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Mazda6 Care and Maintenance

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#69 of 137 stretchjse by cheesehead6 Mar 01, 2004 (6:45 pm)
I seem to remember a review of the 6i you wrote on Epinions. Very thorough. Thought a lot of it. What sticks in my mind is a statement you made that after 3000 miles or so on the engine you were getting better response down below compared to the break-in period; even at 1800 rpms. How many miles do you have now, and is it still improving at lower rpms? Wd. be interested in a comment-- unless you've modded the thing since then. To what do you attribute this improvement by 3000 miles?
#70 of 137 cheddartop by ashutoshsm Mar 05, 2004 (11:54 am)
I have the same kind of car and can attest to a noticeable improvement in low end torque and smoother liftoffs without having to rev nearly as high as before.   I'd attribute it in equal parts to - break-in, as the parts seat, they seem to mesh together better and offer less resistance - synthetic oil - has made the car more rev happy, more easily, providing a bit of an illusion in increase low-end torque, although the (resulting) improved driveability implies an improvement in the overall condition, nonetheless
#71 of 137 ruefus by johnny420 Mar 06, 2004 (12:41 pm)
I know this is a little bit late, but regarding message 12 of this thread by ruefus and his plug for cathodic protection systems for cars, it IS bunk.   A CP system CANNOT work as described by this product for the simple reason that for a CP system to work there must be present 4 things: an anode, a cathode, a metallic path and an ELECTROLYTE. The absence of any one of this items renders any CP system worthless.   Cathodic protection is highly effective in retarding corrosion in underground piping & storage tank systems, because they are underground (electrolyte), and have the other three components present. Cars drive on roads.   So, unless you plan on burying your car or keeping it under water, do not waste your hard-earned dollars on this bogus product. Trust me, I work in the industry.   Cheers,   Johnny
#72 of 137 ashutoshsm by cheesehead6 Mar 08, 2004 (6:24 am)
Thanks for the observations.   When did you go synthetic? I plan on doing my first change at 900-1000 to clear the crap out. Should I keep the Motorcraft oil in for one more cycle before going to synthetic? I too will go synthetic. Even if the added punch in the 2.3 is an illusion--well, sometimes perception is more important than reality   The 6i cartidge system worries me a lot. My local garage, run by two guys in their 60s, were amazed, AMAZED, that Mazda went back to this. They remember working on these cartidge filter systems years ago. I know that some Ford products use this engine but with a spin-on filter. I've been watching the other board, where some people report their dealers warned them of possible warranty problems if they switched to the spin-on (which seems to be perfectly feasible technically). I still can't figure out what Mazda's problem is with going this route.
#73 of 137 cheddartop ... by ashutoshsm Mar 08, 2004 (11:48 am)
... I switched at 1250 to Mobil 1 0W20 Syn, then 6250, 11250 ad infinitum   I'd say 90% or more of the wearing/running in has occurred by this time (first 1000 or so) and you can safely switch to a *slightly* thinner and freer flowing synthetic, with much better overall protective and temperature properties.   Of course, if you have access to a garage, ramps etc, and don't mind the few extra $, ANOTHER 1000 mile oil cycle with cheaper semi-syn (Motorcraft or the excellent Castrol GTX 5W20) would not be a bad idea. An extra half hour of work doing the change, $6 worth of oil, and a $8-10 expense towards filter cartridge and gaskets.   As for the cartridge - yeah - it SUCKS. But the little Allen-Wrench nut-enabled drain hole on the bottom is nice to minimize mess. Make sure you replace BOTH oil gaskets - the big one inside the cartridge holder, and the little one behind the Allen Nut.   And analysis of the oil by Blackstone laboratories at the 6250 mark (removal of first syn) was excellent, and got better at the 11250 mark. So the filter can handle the 5K OCI when used in conjunction with Mobil 1 oW20. And I dno't baby the car - trust me on that   ps: addendum: the filter looked TERRIBLE with metal shavings inside at 1200ish miles, so don't let the oil sit in there much longer. I strongly disagree (and not merely on principle) witht he 7500 (or 5000) OCI recommended by manufacturers, at least for the frst oil change! The next filter looked much better at 6250, and almost flawless (except the color - all oil blackens within 500 miles) at 11250.
