High mileage MS3's burning oil?

[Fobio]

I noticed and also have a few guys ask me about losing oil. These guys are usually higher mileage, and I'm getting up there myself. Personally, I never experienced losing oil even when my turbo smoked. As well, I find that the engine suffers from fuel seepage due to the high pressure direct injection and I find diluted oil in my oil change and catch can.

Currently, I'm wondering if these higher mileage MS3's are suffering from failing piston rings. I have no theory to the cause of this or any form of confirmation....just thinking aloud.

On that note, I also broke the car in hard as the first owner. Rev up the RPM range...let it come down...this helps seat the rings for both compression and vacuum (?)...but that's another theory.

What are you guys seeing on your rides?

[breakfasteatre]

78k Kms on my 2007.

Just added 3/4 litre of rotellaT to get it in the middle of the hashmarks. Pretty scary that in a couple weeks oil could drop that low.
Going to try the idle check now, will report back. Havent had any white smoke previously

[breakfasteatre]

idled for 15 mins, no smoke at all
but, i have the idle at 900 through AP

[Fobio]

idled for 15 mins, no smoke at all
but, i have the idle at 900 through AP

if you didn't smoke before, upping idle will guarantee it won't smoke...lol...and not all cars are THAT bad...some smoked after running at the track, while cooling down, with your back turned to it talking to an instructor and he starts freaking out.

and more importantly, MY turbo smoked from fuel dilution...too much oil volume and turbo not draining properly...this car blows minds.

anyway, I've read at least 3 other higher mileage guys with similar issue or losing oil and no smoking turbo.

[breakfasteatre]

links? Oil doesnt search

[horto]

I have a high(er) mileage 07, no smoking turbo. I will start checking my oil more frequently and report back.

[abstrakt]

i have an 07 that at 114000 km's and i noticed a film of oil on the inside of the intake manifold and the charge piping but no smoke...and the kicker is i havent lost any oil yet and i check my oil frequently out of habit :s

[abstrakt]

EDIT: fobio i know what you are talkign about with the fuel seepage i am sure mine has that too because i can smell fuel in oil

[-cj-]

I'm at 62k and no loss of oil, not even with a smoking turbo. Then again, I'm not running a CC, so that could be diluted fuel... Reading on the dip stick never moves. *Knocks on wood*

I also broke my car in "properly" (In my opinion). I avoided quick "Jack rabbit" starts until I was over 1k (doubt this really does anything, but I followed the dealer's advise on this one), changed my oil at 2k, used the entire rev range of the motor (including deceleration / downshifting), changed oil again at 8k and then switched to 4-5k oil changes. Unless I'm going to the track, then I change my oil regardless before the track day. I also use a magnetic oil drain nut... It's crazy how much shavings it caught on my 8k oil change. That's from the engine brake in..... Hope you guys use one as well! highly recommend it!

I've used Royal Purple from 2k to 16k then switched to Motul...

Hope to install a CC in the near future.

[alhope34]

131k kms on my '08. I still gain oil between oil changes, lols.

[starscream]

I lose some oil between changes, was about half a litre per oil change. However once I got the new turbo I havent added anything yet, havent gone through a full oilchange yet so still monitoring but as of right now nothing added.

[Zoom Zoom Boy]

I'm low mileage, 38K approx. on my 08.5. Running Amsoil 5W-30 since around 1,500-2000km.

Also broke in the car with the hard acceleration (not from 1st gear...) and then full vacuum method. It's basically how I drive anyway.
No loss of oil at all currently.
However, had a scare at QEW last week that my turbo might be smoking. Turned out it was just excess water in the tailpipe from the wash/detailing that was vaporizing and burning off. I felt much better after realizing that it wasn't the turbo.

[horto]

about 2500km since my last oil change, checked last night... mine was a tiny bit low, maybe 1/4" or slightly less from half. don't know how the car was broken in; i bought the car used

[alhope34]

Is anybody else using the "smoking turbo fix"? That little plug with the small hole in the middle you put in the main vac line from the intake on the valve cover side.

I've had mine in since 6065k kms or something and I'm wondering if that's the only reason why my turbo has never smoked or burnt oil yet. Tempted to take it out and see when I start her up this week end.

[optiklenz13]

I have it but I didn't install it.

[alhope34]

6065k kms

Lol, I meant 60-65k kms.

[hatthi]

No issues for me. about 75K. No smoking. No oil burning or consumption. Magnetic drain plug. Pennzoil Platinum since new. Similar break in method to Fobio and Zoom Zoom.

[breakfasteatre]

2500 since last oil change, went from right at the of the hash marks to a little less than half way.

I dont have a user manual but was is the difference in quantity between the top and bottom of the hash marks?

