I'm using about a half quart of oil every 500 miles

lance1586

Member
Is this about what every one else is using?

I think it's kinda funny my old car was a 99 ZX2 Escort which was a Ford body with a Mazda engine and it didn't burn a drop.

Now I have the car I love, which coincidentally, has a Mazda body with a Ford engine and uses oil like my old 5.0 Mustang with forged pistons:)

Go figure!?!?!?!?!?!

07' SP3 - no mods save for the shifter bushings. 11K on the clock
 
Who does your oil change and see if there's any leak coming from the oil filter.
Sometimes the little adapter thingy that holds the filter in can be tightened too much and cause it to break, which leads to leaking oil - not that noticeable - as in a spot of oil when you drive off from your parking space.

blah blah blah blah ...

Take it to your local dealership ... lol
 
Half a quart every 500 miles normal? Public math says that's your whole pan after 3,000 miles. Something tells me that's far from normal. Half quart every 3,000 miles maybe. That's a lot of oil you're losing!
 
1/2 quart every 500 miles?

Yeah, I think it's leaking into the turbo (I know this has been discussed ad nauseum all over here). When I take a hard right turn I can SEE it burning oil, but that seems to be the only time you can visually confirm that it's burning oil. I started out running the Royal Purple and then after it started eating that I went to the 5/20 Motorcraft stuff and had the dealer put it in just in case they make an issue of the maintenance being performed by someone else.

It's not leaking anywhere and I always check it in the same spot in my level driveway cold. If I wait about 500 miles it always goes back down to the fill line.

Looks like it's time for a trip to the dealership. I'm knowing that's what a warranty is for but I am loathe to deal with them or being out of a car for a week, or whatever time it takes them to special order a turbo. . . This is my daily driver.

Thanks for the replies.

Lance
 
Half a quart every 500 miles normal? Public math says that's your whole pan after 3,000 miles.

Should try private math. Six quart capacity and a loss of 0.5 quart every 500 miles equals 6,000 miles when it runs bone dry.

In any case, neither is normal.
 
Should try private math. Six quart capacity and a loss of 0.5 quart every 500 miles equals 6,000 miles when it runs bone dry.

In any case, neither is normal.

Something like that.... (cheers)

Try plugging up your PVC line so it doesn't run into your intake and see if it stops.
 
I'm having the same issue but I'm going through about 1qt every 800-1000 miles. I took it in to Mazda and they swapped the turbo and I'm still losing a qt every 800-1000 miles. The Service personnel at Toms River Mazda tried to tell me that this is normal. I will be taking my car to my original dealer back in FL.
 
I'm having the same issue but I'm going through about 1qt every 800-1000 miles. I took it in to Mazda and they swapped the turbo and I'm still losing a qt every 800-1000 miles. The Service personnel at Toms River Mazda tried to tell me that this is normal. I will be taking my car to my original dealer back in FL.

damn dude still having that issue!
 
lots of car brands are saying a qt. every 1000 mi. is just peachy. be sure you have a good paper trail from the dealer. if your engine goes boom, they might even fix it!!
 
Yeah, I think it's leaking into the turbo (I know this has been discussed ad nauseum all over here). When I take a hard right turn I can SEE it burning oil, but that seems to be the only time you can visually confirm that it's burning oil. I started out running the Royal Purple and then after it started eating that I went to the 5/20 Motorcraft stuff and had the dealer put it in just in case they make an issue of the maintenance being performed by someone else.

It's not leaking anywhere and I always check it in the same spot in my level driveway cold. If I wait about 500 miles it always goes back down to the fill line.

Looks like it's time for a trip to the dealership. I'm knowing that's what a warranty is for but I am loathe to deal with them or being out of a car for a week, or whatever time it takes them to special order a turbo. . . This is my daily driver.

Thanks for the replies.

Lance

Don't use 5w20 on any turbo cars. 5w30 and 10w30 is what you should be using. Using the 20, it could be possible it's just going right through your seals. I have always used 5w30 and had no oil burning issues. I have 40k miles on my ms3 and am going to switch to 10w30 now. 5w20 is only good for economical cars and are not good for performance cars, and are horrible for turbo cars.
 
Your not the only one experiencing this..i am too..i do alot of stop and go driving...but still shouldnt be going thru.a qt at 1000 miles...i dont understand how some are and some are not..i will be taking mine in for and oil change soon so i'll bring it to there attn..i only have 7300 miles on the car..
 
Houston...you guys have a problem. One quart every 500 or even 1000 is not good. At 8k I'm using nothing..and I mean nothing between 3k oil changes and I drive this little bad boy hard.
 
Ford owns controlling shares of Mazda. The cars are still made in Japan. They do share components, but lets not assume we drive a Ford. The tranny is made by GETRAG-Ford, but GETRAG is a European company. The motor was developed by Mazda in partnership with Ford. Ford just uses it, without the turbocharger, in some of their cars and calls it the "Durotec 23". It is not a Ford motor. This is the same concept from the MX-6 and the Ford Probe. They both used Mazda motors also.
 
Last edited:
First run of 2500 miles I had no oil consumption, the oil was still pretty clean when I went in for a first oil change (mazda recommends 2500 miles with turbocharger).

I checked my oil when I came back from the dealer and it was clean and full to the top of the dipstick. Thinking I had 5W-30 like the manual says to use, I carried on my business. I checked the oil again at 3100 miles and my oil is almost all gone already. No leaks, no drips, just all gone. It sits just touching MINIMUM right now after 500 miles, so I checked this thread and then checked my service receipt - THEY PUT IN FRIGGIN 5W20!!! Did they toast my turbocharger? THIS IS WHY I DO MY OWN DAMN OIL CHANGES
 
This is why whenever this happens you need to get a formal letter from your service department stating that they put the wrong oil in your car. They'll be the first ones to toast you on your warranty if they found out you put 5W-20 in the car when it says to use 5W-30.
 

New Threads

Back