Protege 5 Oil Consumption

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ChaRLeS23

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Mazdaspeed 3
Hi Guys, I have a P5 2003 with 70K miles on it. I bought the car at 50K and at the time I bought the car it didn't seem to burn oil. It believe it has been well maintained by the previous owner, all maintenance records supplied at time of purchase, all done at mazda dealership. When I bought the car the first thing I did is that I switched the car to Mobil1 10W30 Synthetic oil. I've done my third oil change last week end and noticed that the dip stick didn't show any oil on it! I was shocked, so I emptied the pan and it had about 2L left in it, 5000k since last oil change, so it used about 1.5L for about 5000K. Never paid attention to it before but I did the oil change and started the car. About 1 min after I started it there's white/bluish smoke coming out of the tailpipe, not a lot but still. After I drive for 1-2 mins it goes away. I had put about 200 miles on the car so far and the oil hasn't dropped but it already starts turning black. I must admit I drive the car pretty hard since I bought it, I installed AEM intake, OBX headers, Magnaflow exhaust and MP3 ECU and I love the sound over 4K.... :p I've read on the forums and it seems pretty common for our P5 to burn a little bit of oil, but at only 70K, I'm wondering if my consumption is "OK" or a little excessive... any thoughts? Should I go back to Dino 10W30 High Milleage oil, would that help?

Thanks!
 
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I'm not sure what the blue smoke is all about. You sure it's not just morning moisture?

Definitely switch from mobil 1. I would try a 5-xx dino oil, or Motorcraft is a semi-synth at a very good price.
 
I have to put about 1 quart around 1000 miles after an oil change... running Pennzoil 5w30 synthetic. Every car I've owned burned oil somewhere, no smoke. I just accept it and add oil when needed.
 
Yeah well it could be morning humidity but the car smells.... It doesn't smoke a lot you can see it if you pay attention it's not like a big cloud but still. I'll change the PCV valve for a Millenia one and drive the car less hard and see what happens. I'll switch back to Dino oil and put a WRX STI oil filter as well since it's bigger and fits on our engines and see if the oil stays clean longer.
 
and you're sure there isn't a leak anywhere? No drip tips under the bell housing, oil pan, drain plug, etc.?
 
Valve stem seals. Lets oil into combustion chamber. Lets carbon back into the oil making it dirty looking. The worse they get, the more bluish smoke you'll see and the more oil you'll have to keep adding. The more time you spend in 4k land the faster this will progress in negative direction. New seals is the only magic. Playing with different oil won't cure it.
 
i12drivemyMP5 said:
Valve stem seals. Lets oil into combustion chamber. Lets carbon back into the oil making it dirty looking. The worse they get, the more bluish smoke you'll see and the more oil you'll have to keep adding. The more time you spend in 4k land the faster this will progress in negative direction. New seals is the only magic. Playing with different oil won't cure it.
Click to expand...

That's probably it. Check your spark plugs for any oil on them to be sure.
 
Thank you guys for your answers! I'll have them replaced as soon as I have a chance. Does the head needs to be removed in order to do this? Is it expensive to be done?

Rabid: I've check for leaks while I did the oil change and couldn't find anything. The valve cover is fine, the oil pan as well, so is the area around the oil filter...
 
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Funny story: I think I might be having the same problem. Only difference is that I don't have any smoke.
 
Doh!!! Not good... Well I did check the spark plugs and they look ok to me. I'm not a mechanic at all and they are a bit "dirty" but there's no oil, at least not liquid oil on them. Again, once I have a chance I'll stop by the dealer and get the seals done and it would make sense that they are bad; When I bought the car, it's been 8 months from the time it was at the dealer and the time I bought it and the engine probably didn't run, so the seals might gotten dry and now they leak.... Update: I put Bardhal "Seal Conditionner" and I've put 700 miles on the car so far and the dip stick is still on full and it barely smoke at startup, but it still smells for the first few minutes
 
I thought my car was burning oil because there was never oil underneath the car, so I figured it couldn't be leaking...but it turned out it was leaking through the oil pressure switch, which apparently only leaks when the car is running. Replaced the switch...fixed the problem. It's a $4.00 part, and the dealership wanted $122 to do it. I just replaced it when I changed my oil.
 
breiland said:
I thought my car was burning oil because there was never oil underneath the car, so I figured it couldn't be leaking...but it turned out it was leaking through the oil pressure switch, which apparently only leaks when the car is running. Replaced the switch...fixed the problem. It's a $4.00 part, and the dealership wanted $122 to do it. I just replaced it when I changed my oil.
Click to expand...

Where is it it located? Or can you give the technical name so I can look it up in the manual?
 
It's just above the oil filter. I'm pretty sure it's just called the oil pressure switch. That's how it's listed on the Autozone website. It's $5.99 on their website, but I'm pretty sure I paid $4.99 at the store.
 
Cool, I'll be looking into that soon. I hope that's the problem. I've been testing the different parts of the car, pcv, valve cover, etc. and ran a compression test as well. As far as I can see there is no leak which is leading me to believe that it is the valve seals, but I don't know.
 
i am losing oil too, about 1000 miles or so, the dipstick will already be at "LOW." if i don't top it off by 5000 miles it will be almost dry. no smoke that i can see of any color. it started occuring around 60k mi. i started changing the oil at 3000 instead of 5000 because it didnt seem to make sense to keep pouring more oil into it for 2000 more miles.

i then had severe case of misfires in #4 cylinder and when i looked at the spark plug i found this:
attachment.php

thats a heavy layer of dried caked on oil. the other spark plugs (right one pictured for reference) were fine but i replaced all 4 including the valve cover gasket. the misfires are gone but when i checked it again recently there was a thin wet oil film on the #4 cylinder spark plug. i can take another picture soon. i suspect if left unchecked the spark plug will end up like the first one above. the new gasket seems to be fine as no other leaks can be found so my theory is there is some sort of leak inside the engine--the valve seals that has been mentioned?

are the valve seals something i can easily inspect and replace? my mechanical skills end at the valve cover if that's any indication i should bring it in to a repair shop. Thanks
-meGrimlock
 

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That seems more like rings than valve stem seals. I would check compression. Betting cyl 4 has less than the other 3.
 
But water does not carbon foul the spark plug. He didn't say his antifreeze was low. Oil getting past rings and being burnt in the cylinder with the gas will carbon foul the plug and make oil disappear from the crankcase...poof, dry dipstick if not knowing and paying attention. If you know you are burning oil, you pay attention & give it the oil it wants, fix it or walk.
 
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