Miata Mailing List: July 1993, Message #2
sponsored by



     


   From: Herb Samuels 
Subject: Re: Dealer put regular oil in my Miata
   Date: Thu, 1 Jul 1993 08:33:08 -0400


I don't think that it makes too much difference whether you use
synthetic oil or a high grade "regular" oil if you change it every 3
or 4 months or 3,000 miles.  However, one thing that everyone should
watch out for is the use of substandard oil by dealers.  I have
usually had my oil changed by a reputable mechanic with high grade
oil.  However, the last time I had the dealer change the oil.  Within
one month I noted that after the car sat for several days, there was
significant valve lifter noise at startup which dissappeared in about
5 seconds.  Although the Miata manual says that this is normal, I
never heard it before.  I called the dealer and they said that they
use some Italian brand oil which I never heard of.  I replaced the oil
and the problem dissapeared.  I think that the motto is be careful of
the oil that the Dealers use.  They commonly buy it in large bulk
containers and will use a low cost grade to maximize profits.  For
most cases the Dealer "grade" oil is O.K.  However, it is probably not
good enough for the Miata where the engine is usually run at high RPM
where the lower grade oils tend to break down.  In my case, the first
sigh was valve lifter noise.  I lieu of this maybe synthetic oil is a
good choice for the Miata after all.

Herb Samuels