PaSs1oVeR

Get soem sandpaper and scuff up the dipstick where your oil reading takes place. Scuff it across the dipstick, not up and down it. It will create tiny grooves for the oil to cling to.

be sure to clean it off thoroughly before re-insertion (this sounds bad)

MazdaManiac

iTrader: (3)

I spent several hours at 125 MPH and at least dozens of minutes over 130 on my move to Phoenix. There was a spot in Oklahoma where we sat at 140+ for a bunch of miles. That is my MO on all my highway trips. It doesn't really pay to speed unless you really go for it. The time saved doesn't amount to much until you are 2x.
I regularly drive the 15 or so miles to the airport at 100+. If you go any slower than 85 on the north-bound 10, you will get run over by rednecks in over-sized Tonka trucks.

I've left it in third for a bit on the highway. So smooth....

zoom44

my consumption is low enough that i dotn even bother to top it off between oil changes now. it never gets to "low" maybe halfway there or a little more

Winfree

I was worried about lack of oil usage as postings made you think it ran on more oil than gas - but the only time it used a 1/2 quart was when I ran it to Frisco and back and ran it a little fast between San Miguel and King City - rest of the time, it uses less than the 323 or the pickup truck... I think maybe they improved the system as they put out newer models. Gas milage also improves as you beat enough GTOs to get mellow and let them live!
{Mom', age 94: "Don't you rev your engine at me, young man!"}

Brandon

Me too. It has been using less and less. I used to put one quart in at about 1500-1750 miles and then get it changed when it was getting close to the dipstick indent again at 3000-3500. Right now, I'm on 2200 miles without adding oil and it's only just below halfway on the dipstick.

DrDiaboloco

Well, good for you. I guess.

Just curious, are we supposed to be impressed by this?

MazdaManiac

iTrader: (3)

No. You were just saying that 4500 RPM on the highway is unusual and I was pointing out that you are likely in the minority in that opinion.

Consider yourself an ex-parrot.

DrDiaboloco

Nah, I don't think I'm in the minority at all. Just because you (and perhaps a couple more loonies on this site) drive everywhere like you're qualifying for the GP at Silverstone doesn't mean everyone else does. I've lived in seven states in my adult life and have never seen a place where the "normal" traffic flow is 90mph. The closest would be down Texas way, where a good friend of mine was driving noticeably faster than the mean traffic flow at HIS normal speed of 80-85. He slows down to 75-80 when his son is in the car.

I am not an ex-parrot. If I were, I'd be pushing up the daisies!

mysql101

The roads to my office, most people drive 80 - 90 mph. The posted speed limit is 70. I am usually passing them.

MazdaManiac

iTrader: (3)

Any of those states west of the Rockies?
Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico (not so much), Colorado, Wyoming, Montana (insanity) and Utah have 70+ speed limits and regular highway traffic can exceed 100 MPH for miles. I recently came back to Phoenix from Las Vegas and nearly had my paint torn off by the passing SUVs and I was well into triple digits.

OT - even on that 600 mile, high-speed round-trip, I used less than an 1/8 of a quart.

You would have been pushing up the daisies weeks ago if they hadn't nailed you to the perch!

Nopstnz

I agree with Socr8tes on this. I think most likley your dealer just overfilled your oil. They seem to do that a whole lot. I always had that problem of never getting low on oil either. Between 3k miles it moved only 1/2 or so until my next oil change. My last oil change I watched them put in 4 qts. and it was right at full. Now it seems to be consuming it normally.

DrDiaboloco

OT- Is overfilling going to cause any negative repercussions? I think I was overfilled at my last oil change. It was only my second, but I can't seem to get a reading in the "normal" range after nearly a thousand miles, which was not an issue before.

