Maintaining Your Vehicle at Galpin Mazda

Good maintenance can prolong the lifespan of any vehicle and is your best defense against critical systems breaking down during regular use. Many systems in a modern automobile require the use of parts that wear down; if those parts wear down and fail, their corresponding systems will stop working and could leave you stranded with an inoperative vehicle or stuck with an avoidable repair bill. Additionally, keeping up with maintenance maintains warranty coverage, improves performance, aids in efficiency, and ensures that safety systems are properly functioning.

Schedules and Experience

Mazda has maintenance schedules for each model, with a variation for vehicles operating in harsh or challenging environments. If you follow the maintenance schedule and have a mechanic inspect the car regularly, your Mazda will last longer. At Galpin Mazda, our Service Center knows our vehicle line-up from bumper-to-bumper and is here to provide you with best-in-class service to keep your crossover, sedan, or SUV running in like-new shape for years to come.

Routine Maintenance

1. Oil and Oil Filter Changes: Depending on the model, the recommended oil change interval can be between 5,000 and 10,000 miles. This service keeps the engine running smoothly and clean, preventing sludge buildup, which can destroy the engine.
2. Tire Rotation, Alignment, and Replacement: Rotate the tires when changing the oil so they wear evenly and last longer. Sometimes the tires are off-center and need to be realigned. Additionally, tires lose tread over time, which reduces grip and increases stopping time, so they eventually need to be replaced.
3. Brake Pads and Rotor Changes: Brake pads and rotors use friction to slow your vehicle, which causes them to wear down over time. A car without functional brakes is hazardous to drive. This maintenance is heavily dependent on driving conditions, but you can expect to do it between every 25,000 and 60,000 miles.
4. Battery Replacement: Batteries typically last three to five years, but may last longer. The service center can test the battery to determine when to replace it, so you’re not stuck jumping your vehicle.
5. Fluid Checks: The vehicle uses hydraulic systems for steering, brakes, transmission, and coolant; these fluids wear down over use and damage their related systems if not replaced. A technician can check the fluids to identify when they need to be changed.
6. Drive Belt Inspection and Replacement: The various drive belts inside your vehicle deteriorate over time and generally work perfectly fine until they break, which disables the vehicle. These parts can last between 60,000 and 100,000 miles.
7. Spark Plug Replacement: An essential part of the engine ignition system, spark plugs wear down over time and need to be replaced before they break. The replacement interval is heavily dependent on the engine type, with turbocharged engines wearing them down faster.

While the above list covers what you should expect in regular maintenance, there are other parts within the vehicle, like shocks and struts, that can wear down over time and need replacement.

Why Choose Galpin Mazda for Maintenance?

If you live near North Hills or in the Greater Los Angeles area, Galpin Mazda is your premier destination for keeping up with maintenance on your Mazda sedan, crossover, or SUV. Our technicians are exceptionally familiar with Mazda vehicles and know exactly what to look for in each model to get ahead of issues before they become problems. You can trust us to get the job done right the first time.

Places to see in Los Angeles in your Mazda

The diversity of sights to visit in Los Angeles seems tailor-made for the variety of models available at Galpin Mazda in North Hills, California. There’s plenty to experience, whether you’re here for a quick visit or a week-long trip. Discover the best combination of sight and vehicle, however long you decide to come.

Honoring the Drive

Celebrate the city’s obsession with cars at the Petersen Automotive Museum, which impresses with classics like the 1927 Rolls-Royce Phantom I Town Car or a 1933 Duesenberg SJ Convertible Coupe. You can keep coming back because, beyond the permanent exhibit, there are temporary shows on everything from electric vehicles to future concepts.

If you come early enough, you can save on the parking garage by squeezing into a free spot on the street in the subcompact Mazda CX-30, which fits practically anywhere in tight city spots, but easily conquers freeway distances with up to an EPA-estimated 33 miles per gallon on the highway.

Connecting with Nature

As one of the largest municipal parks in the country, Griffith Park offers over 4,210 acres of natural terrain, featuring unique Southern California black walnuts, mule deer, coyotes, and more than 200 species of birds. Explore the Bronson Caves, man-made for the movies, hop on the live steam scale model trains of the Los Angeles Live Steamers, or catch a show at the Greek Theater. 

You can take the family in the Mazda CX-90, which seats up to eight across three rows while protecting everyone with i-ACTIVSENSE® safety technology. Multiple power outlets allow everybody to recharge while staying connected via in-car WiFi.

