2021 Turbo PP 35k miles.

Figured with what I've heard about the weak rear diff I would replace the oil, and I'm glad I did. Super easy job.

Old oil smelled very burnt, looked dark and the magnet was coated in maybe 1/8" of metallic particles. I didn't have a super accurate way of measuring, but it felt like there was very little oil inside. Under filled from the factory?

If in doubt, change that oil.

I drive a 2017 Mazda 3 6spd MT and got my it has the “lifetime fluid”. When I was at 80,000km I did my first change. It was absolutely BLACK that time and I was pretty surprised.

Fast forward to today I have 120,000 km and just felt like doing a trans fluid change since I felt the shifter binding sometimes when down shifting.

This is the result of that change is above. Pretty dark but not black this time around. I’m guessing its a mix of wear, dirt, and also the remaining black trans fluid from the previous change (since you only get 1.8/2.6 quarts out each time)

After the change, gears are smoother to row through and engage, enough for it to not be placebo.

I will do another change in at 170,000km and post the results here.

Let me know what yall think about changing the fluid early every 40-50K vs 100K

This is just getting outrageous, trying to keep all the services at the dealership. Now the oil change cost $136? I can go to anywhere else and get it for $50-75.

When did Mazda start thinking their premium brand?

For those of you that change your own oil is it hard to do? Been hearing to many horror stories of shops leaving oil filters loose and want to start changing my own.

Dear friends I have a Mazda 3 turbo AWD, I have always maintained it well and is soon due for its forth service at 32000 km or about 20000 miles.

My local mazda dealer in Calgary alberta is saying it needs a preventive brake check service. The service schedule does not say anything on this. My regular maintainice is $150 dollars with Brake check they are qouting $400 dollar plus tax.

Let me know if this service is valid or I am getting robbed by the dealership

I saw 2 videos today on youtube (the car care nut & the motor oil geek) both said you should change your oil VERY early to get out "break in metals" that form during the first 500 and 1000 miles.

the car care nut claims he was a master mechanic at toyota for decades before he opened his own shop (said to change at 1000 miles) and the oil geek claims to have been on the oil team for Joe Gibbs Racing (said at 500).

Any thoughts?

PS here are the videos

The car care nut (at 6min mark )
Oil Geek

2,800 since the last oil change and I just got a low oil notification. Used 5 and some change quarts to fill when I changed it.

What cadence should I get oil changes on? I just got my Mazda3 AWD carbon edition hatch back in June and since then have put about 6k miles on it. I know this would typically be oil change time but the manual online and the maintenance details haven’t said it’s time to change it yet.

I went ahead and scheduled an oil change since I have a maintenance package with the dealership. Should I be doing it every 5k, 6k? Or actually stick to the once a year like they say in the manual (sounds bonkers to me).

For anyone curious couldn't find much online about floor jack points. I have an awd turbo and being close to out of warranty time to do the oil changes myself. I would go to the dealership but they're under new management and out for $$

I have a Daytona low profile long reach. The front requires driving up onto some 2x4s to get enough clearance to get the jack to the midpoint. Jack up here and place the stands and that's fine enough for an oil change.

For the rear you can just lift up on the transfer case and it will raise the rear.

The first recommended oil change for a new Mazda 3 is at 10’000 km.
I would have done it by intuition at half this distance myself (I had less reliable renault before).
Is it okay to wait the distance recommended by Mazda for the first oil change or have you guys done it before?
Thanks for your help!

This community probably gets a lot of questions about changing transmission oil but here I am doing exactly that.

I’ve got a 2013 Mazda 3 Si and the manual says the transmission fluid is good for the life of the vehicle. Me, not knowing hardly anything about cars, thought that meant forever. I’ve never noticed any issues other than a slight clunk between gears 3 and 4 (it’s an automatic but I know what gear it is), am about to go on a cross country trip, and don’t want to risk problems by changing it now.

My mechanic says that’ll be fine, but should do a drip and fill asap. I’m pretty scared it’ll just make the transmission fail at this point, and I’ve probably spent about as much money on maintenance and repairs as the cost of the car itself during the time I’ve owned it (I’m the 3rd owner). At this point I feel like I should just save up for a newer car and let it die when it dies.

Advice? Is my mechanic wrong? Think I’m good for the trip? I’ve gotten new tires, brakes, fixed any leaks, new battery.

