A Rant About Oil Filters: Mazda 3 Edition

"Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo" (rustyvandura) 08/12/2017 at 18:34 • Filed to: None

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We all understand that oil filters have to spill oil when we loosen them. I accept that. But some engineer at Mazda put conscious effort into causing the removal of the oil filter on their 2.0L engine to be a pain in the ass by hiding it above an aero sheild and making you reach up through a hole that isn’t even under the filter, thereby assuring that crankcase oil will run down the arm of the mechanic — or in my case, the poser — who is changing the oil. They probably all voted for Donald Trump.

LongbowMkII > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo 08/12/2017 at 18:43

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Take off the tray. It’s not an access port, it’s just there for visual inspection on the line.

Highlander-Datsuns are Forever > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo 08/12/2017 at 18:45

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The official method as described by Mazda has you remove the plastic tray from under the engine. I usually get oil all the way to my elbow by the time I get the filter off.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > LongbowMkII 08/12/2017 at 18:46

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Two words, one syllable each; first word starts with “f” and rhymes with suck . The second word is them . That tray probably accomplishes at least an extra 500 feet per gallon of gasoline. Bastards.

So now the 17-year-old brutes at Jiffy Lube can take good care of the stupid little plastic fasteners that hold up the shield when they rip it off every 3,000 miles...

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > Highlander-Datsuns are Forever 08/12/2017 at 18:47

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Bastards.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > LongbowMkII 08/12/2017 at 18:53

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I thought of that when I was under there and I said, “No, they wouldn’t require that.” Then I turned the clothes I was wearing into a shop rag...

Bastards.

LongbowMkII > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo 08/12/2017 at 18:56

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It’s 100% the way to do it on my 5. That undertray has been through a lot. I should honestly price out a new tray and unrusted 10mm bolts.

daender > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo 08/12/2017 at 18:56

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NA/NB Miatas have notorious oil filter locations: on the intake side of the block, right under the intake manifold and next to the intake manifold brace. It’s a PITA and it usually ends with oil all over the arm and front subframe. Thus, there’s a market for $150-$300 oil filter relocation kits or owners end up grinding off the intake manifold’s brace. Even the Ranger/B-series oil filter is a PITA to get to!

PS9 > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo 08/12/2017 at 18:57

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Elbow deep behind the aero shield
This may hurt a little but it’s something you’ll get used to
Relax...turn around and plug theeeeee pan

unclevanos (Ovaltine Jenkins) > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo 08/12/2017 at 18:58

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Worse than automatic transmissions with no dipsticks. Refilling the zf 5hp30 with a 4400lb death machine 6 inches away from your body on jack stands ins’t comforting.

PS9 > LongbowMkII 08/12/2017 at 19:01

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But...I thought you had a cool Celica Supra. Say it ain’t so...

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > daender 08/12/2017 at 19:03

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I would so be buying that kit. Not my car in this case, though.

LongbowMkII > PS9 08/12/2017 at 19:05

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I haven’t had that for like 5 years. My dad wrecked it on a two lane highway. Did well considering it was jousting with an F-250.

plak424 > Highlander-Datsuns are Forever 08/12/2017 at 19:19

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It’s not too bad to take the tray off. Mine only has 4 bolts left in it so it literally takes 30 seconds.

mazda616 > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo 08/12/2017 at 19:56

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My former car, an ‘08 Mazda3, had this shield and part of its fender well broken because whoever had it before me just ripped the shield down instead of removing it. I got a new shield and memorized the size of the bolts holding it on and just took it off before each oil change.

The hole in the shield/fender well made my a/c and serpentine belts have to be changed prematurely. The water and dust and rocks and such splashing under the car wore them quite a bit.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > mazda616 08/12/2017 at 20:26

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I feel. I did not realize this was a thing, and it caught me off guard. I installed with Mobil 1 synthetic, and I’m going to tell the guy to go the full 7,500 miles before he changes the oil again.