Staying and Looking Cool

The Pacific Coast Highway, more commonly known as PCH, runs past such storied locales as the fun fair at Santa Monica Pier, the counterculture booths at Venice Beach, and the surf swells at Huntington Beach, while highlighting beautiful views of the Pacific.

An ideal way to enjoy the wind through your body and the sun on your skin is by dropping the convertible top on the two-seat Mazda MX-5 Miata roadster, which turns heads with its athletic good looks and refined performance. Its SKYACTIV®-MT 6-speed manual sports a short-throw shifter to connect you with the road, and its 50/50 weight distribution improves handling and balances cornering.

As an institute of art, the Getty Center in Brentwood compels a visit from lovers of culture who marvel at its European paintings and beautiful gardens amid stunning postmodern architecture. Just as spectacular are views of the L.A. cityscapes, Pacific Ocean, Hollywood Hills, and Griffith Observatory. Frequently changing exhibitions keep everything fresh to welcome repeat visits.

To keep up with luxury cars housed in the parking structure, arrive at the museum fundraiser in the Turbo Signature trim of the Mazda CX-5, which sports Caturra Brown Nappa leather seats, layered wood trim, and a Bose® sound system with 10 speakers. You’ll quickly get there with the 2.5-liter Turbo inline-4 that delivers up to 256 horsepower and 320 lb.-ft. of torque.

Explore our entire inventory at Galpin Mazda in North Hills and take a test drive today.

What is the Skyactiv®-Z engine?

The Skyactiv®-Z engine is Mazda’s upcoming third-generation Skyactiv® engine that the company plans to launch in 2027. Branding and marketing aside, the Skyactiv® engine lineage leverages impressive technological developments that achieve a combination of both fuel efficiency and performance that seemed technologically unobtainable in a gasoline engine. The goal of the Skyactiv®-Z revision is to achieve “theoretical ideal combustion efficiency” by getting as close as possible to a perfect air-fuel equivalence ratio.

Combining Efficiency With Lower Emissions

Scientists measure air-fuel equivalent ratio efficiency using a lambda rating system, with a score of 1.0 indicating a perfect rating. When a gasoline engine achieves a lambda of 1.0, it achieves peak fuel efficiency with minimal emissions. Aside from saving customers money at the pump and offering zippy performance on the road, these engines are also better for the environment and can meet strict emissions regulations, including Euro 7 and the US LEV4/Tier 4.

Ready to Launch (almost) Mazda plans to launch the Skyactiv®-Z engine in a 2.5-liter 4-cylinder model with the next-generation Mazda CX-5 crossover in 2027. The Skyactiv®-Z improves efficiency and performance by offering better thermal efficiency across a wider temperature range. Additionally, Mazda has an inline-6-cylinder version planned to arrive sometime after the 4-cylinder model and intends to apply the Skyactiv®-Z engine technology and learn toward future rotary engines. Mazda will have fewer engine variants on the market following the launch of this engine.

What Makes the Skyactiv® Engine Unique? Mazda continued to develop internal combustion engines at a time when most manufacturers had shifted to hybrids and electric motors, with the belief that the technology still had room to improve. The first Skyactiv® engine achieved an impressive 70 MPG in 2010, marking its debut in the Mazda2. The technology focuses on seven control factors to achieve ideal combustion:

• Compression ratio
• Air-fuel ratio
• Combustion period
• Combustion timing

• Wall surface heat transfer
• Pumping loss
• Mechanical loss
  

The engine’s breakthrough occurrswith the improvement of the compression ratio, which is the ratio of gasoline and air in a gaseous state, increasing from the typical 11:1 rating to 14:1. Engineers applied stronger engine pistons built to handle the extra force from the ignition, thereby avoiding uneven fuel burning, which could damage the engine to pull off this previously unachievable ratio. 

The engine also employs a combustion method called Spark Plug Controlled Compression Ignition, introduced with the Skyactiv®-X engine models, which combines gasoline spark and diesel compression combustion methods to achieve highly efficient performance.

Whether you’re waiting for a sedan or crossover that uses the impressive Skyactiv®-Z engine or are looking at taking advantage of the already remarkable Skyactiv®-X engine, we have you covered at Galpin Mazda. If you’re near Los Angeles, swing by for a test drive today.