Oil in my car perplexes me. I never seem to need it. I can forget about it for months, and check it and it'll still basically be full. Or I'll go get an oil change and it'll seem totally unnecessary to the guy doing it.
Anyway, timun, what do you mean by the nitrogen tires comment? I currently don't have nitrogen in there, but the dealership I bought my car from lets me get my tires filled with it for free so I thought I might do it when I went down there. You're saying there's no point at all?
For people that just drive around regular passenger vehicles, nitrogen is a waste. It makes sense for aircraft and race cars, but paying extra for it in a regular vehicle is unnecessary. If it's free, go for it, but most places charge and none of the benefits are worth the extra cost.
Lol, a lot if people here probably get their tires filled with nitrogen...
Many people think the new vehicle they just purchased has nitrogen in the tires. Most of the time the techs just switch off the black caps for green and collect the .2 per tire. When it comes back low in the winter than they fill them up.
__________________
Westerner by birth, Canadian by law, Albertan by the grace of God
Just so happened to be at Canadian Tire last night so picked up a 5l jug of the Synthetic you recommended, btimbit. Got home and looked at the cap on my car and it it says 5w20 where what I bought is 5w30, I'm assuming I need to exchange for the correct one or is 5w30 ok?
Also, any procedure for changing to synthetic from regular or just like an normal oil change?
Lastly, I always bought Fram, mostly because I liked the grippy area at the bottom. If they aren't that great, what type do you guys suggest?
Simple. Buy synthetic when it is on sale and take your car to a place that lets you bring your own oil. Country Hills Toyota lets me do it and I usually only pay $20 for the service and that includes them supplying the filter.
__________________
Don't fear me. Trust me.
The Following User Says Thank You to Reaper For This Useful Post:
You should stick with 5w20, the 30 is *okay* but the engine is designed around the 20 weight. Does your engine use a cartridge filter or conventional? Have you tried a Mazda dealership for the filter? For my cars I go to Toyota and buy them in a case of 10, it works out to about $6/filter.
Simple. Buy synthetic when it is on sale and take your car to a place that lets you bring your own oil. Country Hills Toyota lets me do it and I usually only pay $20 for the service and that includes them supplying the filter.
I've seen this referenced a few times in this thread. I had no idea you could do this as I figured the dealership would make you buy the supplies through them. Good to know.
You should stick with 5w20, the 30 is *okay* but the engine is designed around the 20 weight. Does your engine use a cartridge filter or conventional?
That's what I thought. I'll exchange it, don't recall seeing this brand in 5w20 but wasn't looking all that hard.
Based on what I was looking at last night, it appears to be a cartridge, I've never seen this before. I always had vehicles that used the regular ones. Think I may have to look at some youtube vids to figure out how they go in. Until last night, I had no idea there was a cartridge type.
I liked the cartridge type that I had on my equinox. The top came off and no a drop of oil was lost changing it. But I did need to buy a 32mm socket I believe.
I liked the cartridge type that I had on my equinox. The top came off and no a drop of oil was lost changing it. But I did need to buy a 32mm socket I believe.
Interesting....so I take it the cartdige is located in a different area than the standard ones?
Oil in my car perplexes me. I never seem to need it. I can forget about it for months, and check it and it'll still basically be full. Or I'll go get an oil change and it'll seem totally unnecessary to the guy doing it.
Anyway, timun, what do you mean by the nitrogen tires comment? I currently don't have nitrogen in there, but the dealership I bought my car from lets me get my tires filled with it for free so I thought I might do it when I went down there. You're saying there's no point at all?
Air is 78% nitrogen. There is no point, but if it's free, whatever.
Your car shouldn't use oil unless something is wrong*
I put the * there because of cars with crappy piston ring designs, and cars now running super low weight oils like 0w20 that will consume a bit between changes. It's not normal to consume oil however. Pylon will tell you it is because he works with VWs all day
The cartridge filter works the same as conventional and is in the same location, the difference is you replace the filter element instead of the entire assembly. Like this:
The Following User Says Thank You to zamler For This Useful Post:
Usually they are located at the top of the engine, while canisters are often lower down. It's rare for a cartrige to be accessed from under the car.
On the Toyota corporate 4 cylinder and V6 engines the filter is accessed from under the car, that represents millions of cars. What engine has it accessed from the top? (asking I don't know)
Interesting....so I take it the cartdige is located in a different area than the standard ones?
Ya instead of below the engine it was on top. However is was behind under a few things so I needed a swivel and extension to get at it but other than that it was awesome. The top of the cartridge was threaded on with a o ring to seal it.
The stupid conventional filter on the traverse is accessed from the top. You reach down around the hot engine manfold and bend your wrist at an impossible angle to get at it. Worst location ever. You install it back in blind as the manifold blocks any sight line to the filter location.
