Hi ~ I have a new ND. Now 6 months old and covered 3400 miles, when maintenance schedule on computer was checked ~ it indicates a requirement to change oil in another 2800 miles. Main dealer states no oil change necessary till 12000 miles and hence it is a faulty warning indicator. Any thoughts on this please Must admit I have an NA now 30 years old which in the begining the USA club recommended the oil to be changed every 6000 miles, which I did and its still going strong. So prefer to err on the safe side ?
UK spec is 12000 miles or 1 year which ever is soonest. But if you want to change it more frequently then it certainly wont harm anything other than your pocket. Your choice.
Do not get your knickers in a twist over the oil change intervals.
Due to different markets having different oil change intervals, the service indicator on the MK4 is adjustable by the dealer.
In certain areas of the States the amount of sulphur in the fuel is much higher than in Western Europe, therefore in those parts of the states the oil change intervals are reduced and the display on those cars is adjusted to suit by the supplying.
In the UK we have cleaner fuel together with leasing companies that demand longer service intervals or the cars will not be taken on by these leasing companies. Subaru had to toe the line many years ago after pressure from leasing companies.
Therefore, the UK cars are mostly set at 1 year or 12,500 mile intervals on the digital readout. Your car is one of many where the supplying dealer has not checked the service interval on the digital readout and corrected for UK use prior to delivery.
Perusal of used oil analysis of a good few ND cars shows Mazda are using a high moly engine oil for the factory fill, the longest change interval I have seen a UOA on is 8,000 miles. The oil was still in grade, the only one not with the factory fill, with the Mazda US approved Castrol oil was showing better stay in grade results at around again 8,000 miles.
My NB was serviced at around 10,000 miles on average and there were no lubrication issues apparent at 105,000 miles.
^^^^^ What he said
In my opinion better to change oil more frequent than not…
I will also put money on…your diff oil will be low. Please feel free to check it and come back to us???
im yet to see one that IS full. If Mazda save a small amount of oil in every car just imagine the savings £££££
no wonder they run HOT
Thanks Guys,
Also great info Drumtochty, Does sound as if I have nothing to worry about ~
Must admit when the NA first came out roughly in 1989, the oils were not as good as it is today, so US Miata club recommended oil changes at 3000 miles, which I did for a few years before gradualy extending this to 12 months, and the old m/c has now covered 190,000.
With the new ND, I do want to play safe and I shall get the diff oil checked out
Thanks again ALL
regards
Alan
My car did this. The dealer said it was “optional”.You can actually turn off/adjust this reminder yourself in the menus.
Hi Guys,
Yes ~ looks like the damn onboard computer just needed re setting to 12,000 miles.
Checked the diff oil and its just fine, so not sure why some should be a bit low when delivered. But worth checking.
All the best Alan,
The ND diff has a recommended capacity of 0.6 litres and if the diff has 0.6 litres put in it at the factory the oil will not come up to the bottom of the filler plug. I drained the oil and then filled up an ND diff recently and it started spilling out at 0.7 litres of oil.
I have noted that the original MK1 cars only had a diff oil capacity of 0.6 litres and a few are needing replacement diffs there are three possible reasons. The later MK1 cars had a 1 litre capacity.
The oil was not changed every 54k miles or so.
The cars have done well over 100,000 miles and the diffs have worn out.
The 0.6 litre capacity was a touch low for long diff life.
Unil I have better information from a diff used oil analysis, I would change the diff oil on an ND just as often as the engine oil due to the high level of iron in most diff oils after a reasonable time in the diff.