oil
 

so I noticed that in this damn heat and after about 3500 miles the oil in my engine takes a turn for the worse, both in color and in quantity. Option #1, change the oil at 3k always option#2 for the summer start using 5w40. I have always been a strict believer in looking at the oil before deciding to change it at a set amount of time so I am deciding which direction to go. I have used 5w30 full synthetic always, Quaker first, Royal Purple second (I smelled too much gas in that one so I stopped using it.) and I finally settled on Pennzoil. Anyone trying out heavier weight oil for the summer, I noticed that after 3500 miles of hard driving oil consumption increases to the point I can actually notice it on the dipstick. At 3000 miles it stays at the same level and a decent color.

its fuel dillution turns the oil black, happens to all of us its the driect injection just chang your oil.

10w30 Valvoline Synpower is what I use and it has held up really well, especially in the Inland Valley temperatures of scorching hot 110F++++

not for nothing but 10w30 in the heat is the same as 5w30. if you want to get a higher viscosity oil for the higher temps you gotta go with a 40 weight 5w40 for example. in any case I am gonna try it out see how it performs.

the lower numbers in the weight of oil are indicative of its viscous characteristics in cold temps, the higher number indicates if you will how the oil would react compared to a higher weight oil in the heat.

what about a 10w40?

would that be too thick?

Im burning oil somewhere. Through the turbo, through the PCV, i dunno. Id like to try a thicker oil but dont know how thick i should go.

again the 10w40 would really be no different that 5w40 (at least in high temps) I would try 5w40. This is my first turbocharged car and I am still amazed how hot the engine runs. you dont want to increase the weight too much because with todays tighter tolerances "heavier" weight oils dont work as well.

Im running PP 10w30 and it works well.The oil seems to keep its color longer and I dont seem to have much of a gas smell anymore.I use to run mobil 1 5w30 but was told that mobil 1 is not the greatest with fuel dilution.I think I will stick with 10w30 for this winter and goto 10w40 or 15w30 for next summer and stick with PP oil.

I went to Rotella 5w-40 this change from PP 5w-30. If it works out I'm going to use it year round. The main reason for going to a heavier weight is the turbo heat, so that's still there in the winter. The reason a lot of people are running 10w-30 is probably that it was reported (for PP at least) that it had less fuel dilution issues than 5w-30. I'd guess because of the smaller viscosity multiple i.e. it didn't break down as much.

My last UOA indicated that my M1 5W-30 was in good shape after 5200 miles- and that number included three days using it as my instructor car at an HPDE.

0-w20 eneos FTW

as it should be.

i go 7500 miles between changes running redline 5w30. it's the weight that mazda calls for, and it works out just fine. to the OP, if you are losing oil, you are probably on the right track in that you might need a catch can or something, but, in all honesty, i'd not play with weights. the clearances and performance expectations of the engine are engineered with 30 weight in mind, so going any higher will do nothing but suck up power.

my oil level doesn't change throughout the interval, atleast not in a manner in which i can detect on the stick. you might drive alot more aggressively than i though, too.

Blackstone said that I could have run that oil out to at least 7000 miles, but my dealer gives me a free oil change every 5000 miles and all I have to do is bring my own oil.

It's most likely thermal breakdown, not fuel dilution. Most of the UOD's I've seen for the MS3 don't show fuel dilution being an issue, yet everyone claims fuel dilution attributes thinning oil. Maybe it's because the oil is flowing through a turbo that's 800-1000 degree F and spinning at 100,000 RPM at times.

I'm also using Shell Rotella T synthetic in 5W-40 weight. You can buy it by the 1 gallon jugs for $17.99 in Autozone or Walmart. It's designed for high temp diesels/turbo-diesels and can be used in gasoline motors as well. It's very sheer stable. The only downside is that it's got a high phosphorus content, which "can" reduce the efficiency of your cat, especially if you're burning lots of it. I'll take my chances.

my car lost about 3/4 of a liter(quart) in the last 1000km before oil change, that was the shell syn/blend from factory, i'm now on mobil 5w30 full syn and watching carefully...

I have seen black oil after 3k , decent looking oil after 3k or even dropped a quart after 3k.
The heat (weather has some to do with it)
How often you spin her to 5k and above (has plenty to do with it)

In this weather, if I pussy foot it around town I can still see a decent color after 3k, if I whail on it it turns black in 1500 -2k miles.

Its just cooking, and like all things that cook it burns off some of the "fat" I think 5w40 is acceptable, it remains thin enought to get in between tight tolerances when its at operating temps and below yet at extreme heat (which will thin it out anyways) it offers a bit more protection.

I run Mobil 1 15w-50 synthetic. Oil always looks good after 5000 miles.

There is no one solution to this. There are factors like heat and driving style that play a major role. If you drive your car to redline before every shift, you can pour golden crisco in your car and it will be black in 2000 miles. Know your drivng style and conditions on where you live. Then you can make an educated guess on how often you should change your oil. I would always go with the weight that is factory recomended. Do one oil change at 3000 and one at 5ooo, and then gauge from there when you need to do it. Keep it consistant and you car will be happy.

hmmm...i need an oil change

Just did mine, Mobil 1 every 3k miles on the nose, never more. I like to stay on top of it to make myself feel comfortable. I drive pretty hard and usually notice about 1/2 a quart burned off somewhere....

Makes me laugh when I see people worried about oil turning black.
That is a good thing, it means the oil is taking the combustion by-products that make it past the rings and is keeping it in solution.
Isnt it better to have that stuff in the oil than build up on the engine components.

I'd take an oil that turns black fast versus an oil that looks clean after 3000 miles anytime!!!

Personally I think the engine was designed for 5-20 as recommended in the reg MZ3, and the early manuals.
Mazda then figured out the 5-20 was thinning down too much, too quickly in the MS3 due to the turbo shear/stress.
So then they changed their recommended oil for the turbo motors to 5-30, this weight shears down to the 5-20 design weight during use.

No data other than looking at other peoples oil analysis, just my take on it.

no downside to using 5w-40 then ? Just holds up a little better in the ultra high turbo temps ?

5W-40 is fine. It seems to be the popular viscosity to use in the VW GTI also, which has a turbo DISI engine.

i just switched to that yesterday,but my walmart also had quart bottles as well.

Yeah, I had to buy quarts at my local Wally World because they were out of the gallon jugs of the Rotella T Syn. I guess this shit is popular. The quarts were something like $5.50, but if you buy the gallon, you end up saving a dollar per quart.

how's the oil consumption going??

holy fuck.

http://forums.justcommodores.com.au/...surrection.jpg

just look who brought it back!

i just like how polite lenny/rodrigo is in all his posts then lol.

also it's car related

Fuck you for being the one who raised this thread. I was hoping it was a dumbass brownie that we could shit on and ban.