I've asked this question before, but no one had any answers. I thought I would try again to see if anybody else has had this problem. My early model 8 with 6 speed used about a quart of oil every 3000 miles. Then, after I had it at the dealer for the latest flash early last year at about 18,000 miles, the car started using more oil. It also idled rougher. It used a quart about every 900 miles. The dealer refused to even look at it and said everything is normal.

I now have about 24k miles on the car. It's been stored most of the winter, but I have driven it about 400 miles. The oil was right at the full mark when I stored it, now it's about 2/3 down, so about a quart low. In a couple of weeks, I will start driving it full time and monitoring the oil usage carefully. I'm then going to another dealer to see what is wrong. I had the dealer change the oil at 15,000 miles and I changed it at 20,000 miles. No leaks, no oil in the air intake (someone asked me to check), runs fine except for rough idle, seems like there is more soot in the exhaust tips.

I can only think of 2 things that would cause this. Leakage past the seals or something wrong with the oil injection system.

If the next dealer will not do anything, then I will sell. I do want to keep the car, but honestly, it has been nothing but problems.

 

That's odd. I'm assuming you never see anything dripping below the car? Do you smell oil burning after you've driven it hard and you lift up the hood?

Notice any change in the exhaust smell? (or am I the only one that periodically smells the exhaust on their cars....?)

 

When I drive on the highway and then pull off and park, I notice a burning smell at the back of the car, but not like oil burning. I told the dealer about this smell soon after I bought the car, but they said it was a plastic bag that got melted onto the exhaust. I don't think that is still the case 2 years later.

No drips, no under the hood smell. It is strange and more so, because no one else seems to have this problem. This is probably why the dealer thinks I'm imagining it.

 

Good thing you didn't go to Veterinary school.

 

If you really just don't like the car, sell it by all means, but if you like it, as long as it's under warranty...some dealer will fix it if there truly is a problem, and so why sell just for that? But it sounds like this is not the 1st problem if you say "nothing but problems".

After a recent oil change, I had a reoccuring puddle of oil under the car. Thought at 1st it was the mechanic spilling as he filled and dripping down, but turned out to be the oil cooler hose 'O" ring gone bad at the back of the engine. Dealer fixed no problem.

Think you should get a 2nd dealer opinion.

 

djseto,

No, I bought my car at Mazda Gallery, but after they charged me $300 when my car flooded, I told them I would never be back. So, I have been bringing it to Vachon Mazda in Attleboro. Good mechanics, but the desk guys have been jerks.

I will give Quirk a try (I've bought 2 VW's and my Kia from them) or the Mazda dealer in Wellesley. When I called Mazda NA, they said I would have to work through the dealer, no help at all.

 

Spin9k,

The car has been back to the dealer so many times I've lost count. Flooding, recalls, new flashes, CEL's, now rough idling and oil use. My $12k Kia has been perfect from day one. I'm beginning to think I have a lemon.

 

I'd go for the 'lemon law' buyback. Pick you favorite repeatable problem, get three work orders with no fix from the dealer ...then mention the dreaded words..... see the MNAO rep show up in a heartbeat.... something will happen then!

 

The rough idle might be bad engine mounts. They might want to check that. The burning smell after you drive, do you happen to have snow tires on the car? I find that my driving style and snow tires often lead to a burning smell in the back of the vehicle. I assume I'm cooking the 70mph snow tires when I'm driving 90. Ooops.

Aside from that, I can't image where you're losing that much oil without any symptoms/drippage. Anyone with more experience want to wade in here?

 

I thought 8 is normal to consume around 1 Quart every 1000 miles ?

Mine does that since day one. Well maybe not in the old days but. I think it does use 1 Quart every 1 K miles.

 

Yeah, mine uses a qt about every 1K miles as well.

 

Oil consumption varies and can be a lot higher if you do a lot of stop & go driving. When I'm primarily commute-driving I get around 1200 mi/quart, sometimes drops to 1000. On the open road I get probably closer to 3000. Of course, higher rpm will also use a lot more oil. From what I've read, Mazda considers anything over 600 mi/quart to be in the "normal" range. So, if your miles are more urban type driving I wouldn't worry too much. One of the flashes corrected a problem of *under*-lubrication, iirc. I'd be more concerned with the rough idle and the burning smell.

