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Mazda5 Owners Care & Maintenance

Karen_SKaren_S Member Posts: 5,092
edited March 2014 in Mazda
Discuss routine maintenance and special care issues for your Mazda5 here.
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Comments

  • frank4carsfrank4cars Member Posts: 98
    When I bought my MZ5, the dealer already set up an appointment for 3 months from the purchase date for the first service, which they will do for free. They said if I should reach 3,000 miles quicker than that I should reschedule. After reading through the manual, however, it looks like I could go 5,000-7,500 before the first service. Any recommendations?
  • mrgarymrgary Member Posts: 33
    Has any one ever used those tire pressure monitor valve caps?
    Are the very accurate?
  • pk2pk2 Member Posts: 1
    I just picked up my Mazda5 last week and the sales rep said he'd see me at 5000 miles for the first oil change. I wonder if your dealer's idea of a first service includes an oil change and/or they simply want to check the vehicle for any major/minor defects since it is such a brand new vehicle. It may be worthwhile to speak with the service manager to verify what this 3 month service appointment entails. However, since the dealer set up the appointment and it's free, I would take them up on it.
    Personally, I will probably get my oil changed every 3000 miles since that has been the standard on every other vehicle I have owned. Having said that, these newer cars that have many more electronic engine parts require less lubrification, this is why the manual says 5000-7500 miles before your first service. This is only my opinion, I am not a mechanic. Again, I would talk to the service manager and then to an independent mechanic and go with what makes sense to you. Obviously going by the vehicle's service manual recommendations is ultimately the way to go, but it can't hurt to have a few extra oil changes at the front end to baby you new vehicle.
    Congrats on the new Mazda, hopefully this has been helpful.

    PK.
  • wusterwuster Member Posts: 153
    I'm curious to know if the oil filter on the Mazda5 engine is the same as the one on the Mazda3 2.3L engine.

    My 04 Mazda3 comes with a cartridge oil filter that fits into a housing on the bottom of the enginer. Which makes DIY a pain the you know what and cartridge filters are hard to find.

    I was wondering if Mazda made a change in the 06 Mazda5 to the screw on canister type of oil filter that everyone else uses.

    Thanks,

    Q
  • baxtersitbaxtersit Member Posts: 4
    I cleaned and waxed my rims a few days ago to protect them from the upcoming salt and was shocked to see how much less brake dust sticks to the surface. Try it out.
  • 5thave5thave Member Posts: 13
    Yes, it has the cartridge system of the Mazda3. I have seen elsewhere on the web a guide to converting to a spin-on oil filter, using the filter housing off another version of the same 2.3L MZR engine. I forget which Mazda model has the spin-on filter, is it the Tribute (I'm not sure) but one of them does. If you replace the oil cartridge housing in the Mazda3/5/6 with the identical piece that is set up for a spin-on filter you can have much easier time with DIY oil changes. This is an easy change, and is just a matter of sourcing the new oil filter mount piece thingy.

    I did a Google search on the words "mazda oil cartridge spin filter" and found an article that details how to make the change, including Mazda part numbers for the new items you'll need. Easy as pie.
  • rcinmdrcinmd Member Posts: 139
    My '05 Tribute with the 2.3L engine does have the spin-on filter. It hangs vertically, which will allow me to fill the new filter before installing it.

    As an aside, my local dealer had a bare bones 5 speed Mazda5 a couple weeks ago. That one had my name on it, but I am not quite ready to replace the Tribute just yet. I am waiting for the remaining '05s to sell off. Hopefully there will be another frill-free 5 coming this way when I am ready.
  • wusterwuster Member Posts: 153
    Thanks!

    I've seen the step by step conversion on one of the Mazda3 forums.

    So far, I haven't made the conversion to the 3, since the dealership is changing the oil for free for the first 24k miles.
  • yarisyaris Member Posts: 3
    I just picked up the special oil filter cartridge removal tool and was quite surprised when I crawled under my 5 and discovered that the hole in the lower air dam/splash shield does not line up with the cartridge. So now I have to remove the whole shield, which is not difficult but seems to me to be an unnecessary pain. I was wondering if you other 5 owners had noticed this or knew why it was made this way. Or maybe there was a production change and all of your filter housings line up properly with the shield. Any help or comments would be appreciated!
  • wreineckewreinecke Member Posts: 13
    Has anyone bought the factory service manual? Is it any good? How much is it? Thanks!
  • wreineckewreinecke Member Posts: 13
    How does one remove the radio? Thanks!
  • wusterwuster Member Posts: 153
    It's the same thing with the Mazda3's.