MM- No, none west of the Rockies, but I do have extensive highway experience in western CA, OR and WA (where doing 5-7 over made me one of the FASTER cars and I started to get nervous... you never want to stick out). But even if that's the case, using Rocky Mountain-area states as a gauge, it's hardly fair to say "most" people do 90 or more all over the place... Those states are very sparsely populated to say the least. If they WERE heavily populated, you wouldn't be cracking triple-digits everywhere you go and still have your license. I've driven on most interstates east of the ol' Miss, and definitely in every state found there (plus some on the west side of the ol' Miss) and have never, but for once, found these areas where "everyone is doing 85+ and you'll get run off the road if you aren't one of them" (my words, not yours). That one exception was on whatever that interstate is on the west side of Florida, I think it's I-75, on the sunday ending a holiday weekend... I was doing my usual 5-7 over the posted limit and really WAS the slowpoke, so I kept on ratcheting up my speed until I was still in the right lane and barely passing anyone. I finally set my CC at 82 and let the yahoos in their Explorers and Pilots, with unrestrained kids crawling all over the back seats, do 85+.

In the east, where you're never too far from a population center, going 90, 100, 130 all over the place is license suicide... Especially if you live in OH, PA, NJ, NY and MA. The state troopers therein are always ready to hand out a ticket, and in my time I've seen more than one of them up close. You can't even use a radar detector in the Federal Republics of VA and CT.

ESPECIALLY in Ohio, running along at triple-digit speeds will have you running up the curtain and joining the bleein' choir invisible!

MazdaManiac

iTrader: (3)

Slight overfilling won't hurt anything. More than a quart or so might do some weird burping, but since the Renesis doesn't have any "windage" like a piston motor, I can't see anything blowing up because of it.

Pacific coast doesn't count. Only LA isn't practically driving backwards like they do from 'Frisco to Portland.

Phoenix is the 5th largest city in the United States. Even at 100 MPH, it can take an hour to get from one side to the other in the middle of the night.

I'm from Maryland. Go drive the the DC beltway sometime (when it is not standing still, which it is most of the time). There, people drive as fast as their vehicle will go until they are crammed up someone's tailpipe and then they make a mad dash across 5 lanes of traffic to get one more car length ahead.

They repealed the law in CT. Now detectors are only illegal in VA and DC.

Mostly because the road surfaces resemble Beirut. Cleveland isn't even drivable in a normal vehicle if you want to keep all four wheels round.

I've driven in and across every state in the continental US. Though there are many glaring exceptions for one reason or another, for the most part if you spend any serious time on any interstate, the median speed these days is at least 25 MPH above any posted limit.

BunnyGirl

Driving from Oregon to Wisconsin and back regularly, across Montana, I've never encountered the insanity mentioned above. If our car went 85 we were passing most people. There were a few exceptions where a car would go flying past but we have always been on the fast side of the traffic flow. I don't know that I would agree with your Phoenix description either, although I don't live there. My brother does, however, and he describes entirely different traffic than what you do.

The fastest traffic I have encountered driving in on the West Coast was on I-5 up to Seattle. The posted speed was 70. Traffic had been slowed down to 50 so when it ended traffic around me accelerated and I just accelerated and flowed right along with them, and looked down to realize I was going 83. I then dropped my speed down to 75 so I would be closer to the speed limit. After a mile or two of going over 80 the rest of traffic settled in at around 75 also, so I don't think this is a sustained situation anywhere unless you drive through a completely unpopulated area.

MazdaManiac

iTrader: (3)

Where in Phoenix? I presume you have read this: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14350628

Winfree

I'll second that motion! Also traffic from New York to Balimore on 95 can be faster than the posted. A standing joke was tha they thought the 95 was the speed limit. We had a lot of fun with cars with diplomatic immunity, or hi officals who could play autobahn. Near our base, they put out a dummy police car which slowed down non-locals until the neighborhood high school kids jacked the door and filled it with toilet paper and donuts.

One of the reasons I began to respect my little cheap 323 was it had amazing acceleration for that time and I could get onto 95 without becoming a dead bug on somebody's grill!