#74 of 137 Oh yeah - the filter system; there's hope by ashutoshsm Mar 08, 2004 (11:54 am)
Other discussions elsewhere allude to the possibility of retro-fitting the Mazda 3s spin-on adapter to the 6i, seeing as it is the SAME ENGINE! So there is hope. But no ones been brave enough to make the change YET. And no dealer will do it, of course!   Reduces one step, but I actually like being able to see the ACTUAL filter element and gauging how the filter/oil/car behaved during the preceding interval. Of course, you can hack and cut open a normal metallic filter and look at it too - but its MORE work
#75 of 137 Ashutoshsm by cheesehead6 Mar 08, 2004 (2:05 pm)
Thanks for all this. I will do another change at 2k with Motorcraft at the dealer and then go synthetic.   Mazda does say on its website that it's not recommended. I hope there's no danger to the warranty in going synthetic. Is there?   I used to do all my own oil changes, tune-ups etc. myself. Did all that for a long timel but after losing one too many screws down the engine compartment and being reduced to furious rages I decided to give it up for good. I get to keep my blood pressure down, my wife no longer has to pick pebbles out of my back and someone gets to take home a paycheck. Everyone's a winner...
#76 of 137 He He by ashutoshsm Mar 09, 2004 (7:36 am)
Fair enough - the 6i is a pain to get the oil change process going. The plastic panel under the engine is massive and held in by 7 bolts and one temperamental and squirmy plastic locking screw gizmo.   If you can find a place that'll change the oil for you with your raw materials (oil, filter, gasket) and you trust 'em, it might be an easy out! Make sure to tell them not to over-torque the filter cartridge or the drain plug, and also to not manhandle the cartridge during removal - its hard molded plastic and may be prone to gouging or rounding off of the surface, necessitating replacement down the line.
#77 of 137 With all the oil change discuccions ... by ashutoshsm Mar 09, 2004 (8:41 am)
... I'm reproducing my post from another (Mazda 3) Care and Maintenance forum here on Edmunds in the hope of - allaying fears people have about the use of synthetic oil and - convincing you folks to get early first oil changes - Also, hopefully, more 6i owners will be convinced to perform Analyses of their Used Oil to add to the database of info that's starting to become available on the internet.   I would ignore the recommendation to wait a long time before oil changes (I did)   I would also ignore the suggestion to run dino oil for many thousands of oil before switching to synth. (I did)   I would also ignore the suggestion to flush before switching oil brands (I did)   My 6i went from the stock Motorcraft semisynthetic 5W20 that is factory filled, to Mobil 1 0W20 at 1250 miles, and (every) 5000 miles ever since. Better mileage, better wear (as proved by Used Oil Analyses performed each oil change since), better cold starts and idling, quicker smooth warmups, smoother revving in the high rev band.   Of course, all these improvements could be just an effect of the engine running in nicely, but I like to attribute it to the oil. Experts (those who analyzed the oil) and also people in the oil business (at various oil discussions) have (attributed it to the oil). Very, very impressive wear-in numbers for a small block, aluminium 4-cylinder, apparently.   First UOA: http://www.therealashu.com/auto/mazda6/UOA/uoa_11_4_03.pdf Second UOA: http://www.therealashu.com/auto/mazda6/UOA/uoa_2nd_2_23_04.pdf   Blackstone Laboratories do a great job, for $20 a pop. I'd love to be able to compare the wear and running-in numbers from more 6i's.   PS: Yeah - the lab folks don't ever sound TOO enthusiastic about good numbers - its a legal thing I guess. Other oil discussion fora, on the other hand, have been very impressed. Especially considering the fact that I do NOT baby my car and it sees redline and quick shifts quite often.

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