    I initially didn't worry about it with the Mazda3 because the dealer gave me free oil changes for the first two years. But now that we've traded in the Mazda3 for the Mazda5, I think I may need to revisit the issue.
  • wreineckewreinecke Member Posts: 13
    What is the part number for the tool? How much does it cost? Thanks!
  • dragonbugdragonbug Member Posts: 2
    Found this:
    link title
    :)
    Ordered step-plate, cargo-cover and other things there, quick response...
    good dealer, good prices
    :)
  • evpedevped Member Posts: 39
    I'm considering buying a Mazda5 and have always changed my own oil, but this cartridge thing scares me. Could anyone explain the difference between this and changing the oil in my Accord? Also, what is the maintanence interval for a major tune-up. I couldn't find it on the website. Thanks.
  • yarisyaris Member Posts: 3
    Just changed the oil in my Mazda5. The cartridge thing turns out to be not really a big deal. In the middle of the cartridge is a 6mm allen plug to neatly drain the oil out of the cartridge. Then the cartridge is removed using the special tool. (See earlier posts to purchase, although I found one at pepboys) The tool snaps onto the end of a 3/8 drive socket wrench and works quite well.Just spin off the housing like a regular oil filter. Inside the cartridge is the filter-just lift it out and pop the new one in. My replacement filter (Purolator L15505) also came with 2 o-rings-one for the housing drain plug and one for the housing itself. Swap o-rings, spin the housing and filter back on, and you're done. I did notice that the Purolator had fewer paper "fins" than the oem one, making me think it might not be as good. However, I'm not an engineer. Just an observation. The real pain of the job is the fact that the hole in the splash shield does not line up with the cartridge housing, requiring that the splash shield be removed (or at least lowered-it's sort of hinged) for access. That was about seven 10mm head bolts and 2 snap fasteners. Not hard, but an unnecessary pain, unless I'm missing something.(See my post above, #10 I think) The oil drains and fills otherwise quite normally (I've never changed the oil in an Accord, however) Finally, the owner's manual doesn't list a specific tune-up interval, but lists when to inspect or change diferent parts such as oil&filter (5k) sparkplugs (75k) etc.
  • evpedevped Member Posts: 39
    Thanks for the useful information.
  • drbonddrbond Member Posts: 1
    I have had the same problem last Saturday. Called the service dept. today and was told the hole was to remove the oil filter. I told him it would not work. Then he said it was for some sensors. Then he said they removed the whole cover to change the oil. I told him that no other place is going to go through that problem for $25 to $30 and he admitted that. I am going to take a pair of tin snips and make my own hole so I do not have to be bothered. Thank you, Dave
  • minisubminisub Member Posts: 8
    I recently brought a Maz-5 (automatic with manual ,however it was driving on the highway for 17 miles on 2nd gear of manual shifting) I was wonder is there thing I need to do at this point? This happened before the 600 mile mark and I know per manual you aren't suppose to rev at high rpm for more than 5 minutes. How much damage to the engine could this cause? Any feed back would be appreciated.
  • partsguy1partsguy1 Member Posts: 19
    http://www.mototuneusa.com/break_in_secrets.htm

