Where'd my oil go ???

[Not4you]

I have had my 2005 Mazda3 GS hatch for just over 2 years now. Every scheduled maintenance has been done at my local dealership. Since I have had it the car runs very smooth and strong and no reported issues from the dealer when it is in for regular service.

Then about 6 weeks ago I her a ticking in the engine and the engine light comes on. So in I go to the service department and they say the car is out of oil!! Not low, or needs a top-up, but empty!! Fresh oil added and I'm on my way. So again today I hear the ticking, check the dipstick and its DRY! Now it has only been about 3000kms since I had the fresh oil put in and now it is dry again??

So why, for 2 years, do I have no problem and now within a few months I've "lost" almost 9 litres of oil??

- the car runs and idles smooth
- NO drips, puddles or marks where I park at home or at work
- NO oil residue under the car on the floors, suspension etc.
- NO smoke from the tailpipes while idling or driving (through all RPMs)

I have a 1985 Mustang and it leaks AND smokes and it can hold oil better than my 3 in the past few months.

So if its not dripping or burning out the tailpipe, where is it going?? the only thing I can think if is if someone is jacking up the car at night and draining the pan as a joke!!

Please help :bang

[S.F.W.]

I suspect you have a small crack in your oil filter housing. The oil is likely slowly leaking out. Mainly sitting in the oil pan.

[deronald]

Ya I have the same problem now...... Mine is a 2004 GT. I had it for about 5 months and recently I realized the engine oil was depleted. So I had the oil changed and kept running for about 3 weeks (less than 1000km) and the dipstick was almost dry again. I took it to mechanics and they said it's burning oil somewhere.....Then they changed the spark plugs and valve covers (valve seal O ring?? I'm not sure what it is....). I have been driving for for 2-3 weeks (another 600ish km) and found out the oil on dipstick was at low. I just bought a 5L Castro 5w30 and filled about 2.5L into my car. Now I'm just gonna wait and see.... hope everything will be ok...... Otherwise I dont know what to replace..... I dont wanna swap the engine because its so $$$$$$$

[Harbour Rat]

Based on the age of the cars (and the number of similar threads I've seen) I'll guess PCV valve. This is under the intake manifold and sounds like a pain to replace but nowhere near as bad (or expensive) as replacing an engine if you run it out of oil.

[TheMAN]

the PCV valve is meant to be a lifetime part on these engines
oil burning is not out of the ordinary on these cars when running the "recommended" 5W20 oil... there's far lesser problems running 5W30 as that is also the recommended oil for every overseas mazda3

[stock3]

PCV is not a life time item and depending on the usage patterns it can clog and lead to excessive oil consumption. When the car is driven only on short trips and oil doesn't get to the operating temperature, this would be at least 20 minutes of driving and even more during winter, there will be a lot of moisture collecting in the PSV and tubing that will eventually clog it.

Also, today’s catalytic converters and Mazda has two of them, can mask oil burning because a lot of oil will be burned off in the cats. That’s why there is very little or no smoke. The best way to check for smoke is when the car is cold, this way cats. are also cold and not doing their job. Have someone start the car and rev it to 2.5-3k RPM, while you watch the exhaust tip for smoke.

[RedRaptor]

My car is approaching 6 years old and has 140,000km on it. It doesn't burn a single drop of oil (I've been checking periodically paranoid that an aged engine would burn oil). I've always used Mobil1 synthetic 5W-20 since 3000kms.

[TheMAN]

the PCV valve is meant to be a lifetime part on these engines


PCV is not a life time item and depending on the usage patterns it can clog and lead to excessive oil consumption.
:withstupid

[bhadreshl]

I've been having the same problem for a while. I ordered a PCV valve and will be replacing soon. Will try to update thread.

[sas]

I think the PCV problem can be easily diagnosed by checking the throttle body. If PCV is clogged then the engine sucks the air with sprayed oil through breathing hose into manifold and throttle body should be completely oiled. And yes, I think that 5w20 oil is too thin for these engines. I even run a few months with 5w40, then decided to not tempt fate before winter and switched back to 5w30.

[M&D Executive Auto]

Even at the dealer when people complained about engine oil consumption being too high, alot of people were doing that just before there warranty was about to expire. Mazda had us perform oil consumption tests and one thing they wanted checked or changed was the PCV valve and tuve before we could start any kind of oil consumption tests. And yes there were quite a few cases where the PCV valve was the cause of the problems people were experiencing.