We can go 70+ some places on 5 and also some places between San Miguel and King city on Hwy 101 - and there is practically no traffic. Hwy 1 going north has even less traffic but is slow due to twisties ( many have 20 or 30 mph signs) and, during the rainy season, road repairs when the cliffs slide into the sea.

BunnyGirl

I'd have to check the address when I get home because I'm not sure.

BunnyGirl

I saw that. I posted it in the lounge the other day. LOL

DrDiaboloco

MM... I stand by my original story, "most" people aren't running around at 90+. Just because Phoenix is (by your account) the 5th largest city in the country and is loaded with junior Andrettis doesn't mean, by ANY stretch, that your experiences in Phoenix represent reality for the majority of the people in this country.

-Interstates nearly devoid of traffic from Portland, OR to Seattle (certainly relative to eastern interstates) doesn't run at anything over 75 average. I come to this conclusion after six round trips on that route in the last 18mos... Running 5-7 over, as is my custom, and passing people left and right. 75 seems "normal" even though I saw very few coppers. I figure that one should run with the locals when you're not in areas you know well.

-My experience with "western" highways is not only on the coast. How about I-5 from Stockton to Sacramento? Done THAT round trip four times in the last year... At 5-7 over (it's an ESPECIALLY bad idea to get tickets in company-supplied rental cars LOL), and didn't come close to being the slowest car on the road.

-I HAVE driven the DC beltway far more times than I care to mention. When traffic isn't dropping speeds to a crawl, there is the phenomenon of the "everyone is going 65-70 three feet from one another" thing. This is no different from the Baltimore Beltway, the Richmond extention (495?), I-95 from DC to Richmond, the Long Island Expressway, the Belt Parkway, 95 thru Boston, etc. 65-70 bumper-to-bumper is a darn sight different from 90.

-My bad about the repeal of the CT detector law. Haven't driven the CT interstates in a while (did a regular run on 84 from NY to Hartford back in '02)... But hey, they might've repealed it before that, I haven't used a detector in a dozen years. Perhaps not coincidentally, I haven't had a ticket in that time either.

-Is Cleveland the only interstate highway in Ohio? C'mon, man, Columbus alone is the hub of like half-a-dozen interstates... And the major ones don't even TOUCH Cleveland. I-80 is perfectly smooth, I drive it several times a year now making my drive from IN to NY and the road surface is the LEAST of the problems (hey, my wheels haven't gone square from driving it!). The OH staties are the REAL problem. Again, 5-7mph over and I find myself passing plenty of OH-plated cars. My desire to keep my record clean keeps me from really cooking.

So... While you may be the one going 25 over, I posit that you're completely off-base saying that "most" of us are doing that. I've NEVER done that on a regular basis, and neither does anyone else in my experience driving the interstates in 33 states in the last 20 years. Maybe that's the way it is in those western states where you can go a jillion miles without seeing a town with a population over 25,000, but then "most" people don't live in such relative desolation, now do they? I also think that any objective measurement of average or mean highway speeds in various areas would bear this out.

FACT= MOST people aren't doing 25 over, except possibly in places where there is NOONE AROUND FOR A HUNDRED MILES. Period.

MazdaManiac

iTrader: (3)

Don't confuse your opinion with fact. It is a sure fire way to negate your argument.

DrDiaboloco

Check yo'self before you wreck yo'self.
That's for Texas, one of those states where "everyone" is crusing at like a million mph. 17 percent, or "most" as you would have us believe, are exceeding 75mph, which might as well be 90, right?
Michigan, near Flint, where there's practically no congestion. According to Michael Moore, Flint is nearly a ghost town, right?

I looked and looked and looked and looked and looked, and the highest average highway speed I could find on the web is the following:
http://www.scienceblog.com/community...4/pub4274.html
That's 85mph avg. in Maine, which is overwhelmingly a rural state. Even "most" of the people in the state ranked 40th in the nation in population don't do 90mph. But the average speed in Texas, ranked 2nd in population, is barely over 70...

What was that about confusing YOUR opinion with fact? Or is that just MINE?

