Why is my 2006 Mazda 3 consuming oil?

General Discussion
1

Guys, why is my Mazda3 with 200k km consuming about 350 ml of oil every two weeks? I don’t see any blue smoke and nothing is leaking. As a matter of fact I had to add little bit of oil from the beginning even when the car was new. Is this a normal thing on a small 4 cylinder engines or something else is wrong?

Thanks

2

350 ml equals about 1/3 of a US quart, so I am curious about how many miles you drive every 2 weeks. Can you clarify that for us?

200k km isn’t a lot of miles (~124k) but much depends on how often the oil is changed. Can you clarify that for us?

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3

All engines use oil. Less when new. More when the load up the miles. Some use more than others.

Whether that is a little or a lot depends on how many miles you drive in 2 weeks.

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4

Does you Mazda lose oil at a rate more than one quart per 1000 miles? If less, nothing to be concerned about, most likely that’s within the manufacturer’s normal range.

As far as the typical things that cause oil loss:

  • Small oil leaks, especially from the valve covers and oil pressure sensor.
  • Valve stem seals. These wear out eventually and create enough clearance to allow some oil to leak from the valve compartment into the cylinder while the car is parked. Any blue smoke out the tailpipe might be observed only when first starting the engine.
  • Piston ring wear, allows oil to reach the combustion chamber as part of the normal engine oiling process. Usually only happens for aged, worn out engines. But can occur for other reasons, for example some engines had a problem where the piston rings rotated into a gap-aligned position. If not too much oil is getting past the rings, there may not be any smoke out the tailpipe, gets burned up by the cat.
5

Well I had a pan gasket failure that would lose a quart a week in 500 miles. It only leaked while driving. Still a third of a quart in two weeks is not a lot for 124k. But kind of depends on the history and if this is a new issue.

6

Not true - my 2004 4Runner with 330,000 miles doesn’t burn a drop of oil between changes. At least, not seen on dipstick. My 2018 4Runner and 2021 Rav4 Hybrid don’t burn any oil either. Don’t try it at home with ford, though.

7

Both of your engines do burn oil. All engines do. The amount is too small to accurately measure with your diptick.

None of my four Fords ever used a signficant amount of oil between changes.

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8

That’s what I meant - it’s at the full mark when changed and the full mark 5K later.
And I doubt ford doesn’t burn oil at a noticeable rate.

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Co-worker has a Mazda3 that’s a year or so newer that didn’t really start using oil until it reached over 200,000mi. With blue smoke visible all the time. Put in a used engine that his mechanic checked over before installation along with a new clutch, flywheel, and a suspension refresh. About 250,000mi on it and he’s not going to get rid of it anytime soon.

10

So far my Coyote has consumed one pint in 75,000 miles.
My previous 4.0 V6 never had any oil added after 130,000 miles.

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11

350ml is about 1/3 of a quart.

Your engine is also, I assume, around 17-18 years old.

Personally I’d just keep it topped off and worry about something else.

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As for this…

You can doubt all you like but it at 90K miles, even after a hard day at the track, the level is still the same.

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I drive about 30 km per day. So about every 420km I am down half way on the dipstick Low - Full area. And I looked under the car and didn’t notice any seals leaking.

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My Buick 3800 with 520,000 miles was not using oil. Maybe half a quart between changes. It likely is a washing machine now.

15

A washing machine with a Buick engine must get those clothes sparkling clean.

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16

That would appear to equal ~1 qt per 500-520 miles. With an 18 year old vehicle, I would suggest that you just keep a close eye on it, and replenish the oil at that point, rather than allowing it to fall 1 qt below the full mark.

The engine overhaul that would be necessary in order to eliminate the oil consumption would not be economically viable, given the age and the value of the car. If you want to try a low-cost approach that might improve things a bit, you might want to see if this product is available in your country:

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Thank you guys for the info. I plan to buy a new vehicle in about couple of years so I guess I will just live with it. Thanks again.

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18

I’ve owned a lot of Fords. None of them have burned any amount of oil that could be read on the dipstick. (Though obviously it’s in the nature of cylinder lubrication that at least some small amount is burning off).

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19

I won’t disagree about giving that a whirl. I’ll will say though, that calling it “Engine Restore” and billing it as a “repair” is, well…a little misleading. (Not talking about you @VDCdriver - you didn’t name it or write the copy).

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That is why I stated…

I tried it in my friend’s oil-burning Rav-4, and it “improved” the situation from consuming 1 qt every 250 miles to consuming 1 qt every 275 miles. Ergo, not a enough of a difference to be significant.

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