Hi,I need to change my engine oil in a 2001 323 sedan with a 1.6 DOHC petrol engine code 7M. It's a BJ type. My question is 5w-30 synthetic or non synthetic. Also the 6 monthly oil change period advised, does that remain the same regardless. Many thanks in anticipation.

 

Heading into the northern summer, 5w30 is good. Check with your local mazda dealer if they use synthetic oil as standard.

 

Many thanks for that info reaper

 

I use SAE 5W-30 Mobil 1 High Mileage Synthetic Blend in the winter with a Puralator Classic oil filter. Same thing in the summer but SAE 10W-30 in the summer

 

well, if you are a friendly driver and do your regular oil changes in time, i would say save your money and use regular. with synthetic, you could change your oil at longer intervals, but the net savings are close to none, because synthetic is more expensive. here is my opinion: if i just rebuild my engine, i might start using synthetic. if my engine is rather tired, i would stick to regular. some synthetic oils have detergents too good, and they flow so well that you might start seeing oil leaks after a while. that happened to me some time ago with a honda prelude when i started using amsoil in it. but again, this is my opinion, and in this area, it might me as asking if that girl or the other is pretty or ugly.

 

I'm definitely not pretty! Haha!
I agree with higher mileage cars, worn out possibly burning, using oil with synthetic. However, with synthetic you could go a little thicker like 10W30 especially if you drive reasonable distances in the summer anyway.

 

we have to be careful about oils. old school opinions like the ones i had could bring you problems. i remember when i used to put stp oil treatment in my old 1966 vw beetle to help the engine. now with multi grade oils that is a bad idea. toyota come to mind. i have seen many toyota engine with low compression numbers in #4 cylinder because the owner used higher viscosity oil than the manufacturer recomends in the hope to improve lubrication. the oil could not lubricate that cylinder as good as it should wearing down the piston rings. the problem is that when the engine is cold, lubrication is critical. some new engines, and toyota is one, have very narrow oil passages and the cylinder further away from the oil pump suffers the most. using a higher viscosity oil just makes the lubrication system job a lot harder. if you ever removed the cylinder head from your mazda engine you can see how small those little oil holes are. here is a link to wikipedia article about oils. long, but just go to the section titled ¨multi-grade¨. and for the record, i am ugly too. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motor_oil

 

i change my oil every 5k miles or so. im not too critical about that.

 

The comment in blue is leaning toward a good synthetic

I know of people who have used 10W30 synthetic in the 2005 Mazda 6 which calls for 5w20. I have actually also done 1/2 5w20 and half 10w30. 3 quarts of each!
Synthetic oils can vary. I have had no luck with Royal Purple but have had good luck with Amsoil, Lucas.

Here's a good read: https://www.mazdaforum.com/forum/gen...antages-30407/

Here's another great pic of LED Lighting from Rigid, it's snowing;

 

noggin, that is an excellent link you posted. the facts are there, now it is just up for the person to decide. one thing i was sure was going to happen: the pretty girl i saw is ugly in the eyes of the friend drinking next to me!!!! these are the kind of discussions that allows us to learn, think and share!