Engine oil light on and off

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Canada
:
2020 CX-5 GT
Hi,

I read topics here about engine oil warning light but didn't get specific answer to my question.

Background: 2020 CX-5 GT non turbo. Canada.
March 4th : 16k oil change done my Mazda dealership
March 5th : Drove 300km mostly highway during the day, no engine oil light. During night time when I went to grocery for about 7 min drive, engine light turned on.
I turned off the car, waited 3 min then no engine light after turning the car on.

March 6th: Wife drove to work (no highway), after 20 mins of driving engine oil light turned on when she was about to park in her work place.
After her work, no engine oil light when she started the car. After 15min of driving going home, the engine oil light appeared again.
she pulled over, shut off the car, waited 3 min. No engine light again until she arrived home.
Brought the car at Mazda dealership who did the oil change. Service advisor said the engine oil was low, they topped it up.

1. If the engine was low, why the engine oil light didn't show when I was driving on the highway for about 300km?
2. Why is the engine oil light shows after about 15min of driving?
a. If the oil is low, should it show up right after starting the car?
3. Why the engine oil light disappears after restarting the car?

I asked the service manager if the engine oil light turns on again if it's safe to drive the car, He said "Yes, don't worry about it. Just bring it here"
4. How true is his statement? I read the manual , and advised to pull over and tow the car to nearest Mazda dealership.

This is my first car, please direct me if my questions have already been answered. I would be happy to read related topics.

Cheers!
 
With the oil light coming on so much I'm going to assume that you checked the reading on the dipstick, what did the dipstick look like when you checked the oil yourself?
 
Sounds like the dealer screwed up. Always check oil level before pulling away from dealer and if not possible as soon as you get home.
 
It would seem that your dealer underfilled the oil.

Did you get any paperwork upon completion of the work? If so, what does it say for quantity and the type of oil that was used? I would also verify what oil filter was used as well. It wouldn't be the first time that a dealer tried to save themselves some money by using a substandard oil filter.

I would keep an eye on the work done by your dealer, any dealer actually.

Trust but verify.

Be sure to check the oil level yourself before you leave the dealership.
 
Sounds like the dealer screwed up. Always check oil level before pulling away from dealer and if not possible as soon as you get home.
Yeah, lesson learned. I was naive to think dealership can't mess up something so basic like oil change.
 
It would seem that your dealer underfilled the oil.

Did you get any paperwork upon completion of the work? If so, what does it say for quantity and the type of oil that was used? I would also verify what oil filter was used as well. It wouldn't be the first time that a dealer tried to save themselves some money by using a substandard oil filter.

I would keep an eye on the work done by your dealer, any dealer actually.

Trust but verify.

Be sure to check the oil level yourself before you leave the dealership.
I got paperwork from the dealer, it shows the correct oil , filer and quantity, but not sure the tech really did that.

Next time i will definitely check oil level before and after.

How come the engine oil light didn't show when I was driving next day after the oil change?
Was it because during my 300km trip oil was burned below the level for the engine oil light to appear?
 
I think there are two oil indicators, one for oil level and one for oil pressure. Even if the level is a bit low you still have oil pressure. If the oil pressure light comes on shut it down immediately and tow it or you can destroy the engine without oil pressure.
 
It's probably at a borderline level. One qt/L will get it to the top marker

I just checked the manual , that is exactly what is advised.

If the oil is below the bottom dot or not in the dipstick, the engine oil warning light should appear right after starting the car?
 
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I think there are two oil indicators, one for oil level and one for oil pressure. Even if the level is a bit low you still have oil pressure. If the oil pressure light comes on shut it down immediately and tow it or you can destroy the engine without oil pressure.
You are correct. I checked the manual, I was looking at the wrong engine oil warning light the whole time. lol

I was looking at the Low Oil Pressure icon. The icon that showed up was for Low level, the one with the wavy line at the bottom. Thank you for pointing that out.

I guess low oil pressure is more serious than low level.
 

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I'm willing to bet the dealer never actually changed the oil.
They just moved the vehicle, charged you for an oil change, and sent you on your way.
Been there, had it done to me.
When you checked the oil yourself, what colour was it?
The dipstick should have clean, almost transparent oil on it after the change.
If it was still dark or black, then they never did the change.
Even now after topping it up, pull the dipstick again and see what colour it is.
If it's black, then you got screwed.
You should also take a few minutes and go under the car and check the filter.
You should be able to tell if it's new or not.
Keep us posted.
 
I'm willing to bet the dealer never actually changed the oil.
They just moved the vehicle, charged you for an oil change, and sent you on your way.
Been there, had it done to me.
When you checked the oil yourself, what colour was it?
The dipstick should have clean, almost transparent oil on it after the change.
If it was still dark or black, then they never did the change.
Even now after topping it up, pull the dipstick again and see what colour it is.
If it's black, then you got screwed.
You should also take a few minutes and go under the car and check the filter.
You should be able to tell if it's new or not.
Keep us posted.

I didn't check the oil color before going to the dealership, which is my mistake and lesson learned.

After they "topped up" the oil, the engine oil warning light hasn't showed up yet.
I checked the oil yesterday, level is about 3/4 between two dots.
Color is kinda very light golden brown. Not brown or black. I don't know if they changed it or not because I didn't check it before. I have no basis.

With weather here starting to get warm, It's a good idea to check the filter. I will watch youtube videos how to check filter. Thanks for the suggestion.
 
How many miles did you have on the oil when you brought it in for the oil change?
I'd say if you had more than 5k miles (~8k KM) on that oil, it was likely dark.
Light brown (depending on how light) sounds like it might be clean oil.
 
