My fioncee wants to know why does she have to jack her car up to get at it from underneith?

 

If this is a serious question, unless you raise the car, you can't get underneath to remove the drain plug or reach the oil filter. Either jack the car up and place it on jackstands or run the car up on ramps.

If you don't want to jack it up, put the car on a hoist or run it over a pit.

 

im sorry i worded my question wrong, basically she wants to know why did mazda make it that way?

 

I think you have to jack up every car to get to it from underneath, unless its like a big truck/suv or the vehicle has been lifted.

 

I know u have to jack up the car, but why did they have to design it that way?

 

All modern cars are designed this way. The idea is to maintain the lowest practical center of gravity for best stability, handling and safety. This results in minimal ground clearance. By contrast, SUV's have much more ground clearance but also a much higher center of gravity resulting in a higher rate of rollovers in accidents.

02 DX Millenium Red

 

Huge advantage in aerodynamics too. Tell her to call Tokyo and ask them.

 

If you don't jack it up, you have to work underneath from the top.

 

Also.. the major point you all are missing.. is that oil is a liquid. and it responds to the effects of the earth's gravity... therefore.. since it drains to the bottom of the motor... which also happens to be underneath the car, the drain plug needs to be where it will drain with gravity... can't drain upwards last time I checked. <shrugs>

 

I think the gist of this is the way everything is placed so out of reach. I think it sucks having to jack the car up to get at the oil filter to change it.

I remember my '85 GTI was great to change oil. Never had to crawl underneath to reach the drain plug, and the oil filter was accessible from the top, on the front of the block. Never had to cram my arm through any braces or supports or anything like that to get at it. Heck, even my Miata was hard to get at, but I never had to jack it up!

I think its intentional to make changing the oil difficult, just frustrating enough to make you want to bring the car in for servicing.

 

I can't believe this question.....I want to preface my comment by saying that I'm not trying to be mean......that being said:

Tell your fiance to stick to making pies in the kitchen and leave lubrication of advanced automobile systems to the japanese. These guys make good points but forget one crucial thing....engine blocks and heads are designed with flow patterns in them....moving these things to accomdate someone changing their own oil....

(in Jesse Jackson voice) It's proposterous to think that the pernification of something so incrduling as this would be allowed to be brought to ramification. so I say let's raise an offering.

 

Well said

 

Aww, come on Matty, let me be a conspiracy theorist!!

 

there are numerous cars out there that allow you to change filter top side....Toyota makes some....the trucks....the 3.0L in-line 6's....VW made some older ones....Volvo makes them on the 2.3L....

What it boils down to is engine design and space management and overall function. If you look at a FS block there is NO other place that the filter could go on that block....if it botrhers her so much she should buy a filter relocation kit and move the filter to outside the wheel well or even into the passenger compartment!

 

Why is everyone giving this person such a hard time? My '03 Protege5 is my FIFTH Mazda and TENTH car since 1995. I have never owned a truck or SUV. This is the ONLY car I have had that will not allow you to reach the oil filter from above. My older Mazdas had the 2.2 Liter engine in about the same size engine bay. You could reach the filter from the top, just like in the Miata. I've never needed jackstands, ramps, a hydraulic lift, or a pit to change my oil before, and it frustrates me that I will need more than oil, a filter, a drain pan, some newspaper, and a socket wrench to change my oil. Used to be, I could change my oil anywhere with very limited supplies.