I bought my 2007 Mazda 3 2.0L a few months back from a reputable dealership. A month after I got it I had to replace my thermostat, no big deal. I have an extended warranty on the car. Another month goes by and I need an oil change as I drive the car about a hundred miles a day on the interstate. About a month and a half goes by and I notice I'm pretty low on oil. (I'd say somewhere between 1000 and 2000 miles later) I think maybe that's just normal, so I throw in a quart and a half of oil. shortly (a week, maybe two) thereafter I hit a deer. Again no big deal because I have full coverage and it was mostly body damage. The car is good as new. Great!
Its been 2 months since the accident. 2 days ago my CEL came on. I had my local autozone read the codes for me. Its a bad O2 sensor (Bank 1, Sensor 1). My dad and I took a look at the sensor. It wasn't plugged in right. We pushed it all the way in and reset the CEL. I took the car out for a spin to see if the light comes back on. I notice the car is idling funny, the gears are shifting weird, and its stuttering. I pull up to a stop sign a block away from my house... wait for some cars to pass, and as soon as I hit the gas and the engine shut down. I called my dad and tried to start it a couple of times, on the third try it sprung to life. No CEL at this time. We to it to my garage and checked the other sensor, it was fine. I knew I was due for another oil change already. We checked the oil and it was BONE DRY. This is after the remaining 3000 miles plus some change. So I took another car and got some oil. We put 2 quarts in this time. The engine was still running funny so we called the dealership.
Once we were at the dealership they estimated the cost for the parts. I needed a new O2 sensor and a tail light. (The Tail Light is unrelated, its just getting moisture in it). The warranty wouldn't cover either part so they just did an oil change even though I just put new oil in an empty engine. They also told me to come back in 500 Miles to see how much oil the car has used.
Since then I have replaced the O2 sensor, no CEL yet.
So here are my questions:
1) Why does my engine use up so much oil in just 5000 Miles?
(Note: There are no leaks and theres not black smoke coming out of the tail pipe. I also checked the coolant and didn't find the oil there as that has been mentioned to me before. I haven't checked around the spark plugs, mainly because I am not 100% sure where they are and my owners manual is USELESS.)
2) I've noticed a pretty big drop in fuel efficiency as well, why might this be?
(I use to get 500 Miles to the tank, now I'm getting 350 if I'm lucky.)
I don't always get around to maintaining my car. I try to make sure everything is In check at least one a month, like fluid levels and such. I am also almost always inspecting the outside of my vehicle and I do turn down the subs on the highway from time to time to make sure the engine sounds okay. I go to a commuter college 50 miles away full time and the other part of my full time I'm at work. I would like to try to figure this out sooner rather than later.
If you have any questions for me I'll be sure to answer them.
Its been 2 months since the accident. 2 days ago my CEL came on. I had my local autozone read the codes for me. Its a bad O2 sensor (Bank 1, Sensor 1). My dad and I took a look at the sensor. It wasn't plugged in right. We pushed it all the way in and reset the CEL. I took the car out for a spin to see if the light comes back on. I notice the car is idling funny, the gears are shifting weird, and its stuttering. I pull up to a stop sign a block away from my house... wait for some cars to pass, and as soon as I hit the gas and the engine shut down. I called my dad and tried to start it a couple of times, on the third try it sprung to life. No CEL at this time. We to it to my garage and checked the other sensor, it was fine. I knew I was due for another oil change already. We checked the oil and it was BONE DRY. This is after the remaining 3000 miles plus some change. So I took another car and got some oil. We put 2 quarts in this time. The engine was still running funny so we called the dealership.
Once we were at the dealership they estimated the cost for the parts. I needed a new O2 sensor and a tail light. (The Tail Light is unrelated, its just getting moisture in it). The warranty wouldn't cover either part so they just did an oil change even though I just put new oil in an empty engine. They also told me to come back in 500 Miles to see how much oil the car has used.
Since then I have replaced the O2 sensor, no CEL yet.
So here are my questions:
1) Why does my engine use up so much oil in just 5000 Miles?
(Note: There are no leaks and theres not black smoke coming out of the tail pipe. I also checked the coolant and didn't find the oil there as that has been mentioned to me before. I haven't checked around the spark plugs, mainly because I am not 100% sure where they are and my owners manual is USELESS.)
2) I've noticed a pretty big drop in fuel efficiency as well, why might this be?
(I use to get 500 Miles to the tank, now I'm getting 350 if I'm lucky.)
I don't always get around to maintaining my car. I try to make sure everything is In check at least one a month, like fluid levels and such. I am also almost always inspecting the outside of my vehicle and I do turn down the subs on the highway from time to time to make sure the engine sounds okay. I go to a commuter college 50 miles away full time and the other part of my full time I'm at work. I would like to try to figure this out sooner rather than later.
If you have any questions for me I'll be sure to answer them.