But it is a bit of a bitch to change you have to remove the intake manifold to get at it no way around it. Look at a couple of hours to do it.

[Frenchmanremy]

same with mine. Engine burnt 1.2L of oil since last fill. CEL came up. this thread gave me hope that it might be the PVC!

[blankets3]

maybe bp has something to do with you oil missing ?

[dtyoud]

Hey guys....My wife's 2005 just started to develop this loss of oil problem. 60,000 km
.......city driven. Not a drop on the ground and no obvious blue smoke. Runs great other than the dramatic oil consumption. I haven't seen any replys from you guys that changed out your PCV valves. Did this rectify the problem?
Thanks,
Stumped

[dtyoud]

My wife's 2005 Mazda 3 has recently developed this problem. No visible oil loss and no blue smoke. The dip stick is dry after 1000 km. The car on has 61000 km on it. What gives.......any of you guys
that changed out your PCV valve notice any improvement?
Thanks

[Direct Mazda Service]

My wife's 2005 Mazda 3 has recently developed this problem. No visible oil loss and no blue smoke. The dip stick is dry after 1000 km. The car on has 61000 km on it. What gives.......any of you guys
that changed out your PCV valve notice any improvement?
Thanks

The possible reason you are not seeing any blue smoke is the converter temperature on the vehicle gets to over 900 degrees in a matter of seconds when the vehicle is running. This would incinerate the burning of oil caused by the PCV valve. The part itself is not very much for a PCV valve but it is under the intake manifold and is not very easy to change it.

[sol_searchin]

^ sure the catalytic would burn the oil but the smoke would still come out the tail pipe. I would get this checked out asap because that oil is going some were. A clogged PCV will suck the oil right out of your engine as most of you have described.

[grosbiz]

I just had my engine(59 months/88000KMs) replaced because it was burning oil. If you are still under warranty, talk to your dealership and he should get you on an oil consumption program. Once this is done, the data is sent to Mazda Canada and they approve a new engine depending on the results.

[brad30]

I've recently noticed this in my 2004 Mazda 3. Oil running low and now have a ticking noise while gas pressure is constant, not during idle or acceleration or deaccleration only constant steady pressure around 3000 rpm.

[irietek]

I've recently noticed this in my 2004 Mazda 3. Oil running low and now have a ticking noise while gas pressure is constant, not during idle or acceleration or deaccleration only constant steady pressure around 3000 rpm.

+1
Same.
2005 Mazda 3- 230 000KM. Problem just happened around December 2010.

I've read about the PVC valve here. Can anyone confirm that this may be the reason? :)

[Egierda]

Faulty PCV valves are a common cause of engine failure on the 6's as well. Replace it for peace of mind if nothing else. Also, installing an OCC in line with the PCV can help to act as a backup should the valve fail.

[maz06]

similar thing happened to my engine, so mazda asked for all the oil change receipts. If you have those you should be good for an engine swap if you're still under warranty

[whodaman]

I have the same problem (like 1L of oil every 12-1500Km)...I just checked my cylinder compression and each cylinder is between 175 and 179psi, so It must be my PCV valve. Is this something that I should bother doing myself? or just take it to say...Street Performance and see how much Jimmy is going to charge and be done with it? Unless of course another member would like to do it (or at least help me out??)???

[TheMAN]

have you tried switching to 5W30 oil and doing a motor flush first?
if you want to change the PCV valve, it's not fun to do... just get jimmy to replace it!

[irietek]

have you tried switching to 5W30 oil and doing a motor flush first?
if you want to change the PCV valve, it's not fun to do... just get jimmy to replace it!

Who is Jimmy? What are his labour rates? Ive been quoted from 300-400 dollars to do this! insane!

[cwp_sedan]

Who is Jimmy? What are his labour rates? Ive been quoted from 300-400 dollars to do this! insane!

search search search search search...................


http://www.torontomazda3.ca/forum/showthread.php?17212-Street-Performance

[JonsMazda]

Who is Jimmy? What are his labour rates? Ive been quoted from 300-400 dollars to do this! insane!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-jKykQMOsI&feature=player_embedded

[irietek]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-jKykQMOsI&feature=player_embedded

ahck. I'm sorry folks :(.
Thanks everyone!