Suggested oil and other fluids for the Mirage?

[cwatkin]

Hello, I am new here. My girlfriend will be taking possession of a blue 2015 base model manual sometime this week. Her old car began showing early signs of a head gasket failure (overheating, bubbling, and CONCENTRATED exhaust odor in coolant). I think I am more excited about her getting the new car than she is! I am a Geo Metro guy and found out about these cars on that forum. She used to drive a Ford Festiva and LOVED her little car but had to get rid of it as she didn't know how to do the repairs and was single at the time. She still misses that little car and was considering getting another used one.

Anyway, we looked at some new cars including the Kia Rio, Ford Fiesta, but she didn't love any of them. We had to drive 100 miles to test drive the Mirage but it was worthwhile as it was love at first sight. She said it reminded her of her old Festiva in a way and she picked the blue color because it was similar to that car. We could have picked up a white one that night but she wanted the blue one.

Anyway, I was curious about any suggested fluids or anything else important to maintenance. She likes to keep cars as long as they run as I had to really press her to get rid of the other car so want to make sure everything is done right. The car isn't even here yet but I am wondering what it needs.

Has anyone found an oil that these cars really like? I noticed that another poster posted that they come from the factory with a fill of 0W20 full synthetic. That seems easy enough to find but are there any oils that stand out above the rest in terms of wear protection, etc? For example, many members on the Geo Forum suggest at least a DEXOS spec or even better an oil specified for the various European makes for those engines.

Also, what about the manual transmission fluid? Does it take a synchromesh type fluid or just standard ATF as I see many manuals taking ATF these days.

Anything else special about these cars? It looks like there is no real break in needed but are there any requirements to change the oil or transmission fluid at an early interval for the first time?

I hope to pick one of these up in the next couple years and am more excited about the car than she is. Now is a good time while oil prices are so low and dropping.

Conor

[alex16]

I recommend mobile one economy 0w20, for the price and 7500 warranty required oil change its simply the best. The manual transmission uses 75w80, redline is the recommended brand for this, I've ran it since new and just did my second fluid change at 30k. The Fram ultra filter is a great off the shelf filter, I switched to the Fram after reading up on its specs, it's very slightly better at filtering than the mobile 1 and the royal purple filters, plus it's at Walmart usually in stock and cheap $9 for what you get its worth the extra money. The mobile 1 Eco 0w20 is $23-27 at Walmart and also is great oil, one of the highest ranked off the shelf oils you can buy and it's not super expensive. I use very exotic and expensive eneos sustina 0w20 but I think the m1 is perfect for the mirage.

[cwatkin]

OK, that is good to know on the oil. What do you need to keep for the warranty? Receipts for the oil and filter? I know some places don't like you doing your own work. Mobil 1 is always good oil and I noticed that the 0W20 was actually cheaper than some of the other grades at Wal-Mart.

Is the transmission fluid just a basic gear oil or something else? There seems to be a consensus on the Geo Metro forum that running a GL5 gear lube eats up the synchronizers pretty quickly. Basically the anti-wear additive is harder than the soft metals of the synchronizers and eats them up. These are great for hardened steel gears in differentials and such but not for soft metals. I guess every car has different likes. What is the specified change interval in the manual?

I know some of the better Fram filters are pretty good but I wouldn't touch one of the basic orange box ones. Some of the Metro people really swear by the Purolator Pure One filters. Any opinion on these here?

Conor

[gone.a]

Well this is a can of worms but I am using Mobile 1 0w-20 extended performance and will send in a Blackstone oil samle at 15k and report back. An oil analysis of the stock mitsu oil was posted here and appeared to be fairly robust and showed very very little wear. Any full synthetic will definately be fine, these cars are not hard on oil. I'm using the mobile m1-110 filter (which is bigger by about an inch than the mitsu filter that was on there when I bought it). Keep all reciepts for oil and filter in case of warranty work. For the manual trans I put in Redline MTL and after about 1k on it it feels great and honestly could not ask for more. Shifts are smooth even when cold (S. Cali type cold) . The stock tranny oil at 30k was medium yellow and I am glad I changed it. If you search here you will find these cars are holding up very well and don't seem to have any engineering type issue other than a funky batch of rear axles which has been corrected at the factory.