A 5 qt jug of Mobil 1 at Walmart is $23. Can’t beat that with a stick.

FTTOHG Has Moved to https://opposite-lock.com > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo 08/12/2017 at 22:21

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Subaru has the whole oil filter thing sorted:

boxrocket > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo 08/12/2017 at 22:28

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I’m a service adviser at a used-car dealership and was a technician before that. I can’t think of many newer cars that DON’T have splash shields and other stuff in the way of the filters and/or drain plugs. I also prefer screw-on filters to the canister-types (especially having to swap O-rings, overtightened canister caps, and nonstandard cap sizes), but no matter what there’s still going to be oil going somewhere, because gravity. I’d rather have a dozen underside filters than one top-mounted canister (admittedly I have the luxury of a lift), because oil drips on the top of the engine can be dangerous, e.g. FIRE. Also a lot easier to clean the underside than the top.

shop-teacher > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo 08/13/2017 at 00:27

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I always took it off when my wife had a 3 to change its oil. Then one day I crawled under there, and the tray was gone ... I didn’t bother to replace it.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > FTTOHG Has Moved to https://opposite-lock.com 08/13/2017 at 01:17

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Wow.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > shop-teacher 08/13/2017 at 01:22

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Like it just fell off on the freeway? There’s a splash guard I need to put back under the Versa.

shop-teacher > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo 08/13/2017 at 04:32

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It broke off, because the tabs where it bolted on were still there. My wife is a super attentive driver who is obsessed with her car, so it’s not like she hit something and didn’t notice. Our best guess was it got ripped off driving through snow. Sometimes you have to gun it to cross a road that’s been plowed when yours hasn’t yet. It makes a lot of noise in a low car like that when you’re dragging over the snow bank, so you wouldn’t necessarily notice.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > shop-teacher 08/13/2017 at 08:15

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Very low to the ground, the 3 is. So is the Versa. But Dude: you seriously need to move. No country for people who like their cars. I’d have to have a rust bucket for winter driving. Some rotten old pickup with a working heater.

FTTOHG Has Moved to https://opposite-lock.com > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo 08/13/2017 at 09:48

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Older versions with the filter on top were a bit messy but from 2011 or so they put that catch tray there so you just unscrew, lift a little, wait a sec for it not drip and lift it away mess free.

shop-teacher > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo 08/13/2017 at 09:53

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Rotten vehicles wad up like a can of beer in an accident. I can’t abide by that as a parent.

I’m not opposed to the idea of moving, but I genuinely have no idea where the hell I’d want to go.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > FTTOHG Has Moved to https://opposite-lock.com 08/13/2017 at 10:36

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Some Toyota engines from the 80s and 90s had filters that tilted downward and were much more convenient to remove. But I learnt something yesterday after I lost my temper and said bad words.

I got to do a lot of working on cars this summer and I enjoyed it very much and earned some cash in the process.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > shop-teacher 08/13/2017 at 10:44

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You realize that I’m only teasing you about moving, right? I put tons of effort into maintaining my fleet and the thought of having to deal with salt makes me cringe.

We used to think about moving, or at least I did, for years and years and I finally sort of faded from it because like you, I could find no place I’d want to go. But in the interest of full disclosure, we live where we do because we got a chance and some good luck to be able to settle here. We could never afford to live here if we had not started out here 25 years ago. (San Francisco Bay Area, Oakland side of the Bay)

FTTOHG Has Moved to https://opposite-lock.com > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo 08/13/2017 at 11:06

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That’s the worst/best part about working on cars you normally don’t. It takes longer and there is much cursing coz you’re not used to the setup. But you learn some tricks for the future and if you can make some money even better!