Winfree

I seem to remember a length of hiway (55?) heading to Vegas from California, where there was a considerable amount of speeding as people rushed to Vegas to lose their money...Urban myths suggest that the hiway police in that area have souped up race cars as well as helicopters... I seem to remember there was a rather famous chase between them and black Corvette - anybody know anything about this?

ArthurY

You guys can say all you want. I can only wish you good luck. But, let me remind you that for some states like NY:

MPH over speed limit Points
MPH over speed limit not indicated 3
1 - 10 mph 3
11 - 20 mph 4
21 - 30 mph 6
31 - 40 mph 8
More than 40 mph 11


Keep going 40mph above speed limit and you'll soon be driving without a license.


And, for Arizona,

Excessive speeds; classification

A. A person shall not:

1. Exceed thirty-five miles per hour approaching a school crossing.

2. Exceed the posted speed limit in a business or residential district by more than twenty miles per hour, or if no speed limit is posted, exceed forty-five miles per hour.

3. Exceed eighty-five miles per hour in other locations.

B. A person who violates subsection A of this section is guilty of a class 3 misdemeanor.

C. A person charged with a violation of this section may not be issued a civil complaint for a violation of section 28-701 if the civil complaint alleges a violation arising out of the same circumstances.

Looks like some of you are constantly guilty of a class 3 misdemeanor.



In Arizona, there's also something about jail time ...

28-693. Reckless driving; classification; license; surrender

A. A person who drives a vehicle in reckless disregard for the safety of persons or property is guilty of reckless driving.

B. A person convicted of reckless driving is guilty of a class 2 misdemeanor.

C. In addition, the judge may require the surrender to a police officer of any driver license of the convicted person, shall report the conviction to the department and may order the driving privileges of the person to be suspended for a period of not more than ninety days. On receipt of the abstract of conviction and order, the department shall suspend the driving privilege of the person for the period of time ordered by the judge.

D. If a person who is convicted of a violation of this section has been previously convicted of a violation of this section, section 13-1102 or section 13-1103, subsection A, paragraph 1, in the driving of a vehicle, or section 28-708, 28-1381, 28-1382 or 28-1383 within a period of twenty-four months:

1. The person is guilty of a class 1 misdemeanor.

2. The person is not eligible for probation, pardon, suspension of sentence or release on any basis until the person has served not less than twenty days in jail.

3. The judge may require the surrender to a police officer of any driver license of the person and shall immediately forward the abstract of conviction to the department.

4. On receipt of the abstract of conviction, the department shall revoke the driving privilege of the person.

E. The dates of the commission of the offense are the determining factor in applying subsection D of this section. A second or subsequent violation for which a conviction occurs as provided in this section does not include a conviction for an offense arising out of the same series of acts.

F. On pronouncement of a jail sentence under this section, and after the court receives confirmation that the person is employed or is a student, the court may provide in the sentence that if the defendant is employed or is a student the defendant can continue employment or schooling for not more than twelve hours per day nor more than five days per week. The defendant shall spend the remaining days or parts of days in jail until the sentence is served and shall be allowed out of jail only long enough to complete the defendant's actual hours of employment or schooling.

puch96

Don't worry too much.... Just red line your car often and mantain that spirited driving around 6k to 9k rpm, and you'll start seeing your oil level drop...

swerver

I drive as fast as traffic will allow me; compliments to my trusty Valentine I, literally.

Granted, I occasionally need the great stopping power of the 8 on occasion when bogies are around but my Valentine has saved me more times than I can count (editors note: do not trust any other radar detector on the market, the Valentine is the only one that actually works consistantly). Get used to how it works and relax (so to speak).

No, of course I don't drive at 90+ on a regular basis but I will say that on an open highway, while being safe and such, I push that barameter regularly. In getting to work, I'm regularly over the 25+ speed limit..........

In fact, I've got a Sheriff now that recognizes me and we play a little cat and mouse game on my way to work..........