I've been changing my own oil for decades. Oil change used to take me 30 minutes, including cleanup. That was even on my Honda, which needed to be jacked up onto stands to get at the filter.

Seems to take me longer and longer as I get older.

For the past year and a half Zoomy's been getting free oil changes from the dealer - two year freebie. Genuine Mazda filter, Castrol oil. I've been enjoying just sitting in the lounge reading or tapping away on the laptop while someone else gets dirty. List price for the change is $30, with pretty regular coupons for $20. Oil, filter and washer would cost $15 to $20 if I did it myself. I have a feeling I'm going to keep going to the dealer after the freebie is up.

Nothing wrong with being lazy. IMHO, it's one of the most productive attibutes a person can have.

Ken

 

Pretty similar myself Ken. I guess it is an age thing. But also, it's a hassle to [properly] get rid of used oil these days. I do have a few Mazda filters/washers so I'll get my hand back in it sometime this Summer.

btw: Just yesterday I got the oil in my [Winter] Jeep Patriot changed for $24 at the dealer, with a coupon. It also uses 5w-20.

 

how did you get free oil changes for 2 years?

 

Standard new car freebie from my dealer. Rosenthal Mazda-Nissan, Tyson's Corner, VA. They also do free state safety inspections for the original owner for the life of the car.

Cool thing is that they believe in 3000 mile or 3 month intervals, even when it's on them.

Ken

 

oh, mine's an 07, but it was used so i doubt i qualify.

 

In 5000 miles I usually have added 3 to 4 quarts, so it practically changes itself

But yeah I try to aim for 3000 mile changes, sometimes it's been nearly 4000 by the time I get to it. I don't think it matters all that much but they say you don't have to believe in a Rabbit's Foot in order for it to work. :P

The only way to really tell how "worn out" your oil becomes is to repeatedly have Used Oil Analysis performed. Check out Blackstone Labs if you really want to be **** about oil.

 

Respectfully, I disagree. I agree that rotary's have less areas to lube with the sump oil, but the ones they have are more critical (mostly the bearings and rotor gears).

I change mine every 2500 miles. I would not recommend anyone go over 3750, independent of it is dino or synthetic.

The biggest issue rotary's have with lubrication is fuel dilution - because of the rich burning settings, more gas gets into the oil that our piston buds. While some oils deal with this better than others (RLI and Pennzoil Platinum are known to be very good), the only real way to keep this down is to change the oil often.

Oil dilution will increase your wear numbers dramatically, even with the best of oil. IMHO, you would see better wear numbers using dino and changing twice as often as you would trying to stretch your OCI's with a synthetic. I personally change often and use a synthetic.