I'm doing some research on how to oil change my mazda, i have a '06 mazda3 2.0L and from what i've read so far, it's not like any other regular oil change... I had a '97 Toyota T-100 and it was very easy to oil change... any info that any1 can tell me?

 

Ill be the first too tell u if yours is anything like the speed u are in for a chore.... I took my speed to a quick lube and the guy said he couldnt do it, but luckily i know the owner and told me he would. Reason being the genus at mazda didnt realize that they didnt put the hole in the panel in the right place inline with the filter... From what i read it is the same with all 3 from 04 and up.... i did change the oil in my speed for the first time 1 month ago and it was annoying. You have to remove the skidplate which has 6-8 bolts and 2 plastic screws that r annoying as hell....
Draining the oil is ez just getting to the filter is the problem and the filter is not a closed filter so u have to put on your own gasket and what not.. Good luck with it, its not that hard just annoying and time consuming.....

 

I just did my first oil change on my 3 i this weekend. 1400 miles.

If you have 2 jacks and jack stands you should have no problems.

Yeah, the belly pan (skid plate) is a little annoying, but pretty straight forward. Loosen all bolts and plastic pins, then pull the rear sides holding the plate towards the wheels. The plate will drop. I plan on enlarging the hole in the plate so I can remove the oil filter w/o removing the plate in the future.

The oil pan bolt is easy to get to. I replaced the oil pan bolt with the Fumoto Drain Valve to ease future oil changes. The filter is in a great position to reach by hand or with a filter wrench.

 

I've done my own oil changes and it is really not that bad. The design is better than most other cars I've worked on. Once the plastic belly plate cover is off, it is easy to reach the filter and the drain plug.

 

so i do need to get a ramp or somehow raise the front of my car... so take out the cover plating, then locate and loosen the oil plug? or do i really need a "special" tool, like the manuals says to do it?

 

ya, mazda really hit the ball on the skid plate design.
i just take mine off when im doing an oil change. i think its like, 7 or 9 10mm bolts that hold it in. no biggie. ive seen worse

oh, and the 2.0 is the easy engine. its just a plain spin on filter. so thers a bit less of a mess

 

ok, i'm finally changing oil on my '06 Mazda 3... i hit a snag, i cant find the oil plug/nut/bolt... i see a thin circular nut that has just a thin line in the middle... which will be hard to turn, unless i have a super strong nails to grip the thin line across the nut.

Help Please

 

ok look at where the oil filter is, now look on the other side (rear side) of the oil pan. i believe it is a 16 or 17 mm bolt, and IIRC, it has a line on it.

 

ya, i think that's what it is... but it's just a circle, can't twist it with any wrench...

 

NOT THATS NOT IT!!!!!! ITS A BOLT.......AND IF I REMEMBER CORRECTLY I THINK ITS A 17MM ITS UNDER THERE JUST LOOK ITS THE LOWEST POINT ON THE BOTTOM OF THE ENGINE WITH A RANDOM BOLT SCREWED INTO IT IN THE BEND OF THE BOTTOM OF THE PAN..ILL TRY TO GET YOU A PIC..



go here.....http://www.2carpros.com/how_to/how_t...oil_filter.htm

 

darn, i cant find it... gotta look more....

 

ok, if you cant find the drain plug, you shouldnt be doing your own oil changes....

but it faces the back of the car tho. it isnt really that hard to find.

wait, hold on, i MIGHT have a pic.
well i do, but it was a pic of the wrong side..... oh well

 

i've changed oil on all my vehicles and i've never had a problem until now. It's so hard to see underneath this car, so there's no need to be condescending...

 

^^^ did you not follow the link in my last post?????

 

ya i did, but it was a different look... the engine didn't look like that... i'm gonna chk on monday, coz we had to use the car...