sectachrome

im gonna make an attempt at my first oil change today. it currently has 10w30, should that be good still? i dont put a lot of miles on my car, so itll probably be quite a while until i change it again (last change was in the summer). i want to get a mazda oem filter, cause from what i hear those are the best. do i just show up at the dealership and ask for one? do i need to lift the car to get to the oil drain plug? about how much oil is it, so i know what size drainage pan to put under there and how much to buy. where do i take the old oil?

trainwreck517

iTrader: (1)

Yes you have to lift the car to get too the drain plug, There is about 5qrts of oil in there, you can take it to just about any major auto store, kragens, petboy's, autozone.. etc. Most people recommend using castro GTX, and don't use synthetic's unless it's a good brand.. royol purple, redline.. etc.

Edit: Even though you don't put many miles on the car you should still change the oil every 3 months or 2500-3000 miles.

beefhole

iTrader: (29)

Seeing as your in NJ, 10w30 is still good to use for the "colder" weather that we have now.

jester1341

i've read a little on this, but what is the general concensis on oil?? in other words what is the thoughts on brand, weight, viscosity, and most importantly synthetic or non???

i know RP is about 5 times the cost of castrolGTX[like i use now], but is it really five times the oil??

BigTone

No, castrolGTX is good stuff, and for the price difference the normally does not make up the difference for an synthetic oil. Also with a rotary you will be changing your oil very often. The only time when you need to put synthetic oil is on a very high power car. It just doesnt make sence on a street driven car.

<junior1>

^what he said^
don't bother yourself with synthetic oil,if your car is just a daily driver just stick to a good quality 10w30.

sectachrome

yeah, it took me this long to put about 2500 miles on it.

jester1341

thanks alot bigtone.

BigTone

no prob