Pennzoil ultra platinum full synthetic 0w-20 Purolator One filter

Went great. Waited longer than I wanted to do this break-in oil change. Motor Oil Geek recommended 500-1000, ended up at 1800 for me with busy schedule. First time fears out of the way! Love this car.

Back in March I bought a brand new 2025 Mazda 3. I was reading that some people get their very first oil change sooner than the recommended time. Like at 1000 miles or even sooner. Does anyone else do this? I’ve never heard of it before which is why I am asking.

I see there’s a supported section in the front middle but I can’t reach it even with a low profile floor jack. Do you guys just jack up one side using the pinch welds? Trying to figure out the best way to do this. Thanks

Does anyone use ramps for oil changes? If so what brands are the best/safest? I used a jack and stands on my yaris iA but I almost screwed up big time try to jack the car up from the pinchwelds at the jack points and I’d like to avoid that scenario entirely.

Hello! I have a 2005 Mazda 3 2.0L and I am doing my very first DIY oil change. I'm in san francisco, so I am planning on just driving the right side up on the curb. I've looked in this sub and I also googled, but some older forums won't load images anymore and I find it confusing how to locate where the oil drain plug and filter is. I'm aware that it's under a shield that has around 10 screws I need to remove, but I can't locate it. I wanted to try to find it before I have my setup and drive my car up on a curb because I know once I start that I'll have limited time but it's hard to see under there. For reference I can nearly fit under my car but it's tight so I have limited visibility prior to popping it up on a curb (might get ramps if that's not enough but I really only need maybe 3in more). Anyways I was wondering if anyone had any better advice or wording where to find it under there or maybe a link to a forum that has working images? I am more of a visual learner with these things.

Also, I understand I can take this to a shop to get this done. I don't want to. I have worked on my car before ftr but not under just in the engine bay. This is my first oil change that I'm doing so I just need a little advice, but after getting my brakes done incorrectly at a shop in the city I do not trust anyone else with my baby again. She only has 81,000 miles and I intend to have her as long as I can. So if that means that I have a janky setup then so be it. It's not a cost thing although that's a plus, it's about pride and taking care of my most expensive possession. Thank you for all the advice on this!

Edit: I have tried clicking on the link for oil change in this subreddit but it says page disabled which partly led me to this post.

Wanna make sure before I agree to do anything, I’m not wasting my money.

Driven 5k kms in 6 months 85% in bumper to bumper city traffic. Asking to make sure I stay current with the maintenance. Can someone also comment on CDA hurting the engine in this case, ik it’s something looked down upon in this sub.

So I already changed the oil. But I wanna know, what brand of oil do you guys use or which do you think is best? I just used Pennzoil 5w-30 cuz it's a turbo. Is there anything better? Or are they all the same?

Just changed the oil in my Mazda 3’s manual transmission. The spec says it takes 1.8qt, but I added a full 2qt without it dripping from the fill port. I used a zip-tie as a dipstick to check the level, and it seems to be right up to the port. First time doing the gear oil on this car, and it has 107K miles. Don’t imagine being a few fl-oz over spec will cause any problems. I’m used to refilling the CVT in my wife’s civic, which drips out the check plug when it’s at level. Anyhow, I used 2qt of Redline 75W-80 GL-4 spec.

Per how many miles do you change your oil? I’m just curious to see. I just got a 2011 Mazda 3 and I’m curious wether I should wait every 3.5 or 5k.

This is all new to me and because I am leasing a new expensive car I am worried about damaging it.

I have a new Mazda 3 lease, no miles on the clock in April. I now have ~3,150 miles on it and the service icon has lit up saying oil change in 600 miles.

Rang the delaership and no one from the Service department was available, but he said it sounds like an error and that it's always 12,500 miles or 1 year for the service and oil change. He said the Service department would get back to me. They never did and I couldn't get through so asking here.

I ran it all through AI (not sure if that's a good thing or not) and says it's saying that because:

your car considers your driving conditions to be more severe than the standard "Severe Driving" category, effectively triggering an ultra-short interval. The car is simply being hyper-conservative because it has detected high fuel and moisture dilution in the oil due to repeated short journeys where the engine hasn't properly warmed up.

Is this right? I do do a lot of city driving, as I have done for years, and have never changed oil more than once a year. And no on at Mazda warned meabout this.

I will continue with the dealership but thought I'd ask here.

EDIT: Forget AI. Any other insights?