I just find it weird that the car looses oil so dramatically. No oil on the driveway, plug and filter cap are dry.

[Fobio]

2500 since last oil change, went from right at the of the hash marks to a little less than half way.

I dont have a user manual but was is the difference in quantity between the top and bottom of the hash marks?

I just find it weird that the car looses oil so dramatically. No oil on the driveway, plug and filter cap are dry.

you car is burning oil...you can try changing to a thicker vicosity oil to see if it helps.

you are not alone...I read about these often. just that it's so against the norm, not many ppl know what to do about it right off the bat.

what oil are you running?

[breakfasteatre]

rotellaT 5w40, second oil change on it since ive owned the car. Same oil i used in my tdi

[Fobio]

rotellaT 5w40, second oil change on it since ive owned the car. Same oil i used in my tdi

you need to do a compression check.

before you do that, check you whole intake tract, pre-turbo...any oil deposits?

[breakfasteatre]

There was definitely some black deposits on the interior of my turbo inlet, but i bought it used and cant recall if they existed before. I had the intake off twice in the past month, to clean the egr and to install the tranny mount

[breakfasteatre]

83k kms, 900 rpm idle, rotellaT 5w40

noticed a drop in oil level from max to midway in a short span of time

compression test showed ~180 psi at all 4 cylinders.
The only thing i can take from that is that there isnt a bad cylinder relative to the others

thoughts?


shoot, didnt pull fuel injector fuse. At the time, my internet was down so i just followed the written instructions

[Fobio]

83k kms, 900 rpm idle, rotellaT 5w40

noticed a drop in oil level from max to midway in a short span of time

compression test showed ~180 psi at all 4 cylinders.
The only thing i can take from that is that there isnt a bad cylinder relative to the others

thoughts?


shoot, didnt pull fuel injector fuse. At the time, my internet was down so i just followed the written instructions

does your car fall within the recall for the PCV?

[breakfasteatre]

im sure it does, i had davewood check my vin and they said all applicable recalls had been performed.
But can you link me with a recall bulletin? I can find anything specific on google and pcv cant be searched

[Fobio]

im sure it does, i had davewood check my vin and they said all applicable recalls had been performed.
But can you link me with a recall bulletin? I can find anything specific on google and pcv cant be searched

http://www.torontomazda3.ca/forum/showthread.php?35296-Official-smoking-turbo-response-from-Mazda&p=792068&viewfull=1#post792068

[zoomzoom33]

I'm losing quite abit of oil but it only seems to happen after about 3000kms after an oil change. I had my turbo replaced at 97000kms and im at 119000 right now. losing about 2 1/2 litres.

[Booostin]

I'm losing quite abit of oil but it only seems to happen after about 3000kms after an oil change. I had my turbo replaced at 97000kms and im at 119000 right now. losing about 2 1/2 litres.

Same here... I got my oil changed 3000-3500 km ago and my oil level is low. My car isnt leaking any oil and I never see any blue/grey smoke coming from the exhaust even on WOT acceleration. I heard that the Speed3 takes 6 litres of oil? Can anyone verify that? I am doing special oil and fuel injector treatmant as we speak and switching to 5W40 to see if it helps. Ill keep you guys updated.

[alhope34]

With filter the MS3 takes 5.5L of oil.

[Booostin]

I changed my oil using Pennzoil Platinum Synthetic 5W30. It has been a few days and the oil level is still looking good. I check the oil every other day so I am going to see what happens once I get back up to 3000-4000 km.

[Booostin]

Anymore updates with this? I tried formula1 5W-30 and it sucks. Going to make the switch over to Rotella T6 5W-40.

[joedemarco]

Anymore updates with this? I tried formula1 5W-30 and it sucks. Going to make the switch over to Rotella T6 5W-40.

I dont know what was in my car when I bought it, there was an oil change done. I put Rotella and the car felt completely different, ran like a dream!!

[joedemarco]

I took a look at my car, and I have burnt quite a bit of oil...a friend of mine suggested to top it up, and see how fast it burns, as someone in here did.

He's pretty car savy but has never owned a mazda, he said to try 10w-30 because its thicker and itll burn slower. What do you guys think!?

[horto]

he said to try 10w-30 because its thicker and itll burn slower. What do you guys think!?

most are running 5w30 or 5w40. i don't think the owner's manual recommends 10w30 :)

me? good synthetic 5w30. oil change every 5000km, top up as necessary around 3500k.

[spartan786]

try using royal purple, friend has a 335i and he swears by that stuff.

[Booostin]

Alot of people use 5W-30 in the winter and 5W-40 in the summer. I would just stick with the Rotella T6 5W-40 if thats what you already used.