    http://www.canadiandriver.com/articles/jk/030108.htm

    Here are some links on breaking in an engine. Good thing Mazda changed the software otherwise your car might have caught on fire. How loud did the engine sound in second gear on the highway?
  • minisubminisub Member Posts: 8
    Thanks for the break in article, I guess I don't have to worry too much. :-) The engine sounded very loud as expected running 2nd gear at 60-70 mi/h. The car also got really hot even when the A/C was turn on, the inside was very warm. Thank goodness it didn't catch fire.
  • virago83virago83 Member Posts: 6
    Just purchased our "5" in late July so not worried about oil changes yet but was wondering about down the road. Would using synthetic oil vs regular oil be worth its extra cost and does Mazda even recommend or endorse Synthetic oils? I was chatting with a local fellow here other day who presently has an RX-8 and his wife has a Mazda3. Says the RX-8 is his 6th Mazda and he's been using only synthetic oils in his Mazdas for several years. Says he's getting better power, better gas mileage and easier winter starts.(we're in Canada here) His suggestion - if you plan on trading in car in 3-4 years, not worth the extra cost but if you plan on keeping car for a while, use synthetic. And to boot he is using ethanol based gasoline in all his cars, even his new RX-8. Says gives better power and mileage than the regular stuff. Any comments out there?
  • blynmazda5blynmazda5 Member Posts: 20
    While doing the walk through for my new MZ 5 Sport AT with 15 miles, I asked to check the transmission fluid.

    The salesman said that was a good idea and that not many people ask to be shown how to check the fluids.

    When I removed the stick, I was shocked to see that there was only a speck of orange fluid om the dip stick. The salesman said that it was a new engine and that there was fluid on the stick. When I wiped the dip stick, there was fluid, but I was still suprised that it wasn't orange on the dip stick.

    Does this sound correct. I'm used to seeing orange fluid on the dip stick and would like to confirm that all is well with the transmission fluid.

    Thanks.

    D
  • wusterwuster Member Posts: 153
    I have noticed that the transmission fluid in my 5 is almost clear with just a hint of redness. At first, I thought the same thing, that it was low on fluid. Then I checked it a few times and realized there was fluid, but it was the clearness that made it look empty.
  • mazdalvrmazdalvr Member Posts: 16
    I am sure it is, the only difference in the engine from the 3 to the 5 is torque.
  • nola1nola1 Member Posts: 18
    I have 30k+ miles on my Mazda5 and the tires are worn to the low tread indicators. How long should tires last? Will I be buying a new set of tires every year?
  • wa98stratwa98strat Member Posts: 66
    that all depends on your driving habits! Low profile tires don't usually have tread life warranties. as they usually have softer compounds designed to enhance handling at the expense of tire life.
  • wusterwuster Member Posts: 153
    True, and the OEM tires that came with the car usually isn't the greatest either...

    Look for tires with a higher wear rating. That should get you a longer lasting set of tires.
  • zoom500zoom500 Member Posts: 11
    I have read alot about the plastic shield that is under the car (and in the way). Has anyone taken the car to a fast lube place and had a problem getting an oil change? Was there an up charge for having to remove the plastic shield?
    I am on my way to get my first change and just want to get an idea of what I might be in for.
    thanks :confuse:
    zoom 500
  • wusterwuster Member Posts: 153
    You should confirm with the fast lube place that they have cartridge filters for the Mazda5 in stock. The 5 doesn't have screw on filters that those places normally carry.

    It would suck for them to drop the plastic shield, drain the oil and THEN find out that they don't have the filter...
  • dagmar3dagmar3 Member Posts: 8
    I do know that rotary engines are not supposed to use synthetic oil. It says so in the RX-8 owners manual.

    I use synthetic oil in my 5 because it provides better protection. And it certainly flows better in cold temperatures, so I would use it in Canada, too. It costs maybe an extra $25 each oil change, so the price is irrelevant. It does not increase gas mileage by any degree you will be able to detect. The truth is, there just isn't that much friction to overcome in Mazda's little engine; especially with 5w20 oil.

    Ethanol-based gas (usually 10%) will not get you better mileage, either. Ethanol has less BTUs (less potential power)than gas. That's why fuel mileage drops significantly (35% or more) when E85 (85% ethanol; 15% gas) is used.
  • wa98stratwa98strat Member Posts: 66
    Actually it shouldn't cost you anything extra ( in relative terms) I just had my oil changed (first one) and asked the service writer at my dealership what they used for oil. Much to my suprise I discovered that they use Castrol Syntec synthetic blend!!

    Price is right to $35 for the oil change + $10 for the tire rotation. I rotate my tires at every oil change as the interval to tire rotation is basically the same as the oil change
  • nissmazlovernissmazlover Member Posts: 162
    OK, so I noticed that my driver side, rear tire has a bump/bubble on it on the sidewall. I take it in for servicing, and according to the statement they did a Mazda Full Circle inspection on it, which includes inspection of the tires. The tire still had the bump on it.

