than if it were broken in on synthetic. Switching the a thinner oil film will eventually shorten the life of the engine. If your car came with synthetic oil, keep using it, but if it didn't the vast majority of engine builders(not tuners, builders) will tell you the same thing.

StormsOtherSide · Postby **StormsOtherSide** » Tue Apr 22, 2008 9:14

Here is a good site to read up on that can probably answer 90% of you questions. http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/

TJditallo · Postby **TJditallo** » Wed Apr 23, 2008 9:14

ok so I just got off the phone with a mazda service advisor and they said that Full synthetic is a big no no for mazda cars and that they suggest 5W20 over 5W30 synthetic blend year round and more specifily Mazda suggests using Ford's Motosport oil 5W20 (I know it has Ford in the name and should = Fail) because it out performed a lot of the other well known oil brands.

StormsOtherSide · Postby **StormsOtherSide** » Thu Apr 24, 2008 9:14

The best oil topic in my opinion is each his own. You could spend days and weeks debating whats good, whats not, Synthetic vs. Conventional. I think if there is any question on what to use, stick to what the book says. The companies spend alot of money on research and development to ensure the oil listed in the book is going to work to expectations.

Personally, I really like Mobil 1 Extended Performance. I have run it in everything that I own(except my diesel). Seems to be a good all around oil and when it comes to oil changes, it seems to remain cleaner than most I have used in the past. But thats just me.

Also, be sure to look at filters too. If the oil filter is crap, the oil can oil do so much.

TJditallo · Postby **TJditallo** » Fri Apr 25, 2008 9:14

The oil filter I know. Trust me im not a complete idiot but this being my furst turbo car I just wanted to play it extremely safe and just for future ref I have gone through and read my whole owners manual. I did that the day I got it

and Im not shure exactly what it says but if I did get it out and look I bet it would say 5W20 synthetic blend.

StormsOtherSide · Postby **StormsOtherSide** » Sat Apr 26, 2008 9:14

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Demon @ Apr 25 2008, 10:06 PM) [url=index.php?act=findpost&pid=42987]<{POST_SNAPBACK}>[/url]</div>

The oil filter I know. Trust me im not a complete idiot but this being my furst turbo car I just wanted to play it extremely safe and just for future ref I have gone through and read my whole owners manual. I did that the day I got it and Im not shure exactly what it says but if I did get it out and look I bet it would say 5W20 synthetic blend.[/b]

I hope I didnt come off like I was being an ass to you, I wasnt trying to at all. Just throwing out my 2 cents on the topic.

TJditallo · Postby **TJditallo** » Mon Apr 28, 2008 9:14

O no not at all. Did the oil change btw one of the fastest oil changes ive ever done after you get the guard plate off. I ended up using 6 qrt's of oil and its right inbetween the min and max line on the dip stick.

goldrocket · Postby **goldrocket** » Mon Apr 28, 2008 9:14

Last year a research paper on oil filters was posted on the firts gen RX-7 page. The results were suprising, I wish I could find the paper, but I can tell you that mobile1 and K&N were the two best, with the K&N rated slightly better. The worst one in the test.......drumroll please. Fram. Fram filters had the worst filtering, and the fastet filter to internal bypass the oil, sending unfiltered oil into the engine.They were also notorious draining in situations where they are mounted up high(eg. rotary engines). I have only used the mobile1 or K&N since I read the article. They cost 11 bucks, but as far as I'm concerned it's cheap insurance.

Pandoras box of oil

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