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > FTTOHG Has Moved to https://opposite-lock.com 08/13/2017 at 11:17

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I only work on cars for friends and family and my stated rate is time and material at $40/hr, though I tell them I sometimes round up. We wind up usually at about 40% of what a shop would charge and while I’m in there, I give their car lots of TLC and advise them on other services and usually perform them. For example, I’m driving my friend’s Mazda 3 to America’s Tire tomorrow morning for a couple of tires. I’ll just add $40 to the tab for my time and have him reimburse me.

shop-teacher > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo 08/13/2017 at 11:57

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I do realize that, but we have actually talked about possibly moving. Not because the weather. I’ve dealt with that all my life, and I’m used to it. It’s because of the deplorable state of our state’s government. We have the worst funded pension system in the nation, we spend money like it’s gonna rot. We waste money like it’s a sport. Our bonds gave a richly deserved junk rating. Bottom line, I have very little confidence that I’ll actually get my pension.

But we like our house and we like our town and I like my job. I’ve traveled very little in my life, something I’m working on changing, and I have absolutely zero sense for where we would go if we left. We’re not just going to pack up and go in a flyer.

We had our own bit of luck when it came time to buy a house, in that neither of us bought anything before the housing bubble popped. We were able to take advantage of the massive value adjustment that came afterwards.

As for the cars, we just have a sense of non-permanency about them. Try as you might, 15-20 years is all you’re going to get out of a vehicle that lives outdoors, and that’s only if you take care of it. My truck is 11 years old now, and the rockers are both starting to go. To fix it right would be outrageously expensive, like 70% of the value of the truck, and it’d still have rust in lots of other spots. I reckon I’ve got three or four years before I won’t be willing to put my kids in it. Other people would, I see them do it all the time, but I have a pretty low threshold for losing crash protection. That’s why I got rid of the Roadmaster.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > shop-teacher 08/13/2017 at 12:22

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What state do you live in?

shop-teacher > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo 08/13/2017 at 15:03

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Illinois.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > shop-teacher 08/13/2017 at 17:44

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I am reminded. Blow-goy-Oh-vich. There’s some nice rolling country in Ohio.

I was looking at the armed-to-the-teeth militiamen in Charlottesville and feeling thankful that I live in Commiefornia, even though I cannot have a carry permit if I want one. And if I could, I would, just so I did.

They say we pay a lot of taxes here. I wouldn’t know, but I like Cali a lot and my mortgage is here and my three daughters were born here, so I consider myself a Californian now. We’ll see what happens once I retire. I’m not 100% sure about my pension, but it’s probably a bit more sure than yours sounds like it is.

shop-teacher > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo 08/13/2017 at 20:04

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Blago was just one in a long line of crooks and incompetent boobs, or in his case an incompetent criminal boob.

Every state has its problems and its good things. I’ve never lived anywhere else. If it wasn’t for the pension thing, I probably wouldn’t be interested in leaving.

His Stigness > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo 10/13/2017 at 16:55

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I would say most German cars can have their oil filter changed without getting a drop of oil anywhere.

If the engineers are forced to put the filter underneath the do something clever like putting a drain on the filter housing, such as VW, which allows you to carefully drain the canister before removing the filter.

And I wouldn’t blame Mazda for that, it was ALL Ford. I have found American engineers, American designs to be so incredibly lazy, like that splash shield example, to defy all logic.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > His Stigness 10/13/2017 at 18:36

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It turns out that I am supposed to remove the splash shield, which is held in place with flimsy plastic “fasteners” that get ruined whenever someone drives over a parking lot wheel stop. The Versa I’m driving is incredibly flimsy. Probably crushes nicely in a crash, keeping me from being gravely wounded, but anyway...

His Stigness > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo 10/13/2017 at 19:37

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More like “remove,” because even when those clips aren’t ruined, you break them when removing or replacing them.

And if you’re supposed to remove the shield, why even have the hole there? It makes no sense.

The Versa seems to do well in the moderate overlap, better than the Corolla.

Here’s the Corolla, and you can see A-pillar is just starting to buckle in the middle, whereas the Versa didn’t, so that does not bode well at all for the small overlap test which was not around then.