    Today, I took it in to get the right side, rear shock replaced since they said it was faulty. I told them about the bump/bubble in my tire and he said that it is dangerous to have that and that I should get the tire replaced.

    I'm wondering why they didn't say or notice this before when I got it serviced. And I am also wondering if it really is all that dangerous to have a bubble on the tire. I mean, it's been there for a while and nothing's happened. I also asked the technician if it was possible to get it replaced from the manufacturer since it could have been a defective tire since I haven't hit a curb or done anything out of the ordinary to cause a bubble. He said it was extremely difficult for a tire manufacturer to admit it was defective and to give a new tire and that he has never seen it happen. So, I am wondering if that is true as well.

    I have an 06 Carbon Mica Gray, Mazda 5 Touring with the 17 inchers - I believe they are Toyo tires? Any advice on all the above, please? Thanks!
  • wusterwuster Member Posts: 153
    Yeah, an outward bubble is bad. It means there is a weak spot on the sidewall of the tire. The tire manufacture should cover the replacement, because it can be considered a manufacturing defect.

    Check the pamphlets that came in with your owner's manual. There should be one in there about the tire warranty. I believe the tire warranty is good for 12,000 miles.
  • ma3xma3x Member Posts: 7
    I just had my first oil + filter change at the dealer. The first one is free, so I decided to take it tot the dealer where I initially bought the car. I was talking to the service person and they said the oil they put in all the Mazda5s and Mazda3s is 10W-30. I live in South Florida, and since the temperature rarely gets down to 40s he said that the 10w-30 is better than the 5w-20 that the manual recommends for the M5. I found this odd, but anyway, would the engine get damaged by running on 10w-30 instead of 5w-20. Since they offered me a decent deal on oil changes (just $19.95) for as long as I own the car, and since I don't have the time to do it myself, I plan on taking it there all the time. Any toughts on this would be appreciated ...ty :confuse:
  • ricky9ricky9 Member Posts: 1
    Can anyone tell me the location of the cabin air filter, and
    how to replace it. I have a mazda 5 2006 touring.
    I called the dealer and was told the cost of the filter was
    around $37.00 and would take about a half hour to install
    at about $36.00. any information would be helpful.
    Ricky9
  • riproyriproy Member Posts: 57
    Hi,
    Since the temps have dropped below 0 here, the rear suspension has been squeaking. This morning it was nearly -20 and both the front and rear suspension have been squeaking at the slightly bump in the road. Has anyone else experienced this? I called a dealership today and they said they have had similar complaints and that it has been serviced by clearing the ice from the sway bars and lubricating them. I hope this is all it is, and that this operation will cure the problem, because it drives you nutty to drive a new and squeaking car. My appointment is next week, so i hope it works.
  • riproyriproy Member Posts: 57
    I can reply to my own message since the problem was fixed with new bushings on the sway bars at each corner. A quiet ride once more...
  • jeff39jeff39 Member Posts: 10
    We are experiencing really violent "sqeaking" over things like speed bumps, even when travelling very slowly, both front and rear.
    Did your dealer replace the bushings with the same ones that were on the vehicle originally? If so, you would think that they'll be giving you problems by next winter. Did they provide you with any other explanation?
    When I bring ours in I'd like to have all the information I can!
    Thanks.
  • riproyriproy Member Posts: 57
    They didn't give me much detail. It was the rubber bushing plates on the front, and bushings on rear sway bar. I know that it will be covered if the same problem occurs again next winter. When i called the dealer initially, i asked if they had heard of this before. They had, and they sounded confident that they knew the fix for it. I wasn't sure that bushing alone could be responsible for that much noise so i wasn't holding my breath and i was surprised to hear no sounds when i got it back and it has been silent down to -27 C since. The way a new car should be. Good luck with yours.
  • jeff39jeff39 Member Posts: 10
    Thanks! We'll give it a try next week.
  • dcdingodcdingo Member Posts: 21
    My wife, who mainly drives our 5, is complaining about front wheel slippage in wet conditions and is already fretting about snow. I thought I'd get a set of 16" wheels and different tires, as others have done for winter. But here's my worry, will a winter-pattern tire be even worse in the wet? Grateful for any suggestions. We live in Washington D.C., so we don't need a super-aggressive snow tire.