 

Thanks for the feedback. I don't have snow tires on the car, I just replaced the Bridgestones with Avon All-Seasons just a couple hundred miles ago. I have been doing more local driving, so I can see it using a bit more oil. It's good to know other people are getting around 1000 miles per quart. I don't understand why it went from 3000 miles per quart to around 400. Seems like something is wrong. I'm going to have them check the motor mounts, since many have had them fail around my mileage. The burning smell is weird and I'm going to need to pay more attention to where it is coming from.

 

You said you stored it full and then later it came up a quart low?

Not to be blunt but, did you notice any oil on your FLOOR?

 

As I stated in my first post NO LEAKS. Also, I don't notice any smoke, but I may have someone follow me to see if it is visible to them.

I'm on vacation next week, but I will get it out when I get back. I was going to drive it yesterday, but it would not start. It appears the battery is dead, but the interior lights seem fine. This is strange, since I drove it about 4 weeks ago for a couple hundred miles. I stored my Fiat for 3 months with a 6 year old battery and it started right up last weekend. My Fiat has been way less troublesome than the Mazda. Now that ain't right.

 

If you haven't had the starter, battery and spark plug upgrade, take the car to your dealer and tell them the car would not start. They will replace those items under warranty as part of the no-start service bulletin. The OEM batteries in the early models of the US version of this car were not up to the task. That will improve your starting problems.

Apparently the dark current drain on your battery is higher than the 20 mA spec. Let the dealer know that and they may be able to find the source of the power drain. If you have the Nav system, that's the first place to look. There have been a few problems with failure of Nav components to shut down when the car is powered down.

Having said all that, however, I use a trickle/maintenance charger on my car if it has sat for more than a couple of weeks. You might want to consider that as well in the future. And if all else fails, sell the car and drive your FIAT.

 

I am also getting about 1QT per 1K miles. I only drive the car on weekends and 1 or 2 days during the week when it's sunny...

Of course when I drive it, I drive it the way a rotary is supposed to be driven...> 6K RPM... at all times except when commuting.

And my idle, BTW, just started to bounce between 700 - 1.2K RPM ... not always but quite often...

Carlos

 

Pull your spark plugs and check for fouling. When you're pumping that much oil into the combustion area, you stand a good chance of oil fouling the plugs. Look particularly at the center insulator for dark deposits.

 

Also chekc and clean the MAF. search for what others have said about the MAF

 

Under normal conditions, oil consumption is based on two paramaters: engine speed and load. Load is managed by throttle position. The faster the engine turns the more oil is delivered and the more throttle you push the more oil delivered. So if you're going uphill and mashing the gas, you'll be delivering more oil to the engine because, even though the engine rpm is low, the throttle is mashed. If you're crusing at high speed you're delivering more oil because, even though little throttle is being applied, the engine rpm is high. If you're hitting redline with a heavy foot, you're getting hit from both ends. If none of those describes your driving style, then it's some kind of mechanical, electrical problem.

 

I am not really concerned... Oil is "cheap"...

Granted I drive the car ~ 500 miles/month but I drive it hard. Spark plugs are less than 500 miles since I had to take my car for the battery/spark/starter recall.

Of course if you baby it and get this kind of consumption then I'll be really worried.

My 2 cents,
Carlos

 

I'm getting 750miles/quart. New car on 1500 miles on it.

If you have high oil consumption do you also have poor gas mileage. I do all city and get around 11.5mpg.

 

I believe I drive my car fairly conservatively. Ocassionally go to 7000 rpm, usually shift in the 4-5000 range. My gas mileage is OK, but has dropped a couple of mpg. In mixed driving, I'm getting about 17mpg and 20 on the highway. I was getting 2 mpg higher both mixed and highway.

I brought it to a different dealer this week. They had no explanation for the oil consumption, but agreed it was idling poorly. They were going to replace the plugs, but when they removed the wires, they said rust came out them. So, they have ordered both plugs and wires and will be installed in a couple of weeks. They will also run some more tests then. At least they admit something is amiss, unlike my old dealer who would not even look at the car.

I tested my battery with a tester I have that puts a load on it. It came up OK, just slightly weak. The car is starting fine, so I will leave it for now. The battery is 2 1/2 years old now, so it's bound to not be full strength anymore. I always change the batteries in my cars every 4 years, no matter how they are performing. I'll just put a new one in next year.

 

Just another factoid to keep in mind: Bad plugs do not increase oil consumption. Oil is delivered to the engine by a pump. The pump doesn't know anything about spark plugs - good or bad. Engine RPM and throttle position control oil consumption.