Edit- don't use gl5 or anything that says gl5/gl4 compatible. The manual specifically states gl4 only and nothing else. Can't find the link now but there are some interesting articles on the net making a strong point not to use gl5/4 compatible fluid. And really why would you when high quality gl4 is readily available. Gl5 is not a more advanced or modern or higher standard than gl4. They are significantly different fluids for different applications.

[Cobrajet]

I recommend mobile one economy 0w20, for the price and 7500 warranty required oil change its simply the best. The manual transmission uses 75w80, redline is the recommended brand for this, I've ran it since new and just did my second fluid change at 30k. The Fram ultra filter is a great off the shelf filter, I switched to the Fram after reading up on its specs, it's very slightly better at filtering than the mobile 1 and the royal purple filters, plus it's at Walmart usually in stock and cheap $9 for what you get its worth the extra money. The mobile 1 Eco 0w20 is $23-27 at Walmart and also is great oil, one of the highest ranked off the shelf oils you can buy and it's not super expensive. I use very exotic and expensive eneos sustina 0w20 but I think the m1 is perfect for the mirage.

Completely agree. This is what I use as well. I bought my last Metro with 151k on it, and rebuilt the motor shortly thereafter. I ran Mobil 1 0w-20 in it for the next 110,000 miles. When I took the valve cover off at 260k, it was clean as a whistle inside...over 100k and it looked like new.

I absolutely trust Mobil 1.

[cwatkin]

OK, so there is a Redline manual trans fluid. That is what I will use. Yes, I have read plenty of horror stories about the "yellow metal incompatibilities" with GL5 gear lube so assumed this wasn't the spec fluid.

It looks like the transmission fluid change interval is about 1k for the break in and then 30k after that.

I have been running the Mobil 1 European 0W40 in my Metro and very happy with this oil. I understand this is basically a 5W30 and a hack to get around the EPA for European and other makes that require more anti-wear additives for warranty coverage and really isn't much different in viscosity than any other 5W30.

I am sure the 0W20 M1 is probably going to become the go to on the Mirage. I might do it if I rebuild a Metro engine from scratch but figure mine are older motors and figure it is best to stay with a slightly thicker oil as it has been working well for them.

How easy are oil changes on these cars? The Metro is about as easy as they come. Some cars are made to where you really have to fight to get the filter off because of odd recessed locations.

Also, what coolant is suggested? Do these take the pink/red Asian spec coolants?

Conor

[Cobrajet]

Oil change is as easy as a Metro, but less messy because a brilliant little spout is fitted to the engine under the oil filter to keep oil from dripping down the side. The filter is right on the front of the engine, but you have the cooling fan that is in the way a little. Pretty easy to reach down with your left hand and spin it off. My factory filter was on TIGHT, which made the first change a little interesting.

These come with what I assume is standard green coolant.

[inuvik]

Oil change is as easy as a Metro, but less messy because a brilliant little spout is fitted to the engine under the oil filter to keep oil from dripping down the side. The filter is right on the front of the engine, but you have the cooling fan that is in the way a little. Pretty easy to reach down with your left hand and spin it off. My factory filter was on TIGHT, which made the first change a little interesting.

These come with what I assume is standard green coolant.

Mitsubishi uses a different spec coolant: [IMG]file:///page252image3920[/IMG] [IMG]file:///page252image4080[/IMG] To add coolant.

Use “Mitsubishi Motors Genuine Super Long Life Coolant Premium” or equivalent*.
*: similar high quality ethylene glycol based non-silicate, non-amine, non-nitrate and non-borate coolant with longlife hybrid organic acid technology

[Cobrajet]

It looks like the transmission fluid change interval is about 1k for the break in and then 30k after that.

The manual says to check the manual trans oil every 30k for Schedule II (Normal Service) and to change it every 30k for Schedule I (Severe Service).

So it depends on what kind of use the car will get.

[namco]

I personally will only use AMSoil brand oils for any car, expensive, but they are ahead of the game when it comes to fluids.

Also mobil1 isnt really full synthetic in the older terms used. They changed the basestock years ago but still call it full synthetic even though technically its semi-synthetic. Years ago the honda forums were plagued with fluid threads and they uncovered that only german made mobil1 is true full synthetic, any else is the new blend. Dont get me wrong, as an oil its still really good quality (in thebtop teir bracket) but people like me hate those that mislabel things (which is why german makes real full synthetic mobil one, they have label laws the USA does not).