Does anybody know what mileage Mazda recommends for each maintenance interval? I'm at about 2200 miles now and have only had the oil changed, and am wondering if I should bring it in soon, especially seeing as I'm going on a 500 mile trip in two weeks.
Mazda recommended maintenance intervals?
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Sure is...and there's more than one!
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If you follow the manual and using the "Severe Maintenance" schedule, you'll be needing service at 5,000 miles (oil).
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yea i get my oil every 3500 or so. and do the other stuff when it says
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mind if i ask why 3500?
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interesting... i was a fan of the 3,000 mile oil change, but with all the new detergents and stabilizers i'm happy with a 5,000 mile oil change.
I just took my car in for service the other day and when it was done they put up one of those little decals that tells you when you should bring it back in and it said 6,300 miles. It had about 3,300 miles when I brought it in. So I'm assuming you should do it every 3,000 miles?
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The "every 3,000 miles" oil change is a hold over from the days when all motor oil was simple mineral oil. If you still run straight mineral oil (non-synthetic) then yes, change it every 3,000 miles or six months whichever comes first.
If you run synthetic engine oil, then it's different. 5,000 miles is easy, probably 99% like new oil still. 8,000 to 15,000 miles is the kind of range you can have on synth oil. It's hard to say how often you should change synthetic if you don't have a true oil life monitor built into your car (like the ones from Cadillac and Mercedes, they're amazingly accurate). Very safe rule of thumb is 6,000 miles, your oil WILL be fine at that interval.
Also, oil change places want you to change your frequently, don't they? So the only guide they use is 3,000 miles regardless of whether you're synthetic or mineral.
Brief rant--USE SYNTHETIC! It's so much better for your engine. Unless you're on a 2 year lease and don't care, your engine WILL last longer and run better on synthetic oil. Use synthetic, change oil and filter every 6,000 miles (except for the for the first and second changes, ideally they would be around 500 and 3,000 miles) and your car will purr dang near forever.
By the way, changing more often can actually be bad for your car to say nothing of the environment. The worst wear your engine gets is the first 15 seconds after an oil change.
As to other maintenance, read the manual. Follow the normal or severe duty schedule based on the description of these in the manual. Since I drive hard and our cars see a lot of city miles, I use the severe schedule.
If you run synthetic engine oil, then it's different. 5,000 miles is easy, probably 99% like new oil still. 8,000 to 15,000 miles is the kind of range you can have on synth oil. It's hard to say how often you should change synthetic if you don't have a true oil life monitor built into your car (like the ones from Cadillac and Mercedes, they're amazingly accurate). Very safe rule of thumb is 6,000 miles, your oil WILL be fine at that interval.
Also, oil change places want you to change your frequently, don't they? So the only guide they use is 3,000 miles regardless of whether you're synthetic or mineral.
Brief rant--USE SYNTHETIC! It's so much better for your engine. Unless you're on a 2 year lease and don't care, your engine WILL last longer and run better on synthetic oil. Use synthetic, change oil and filter every 6,000 miles (except for the for the first and second changes, ideally they would be around 500 and 3,000 miles) and your car will purr dang near forever.
By the way, changing more often can actually be bad for your car to say nothing of the environment. The worst wear your engine gets is the first 15 seconds after an oil change.
As to other maintenance, read the manual. Follow the normal or severe duty schedule based on the description of these in the manual. Since I drive hard and our cars see a lot of city miles, I use the severe schedule.
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Basic maintenance:
That's about it. Modern cars don't need much.
- Change oil every 3,000 (mineral) or 6,000 (synthetic) miles.
- Every oil change, inspect the air filter. Unless you have unusual dust conditions, change it every 24,000 miles or 2 years.
- Every few weeks, open the hood and check coolant, power steering and brake fluid levels. Top up when needed.
- Every 5,000 miles, rotate the tires. You'll get longer life out of them if you do.
- Every 15,000 miles, have the brakes inspected. If they start to squeal, get a brake job.
- Every two years or so, change the cabin air filter. A nice upgrade is to use a carbon impregnated one, these help scrubs odors out of the air as well as particles.
- After 120,000 miles or 10 years, whichever comes first, drain and replace the coolant.
That's about it. Modern cars don't need much.
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Manual say service 1 schedule is 7500 miles. Why does dealer say 5000?
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It depends where you live and the conditions. If you live in nice sunny land where winter hardly exists and no dusty conditions, schedule 1 is fine.
I live in Ohio, where there is a good few months of snow/salt on the roads, so we do schedule 2.
I believe they also recommend if you do frequent short trips around town to do schedule 2, as that is much harder on the engine than easy highway driving.
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I live in southern Ca. And drive 100 miles per day. Few short trips.
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While it is possible they have other reasons, generally that just means the dealers wants the extra $$ from you. I would follow the mazda schedule 1 and not worry about it personally.
I put about 6,000 miles a year on a car and no way I'm going a full year without an oil change so I'm just going to change mine twice a year.
In my Cobalt I found that the cabin air filter really needed to be changed once a year. I let it go for 2 years once and it was just disgusting. I wonder if it's easy to change it in the 3, I'll have to check the manual
In my Cobalt I found that the cabin air filter really needed to be changed once a year. I let it go for 2 years once and it was just disgusting. I wonder if it's easy to change it in the 3, I'll have to check the manual
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If you're DIY'er, check and replace the fluids at your own schedule that you feel comfortable with. I do 5K for oil change using synthetic. For those living in salt-belt states, i would also recommend checking the caliper sliding bolt - that's partially exposed on Mazdas - every year to prevent seizing.
For Skyactiv 2.0, manual, I would recommend changing out the MT fluid OFTEN. I replaced mine at 6K (I know, I know, it's too early), but the fluid was black, totally opaque, and had some what thick layer. I changed it due to harsh shifting from 1st to 2nd.
For Skyactiv 2.0, manual, I would recommend changing out the MT fluid OFTEN. I replaced mine at 6K (I know, I know, it's too early), but the fluid was black, totally opaque, and had some what thick layer. I changed it due to harsh shifting from 1st to 2nd.
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