recipe for disaster?
 

Im in between oil changes, although i have less than a thousand miles before my next, and im currently a quart low. Up till now i havent have much trouble maintaining proper oil levels in between changes (lucky, i know) so is it safe to add a quart of "whatever brand" oil in the mean time? Im not sure what the dealer has been using in the past, whether it be mineral or synthetic.. much less the brand name or weight.

i know, traditionally speaking, its not going to cause much harm to mix a little oil of a different type in with your current fill to make it by for the time being.. but this is the rotary we are talking about now, and it always seems that traditional piston engine methodology doesnt always transfer over.

Hey Klepto,

perfectly safe to add your own oil. Dealerships don't use synthetic (not very cost effective) so you can just pick up a bottle of Castrol GTX and top it off. ODDS are the dealership is following Mazda's recommendation of 5w-20.

I personally like something a bit thicker for the rotary and go with 5w-30.
Up to you though, both are perfectly safe.
OH, and dont' fall for the "rotary oil" that the dealership sells, it's just plain oil

You are correct that the oil with mix regardless of what type, same as pistons (gasp!, did I really say that?). If you are really concerned, buy a quart from the Mazda parts counter and you will be 100% dead on. I can tell you, they almost assuredly use 5w20 weight, and just about any 5w20 from the store will match the same weight.

Don't worry too much about it. If you want to worry over oil, start searching for oil threads on here and hear the wide range of opinions on weight, brand, and type. Post about it only if you have a flame retardant suit :)

thanks fella's

Well I dont prefer to mix oils but the parts counters oil is not the same as what they use in the oil changes. Dealerships typically stock bulk containers/pumps and have a random oil company fill it. I worked for honda, we used a random oil company "redwood" to fill our oil containers, the honda oil intself had mobil written real small on the back. Personally I dont like the way they do oil changes with this regard on the bulk setup but I am super paranoid when it comes my car. You can try to ask the service department what they use for oil changes but I doubt they know. I think you would be fine with trying a castrol or valvoline 5w20 though like they said. And normal oil burn for heavy city driving is 750-1000 miles is about 1 qt of oil for the motor, watch for leaks though.

If it's a quart down then you still have .8 quart before it gets to the low mark on the dip stick. The dip stick has 1.8 quarts between low and full.

yeah any oil brand is good just probably 5w20 since that's what recommended! GTX is the most popular around here and what i use!

^Exactly what all of these guys said. Spot on responses. That is all.

[QUOTE=Sleepy-z;2802058]Well I dont prefer to mix oils but the parts counters oil is not the same as what they use in the oil changes. Dealerships typically stock bulk containers/pumps and have a random oil company fill it./QUOTE]

My comment is from watching my entire oil change at a Mazda dealer a few months back, and the guy getting 4 1-quart oil bottles, using 3.7 (or so) quarts, and giving me the 4th bottle with the remainder. :)

But true enough, might not be done the same elsewhere.

The dealer I go to uses Castrol GTX. They buy it in bulk and pump it out - no quart bottles.

Some time ago a friend worked at a garage that serviced a taxi fleet. They bought their oil in one quart cans. After oiling up a cab, they'd put the cans upside down on a rack and let the remains drip into a trough. I shudder to think of the customers who got that oil.

Ken

Yeah some might but I know the one I was at actually used castrol synthetic but for non synthetic they bought cheap oil and used castrol stickers to put in peoples windshields....which should be illegal to do but that was years ago. I really hate that bulk supply/pump setup, its never cleaned and was stored outside in a rusty looking container but I am once again paranoid about my car and do those things myself intead of letting them do the oil change.

yeah changing urself is alot safer but to just top off use some GTX 5w20 and u will b fine no bad things will happen!!!!

Probably cleaner than what that one garage scooped out of their drippings trough.

Letting the dealer (or anyone else) do oil changes is new for me. Been doing it myself for over 40 years. But they were free for the first two years, so I wasn't going to let that bonus slip by. Then I had a disc operated on, and I'm paranoid about the bending and lifting involved in doing it myself again.

Thinking about contamination... I once saw a dimbulb adding oil to his car at a gas station. He was using the transmission funnel, which was funny to watch because a) there was no need for a funnel, and b) he had to hold the oil can way up in the air. But I shudder at the fate of the next person to use that funnel when they top off their transmission, and get engine oil mixed in with the ATF.

Ken

^haha yeah have seen tht done alot...especially when i was younger and worked on a couple farms they always seemed to only have one funnel for everything ME atleast cleaned it out but other ppl would not top off trans then go straigt over to oil or fuel fill up haha