Oil a quart low... where did it go?

[zoom-zoomhatch]

I was driving my beloved speed and after arriving at the house and being to compulsive person that I am I decided to check my oil. It was hardly showing on the dipstick right at the min. line. I let it sit overnight and checked it again and the same result with it barely showing on the stick at all. I haven't noticed any oil puddles under my car(not that I've been looking until now) and it hasen't been smoking or anything that I've noticed. Had my oil changed on the regular date and have put about 1000 miles on the car since the last oil change. Mods are intake, cp-e tbe, top mount.

 

[dkswim]

who changed your oil? the regular 3 uses 1qt less.

 

[ericrapp]

Check the dipstick twice. I do not know why but, when I have checked the oil, the first pull of the dipstick shows quite low. But the second is always to the line weird. But also the Mazdaspeed has more oil capacity than the 3, I hear.

 

[Shane5425]

prolly burned it, do you have a the dp with the cat in it? pull the dp back a bit and look behind the turbo, see if you have any oil residue..

 

[NYSP33D3]

Our car tends to eat oil.. Check your oil on a weekly basis. I still havent figured out why but it does. 4 and half quarts of 5w- 30 should do it.. Mobil 1 syntech

 

[dkswim]

6 qts for speed

 

[bykeryder4life]

yeah 4 and a half quarts will do it alright, blow the engine that is. 6 quarts is the lucky number. I am usually losing about 3/4 quart by the time i change oil every 3k.

 

[wisniaPl]

yeah 4 and a half quarts will do it alright, blow the engine that is. 6 quarts is the lucky number. I am usually losing about 3/4 quart by the time i change oil every 3k.

wtf is it rotary?? no it shouldnt burn oil.....every time Im in on this forum im more disapointed....:mad:

 

[smakdown61]

I've got 7k miles on my 08 ms3 and not once have I had to add oil. I've done 2 oil changes already and its taken the same amount every time.

 

[vodfan]

I had this happen after my first oil change... I kept losing a bit of oil here and there by the time it came for my 2nd change. As soon as the guy put it up on the lift he saw that there were a few drips near the oil drain plug.. The problem was that whoever changed the oil at the dealership the first time never replaced the plug gasket which (according to him) is only good for one use. Since then I haven't had a problem at all (haven't gone back to the dealer for changes since the first time).

So, not sure if that's your problem, but it's worth checking into.

 

[speed858]

Yeah I wouldn't trust my car in the hands of those shotty mechanics or even the dealers. The best way to make sure something is done right is research it yourself and do it!

 

[zoom-zoomhatch]

I've never before had it do it before, I had it changed at my local mazda stealership as I tend to try to do. The guy gave me some load about how there's no way to check how much oil they put in it though I'm sure when they give you a reciept at other places it says how much oil was used. Also on an entirely different note... I had a tire that wouldn't hold air pressure so I took the car to discount tire where I got my tires from incase it just needed to be patched or replaced and they said my tpms was leaking and then the dealership refused to fix that and said they broke it.

 

[ericrapp]

I did my first break in oil changes at dealership and they were underfilling! Now I go to my buddies instant oil change with my own oil. Checks out fine every time. no oil loss here. Sorry your Mazda reps are so crappy. Could you try another?

 

[matsuda]

Check the dipstick twice. I do not know why but, when I have checked the oil, the first pull of the dipstick shows quite low. But the second is always to the the line weird.

Think about it. There is simple physics involved.
Because of this phenomenon, many people get improper oil level readings.

 

[zoom-zoomhatch]

There is only one here in my town, thinking about just letting the nissan dealership do them for me as that would very well count as the best service I may ever have gotten at any service department ever.

 

[ericrapp]

Of course I have

Think about it. There is simple physics involved.
Because of this phenomenon, many people get improper oil level readings.

I most certainly have it under consideration. Thank you for your response matsuda. Would you help us understand this phenomenon caused by physics please

 

[zoom-zoomhatch]

Well I've been checking my oil level pretty religiously over the past month and it's still sitting at full. So considering this it's fair to say that since I didn't check it last time I had it done till I checked it that day I may have put a good 3k miles on my car with that little oil in it. Just worried the dealership will try to deny fault later on if something ends up failing do to this and not want to fix anything, that would end up being really expensive. So what to do...

 

[oaklandopen]

the user manual should say something about what the measurement is between lines on the dipstick (ie the difference between low line and full line is 1 qt)

also, if the car is brand new it may eat more oil than normal due to the internals not being fully seated together yet. the break-in period should handle that.

there would also be a big difference in the way the oil looks if it were eating it or simply leaking it from the drain plug. if you're engine is eating oil than you could probably have major blowby, and your oil will break down faster. if it's just a drip than the oil will have the normal wear apperance

 

[TonyMS3]

i've never had to add a drop of oil between changes (5000 miles). It's an extremely tight motor... miles ahead of what I traded in on it, a GMC pickup.

 

[matsuda]

I most certainly have it under consideration. Thank you for your response matsuda. Would you help us understand this phenomenon caused by physics please

Oops... Sorry for the late response.

It is similar to putting a straw in a glass of water with your finger over the top end. Substitute the dipstick "tube" for the straw and the end of the dipstick for your finger.

What I do is pull the dipstick up a few inches, wait about 10 seconds, push the dipstick back down, and then check the oil level.