[joedemarco]

most are running 5w30 or 5w40. i don't think the owner's manual recommends 10w30 :)

me? good synthetic 5w30. oil change every 5000km, top up as necessary around 3500k.

Im currently using 5w40. His recommendation is coming from a Honda background where you can run the car with no oil and it works lol...but honest, hes really good with cars ,just not familiar with mazda. Im at 7000k for oil...so instead of toping up, I'll just get an oil change.


try using royal purple, friend has a 335i and he swears by that stuff.

I am going to try Amsoil...my mechanic loves that stuff, says its " one of the original synthetic oils", so I'm going to see if theres a different with that. Otherwise, off to Royal Purple...Something has to be better.

Thanks for the tip, appreciated.

[spartan786]

also forgot to add, some of the turbo civic guys use royal purple as well, and amsol. but when i asked around most people said amsol is a better oil, because when they do an oil change it hasnt thinned out too much from when it was put in fresh. just my2c.
try using royal purple, friend has a 335i and he swears by that stuff.

[joedemarco]

Alot of people use 5W-30 in the winter and 5W-40 in the summer. I would just stick with the Rotella T6 5W-40 if thats what you already used.

I agree that I should stick with Rotella, BUT is it a bad idea to try different oils to see which works best for my car? should I try 5w-30 for when I do my oil change and see if that makes a difference in these winter months!? Or should I just stay with 5w-40 and keep topping it up when needed.

[MajesticBlueNTO]

Rotella T6 5w40 is already fairly viscous (thick) at operating temp and very shear stable (it's designed for heavy duty use in diesel engines) so, if you put a 5w30 or 10w30, which are less viscous by virtue of the 30 weight rating, you may see quicker oil consumption.

If you're burning through Rotella T6, you have other issues at hand that changing oils is not going to solve.

You should look at getting a compression test done and/or a leak down test if the compression test doesn't bode well.

I run the Rotella T6 in the summer (if you look at a UOA for T6 vs. Motul 300V, they are VERY close. one oil costs $30 for 5L on sale, the other oil costs $25 for 2L) and German Castrol 0w30 in the winter (because I had 20 bottles of the stuff in my garage)

[loki]

Rotella T6 5w40 is already fairly viscous (thick) at operating temp and very shear stable (it's designed for heavy duty use in diesel engines) so, if you put a 5w30 or 10w30, which are less viscous by virtue of the 30 weight rating, you may see quicker oil consumption.

If you're burning through Rotella T6, you have other issues at hand that changing oils is not going to solve.

You should look at getting a compression test done and/or a leak down test if the compression test doesn't bode well.

I run the Rotella T6 in the summer (if you look at a UOA for T6 vs. Motul 300V, they are VERY close. one oil costs $30 for 5L on sale, the other oil costs $25 for 2L) and German Castrol 0w30 in the winter (because I had 20 bottles of the stuff in my garage)

so Neil I currently use the T6 and will be due to change the oil again shortly, you think I should switch from the T6 for the duration of winter?

[MPS]

RP sucks in DISI motors


Im currently using 5w40. His recommendation is coming from a Honda background where you can run the car with no oil and it works lol...but honest, hes really good with cars ,just not familiar with mazda. Im at 7000k for oil...so instead of toping up, I'll just get an oil change.



I am going to try Amsoil...my mechanic loves that stuff, says its " one of the original synthetic oils", so I'm going to see if theres a different with that. Otherwise, off to Royal Purple...Something has to be better.

Thanks for the tip, appreciated.

[Mr Wilson]

^^^Beat me to it, oil change coming this weekend.

Edit: to Loki's question.

[MajesticBlueNTO]

so Neil I currently use the T6 and will be due to change the oil again shortly, you think I should switch from the T6 for the duration of winter?

the only difference between a 5w and a 0w is that the 0w can go down to below -45C

seeing as how we rarely get those temps up here, if you have a stockpile of T6, you should be fine with running that in the winter.

[joedemarco]

Rotella T6 5w40 is already fairly viscous (thick) at operating temp and very shear stable (it's designed for heavy duty use in diesel engines) so, if you put a 5w30 or 10w30, which are less viscous by virtue of the 30 weight rating, you may see quicker oil consumption.

If you're burning through Rotella T6, you have other issues at hand that changing oils is not going to solve.

You should look at getting a compression test done and/or a leak down test if the compression test doesn't bode well.

I run the Rotella T6 in the summer (if you look at a UOA for T6 vs. Motul 300V, they are VERY close. one oil costs $30 for 5L on sale, the other oil costs $25 for 2L) and German Castrol 0w30 in the winter (because I had 20 bottles of the stuff in my garage)

Thanks, I am going to looking into getting both those tests done.

[cSPEED]

Yeap, I've heard the RP sucks for DISI so I probably would avoid it.