How many miles did you have on the oil when you brought it in for the oil change?
I'd say if you had more than 5k miles (~8k KM) on that oil, it was likely dark.
Light brown (depending on how light) sounds like it might be clean oil.

About 8200km before the change.

How much amount of oil is being burned every 5k miles? Is it not normal to topped up until the next oil change?

Checking the filter and oil color is now on my checklist before going to the dealership next time.
 
You are correct. I checked the manual, I was looking at the wrong engine oil warning light the whole time. lol

I was looking at the Low Oil Pressure icon. The icon that showed up was for Low level, the one with the wavy line at the bottom. Thank you for pointing that out.

I guess low oil pressure is more serious than low level.
From 2018 CX-5 2.5L with CD, and 2019 CX-5 2.5T turbo and newer, they have both Low Oil Pressure Warning Light and Low Oil Level Warning Light in dash. But many people don’t aware the difference.

Here's the difference between low oil pressure warning light icon and low oil level warning light icon other than red / amber color difference:

15FE473C-8DA6-40B1-B7B5-C7A55F28A5CB.jpeg


If you noticed, one is red color and the other is amber. For warning lights red is more serious than amber, and you need to do something immediately if a red warning light is on.

Dealer service on oil change sometimes is suspicious as only the lowest paid、inexperienced technicians are doing the work, although my Mazda dealer will assign one tech for all the work for a car which would eliminate such problem.

A Toyota dealer screwed up the free oil change covered by new Toyota vehicles which made me almost lost the engine of my 2018 Yaris iA (Mazda2) due to leaky drain plug during a long road trip. Since it was overfilled initially by 0.5 quart, I added 2 quarts to bring the oil level up to the middle of the Add and Full marks, which means it’d lost 3 quarts of oil during the 450-mile trip. The oil pressure warning light had never on by the way with almost 1.5 quarts below the Add mark.

Usually the dealer will overfill the oil for oil change. I really suspect your dealer would under-fill the oil by one quart! If the dealer filled 5.3 quarts initially, but 1 quart of oil got burned within 1K miles, this would be a serous problem and you should report this to Mazda North American Operations and create a case so that you can have something to say if your engine is developed some engine oil related issues. What is the part numbers of oil and oil filter, including the drain plug washer printed on your invoice? And what is the oil quantity? I’d be nice if you can post the invoice here and we may find more issues on you oil change.

Here is another thread related to your problem:

2018 low oil light intermittent? Pressure sensor?
 
From 2018 CX-5 2.5L with CD, and 2019 CX-5 2.5T turbo and newer, they have both Low Oil Pressure Warning Light and Low Oil Level Warning Light in dash. But many people don’t aware the difference.

Here's the difference between low oil pressure warning light icon and low oil level warning light icon other than red / amber color difference:

View attachment 296263

If you noticed, one is red color and the other is amber. For warning lights red is more serious than amber, and you need to do something immediately if a red warning light is on.

Dealer service on oil change sometimes is suspicious as only the lowest paid、inexperienced technicians are doing the work, although my Mazda dealer will assign one tech for all the work for a car which would eliminate such problem.

A Toyota dealer screwed up the free oil change covered by new Toyota vehicles which made me almost lost the engine of my 2018 Yaris iA (Mazda2) due to leaky drain plug during a long road trip. Since it was overfilled initially by 0.5 quart, I added 2 quarts to bring the oil level up to the middle of the Add and Full marks, which means it’d lost 3 quarts of oil during the 450-mile trip. The oil pressure warning light had never on by the way with almost 1.5 quarts below the Add mark.

Usually the dealer will overfill the oil for oil change. I really suspect your dealer would under-fill the oil by one quart! If the dealer filled 5.3 quarts initially, but 1 quart of oil got burned within 1K miles, this would be a serous problem and you should report this to Mazda North American Operations and create a case so that you can have something to say if your engine is developed some engine oil related issues. What is the part numbers of oil and oil filter, including the drain plug washer printed on your invoice? And what is the oil quantity? I’d be nice if you can post the invoice here and we may find more issues on you oil change.

Here is another thread related to your problem:

2018 low oil light intermittent? Pressure sensor?

I didn't know there are two color of lights for engine oil warning. I got the amber icon for low level. Thank you for the info and the link.

How did you know that the Yaris needed additional oil if there was no engine oil warning light?

Since the topped up, it's been about 100km and no engine oil warning yet. I will monitor the level if it's dropping suspiciously.

Here is my invoice.

Invoice.jpg
 
I didn't know there are two color of lights for engine oil warning. I got the amber icon for low level. Thank you for the info and the link.
Owner’s menu may not show the color difference on these 2 oil warning lights.

How did you know that the Yaris needed additional oil if there was no engine oil warning light?
I have a habit checking the oil level the first thing in the morning after a long drive a day before during the trip. I was shocked to see there was no oil on the dipstick at the time! We made the trip right after the oil change, and I did check the oil level after the oil change by the dealer just to verify it’s been overfilled (as usual).

Since the topped up, it's been about 100km and no engine oil warning yet. I will monitor the level if it's dropping suspiciously.

Here is my invoice.

View attachment 296265
The invoice seems to be correct. 1WPE-14-302 is the correct oil filter. 9956-41-400 is the correct aluminum drain plug washer. 5 liters of synthetic 0W-20 bulk oil part # 0000-23-0W20-CA by Petro-Canada looks good too. So my guess is the tech screwed up the oil change, “saved” a liter somehow for the oil change. Either way, I’d bring the issue up to the top-ranking personnel in your Mazda dealer, and to the Mazda Canada as the engine could get damaged either way. In the mean time, check the oil level often, and check the oil filter if there’s a chance, although there’s not much chance you can prove the dealer didn’t change the oil and oil filter, unless you see a different oil filter in there.
 
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