  • virago83virago83 Member Posts: 6
    I live up in Ontario, Canada near the nation's capital. We purchased our Mazda 5 GT in July and I just had a set of 16" winter rims and a set of Toyo snow grips installed last month. All I can say about the front wheel slippage would be that your wife may have a heavy right foot although I have noted that the "5" is fairly perky off the line but its no fault of the vehicle itself. So far the winter tire package is working great. We have hardly had any snow here so far but on several days the temp has hovered around the freezing mark. As the tire dealer mentioned, even without snow to a certain extent the winter tires will give you better traction on a cold road surface. The stock "all-season" tires are designed with good tread life in mind which means a harder tread compond for long life but when the temperature drops the rubber can turn hard as rock. Snow tires by design have a softer compond for better grip on ice, etc. and although will get chewed up faster if the road surface temp. gets too warm, they will keep on gripping longer as the temp. drops. In a nutshell, if she does a fair bit of cold season driving, its worth getting a winter tire. You'll have to pay more for the 2nd set of rubber but then you get to tuck those expensive summer tires away for 4-5 months and save the wear/tear! That's my 2 cents worth. :)
  • dcdingodcdingo Member Posts: 21
    You are right, my wife is a bit of a lead-foot. But even I have noticed how sensitive takeoffs can be in chilly wet weather. Appreciate your detailed reply and sounds like there will be some benefits from carefully chosen winter tires, even absent snow.
  • dcdingodcdingo Member Posts: 21
    Tks virago83. Tirerack sent steel wheels fitted with Bridgstone Blizzak Revo 1's within 2 days using standard shipping! Huge improvement in traction in the wet. We had only 9,500 miles on the OEM tires but they were surprisingly worn. By using the winter tires we'll get another year out of the summer set.
  • jeffpurdjeffpurd Member Posts: 11
    dc - I just put some blizzaks on in November - huge improvement for Minnesota. When I had them replaced, I had about 30k on the original tires and that was exclusively highway but the drive tires seemed very worn early on to my disappointment. It was interesting when I went to the tire store the owner said that the Mazda 3's and 5's in particular seem to be going through tires. He mentioned it without prompting which leads me to believe they're either putting some pretty cheap tires on in the factory or the low profile tires are just prone to it. :(
  • athenasiusathenasius Member Posts: 118
    Hey bob I use Sunoco 94 in the summer and I notice the increase in power(I only use it in the summer as the A/C sucks power). The only thing I was told was to find out about the seals as apparently ethanol can dry them out(I can not get an answer from Mazda if they are like GM whos cars can run on the ethanol.
  • nissmazlovernissmazlover Member Posts: 162
    As far as my situation goes: I had previously taken the car back to get it fixed because of the crunching/squeaking noise I had experienced and talked about here in this forum before. I had reported that everything was fine and dandy when I got it. BUT, now that it has, finally, got cold here in NYC, the annoying, grating, disconcerting noise is back and worse than ever, both front and rear. Sooooo, I took it again to get it fixed and they told me they changed the bushings again. When I got it, it felt and sounded great, BUT, once it got cold again - in the 20's F - the crunch came back.

    Of course, everytime I take it to the dealer, the weather warms up and the damned car doesn't make any noise. So, they are unable to hear it again and I have to wait until it is freezing cold again to be able to take it to them and let them hear that it is still happening. So, I don't believe that them changing the bushing has done anything to permanently alleviate the problem. It must be a design issue with the Mazda parts - unless, of course, the dealer is lying to me and has never changed them, but only lubed them up. I am thinking of actually taking the car to another Mazda service center and seeing what they can do about it, but then I feel like I am "cheating" on my regular Mazda service center since they have always been nice to me.

    In any case, my noise is back and I would like to know if anyone else out there has their squeaking/crunching noise back after having it "fixed". Thanks!
  • athenasiusathenasius Member Posts: 118
    Yes I have the same issue. I had the bushings changed and it is okay for a bit then the cold returns and it is back. The big question is why do they do this when the bulletin says to change the whole arm(this is the exact same issue with the mazda3- http://www.finishlineperformance.com/mazda3/docs/0040.pdf). It is very unfortunate that we the drivers love the car but are let down by the service.
This discussion has been closed.