Normal oil consumption for a P5

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davemsc

Member
:
mazda protege5
Hey all,

Got a used P5 (210,000KM), 5 speed. It's been fairly cold this last week, and I went to check the oil and it's about a 3rd of the way up from the MIN mark between the MIN and MAX. Last time I checked, which was only about 2 weeks ago and maybe 600km, it was about 3/4 to the MAX.

Does anyone know how much oil is between the MIN and MAX marks? A litre maybe?

Anyway, I don't see a leak, and I don't see a puff of blue smoke on start up.

Anywhere I can quickly check? The pcv valve never looked straight or on tight to me, but apparently others think that as well here so that might be normal?

Any thoughts? This is way too much oil loss for my liking.

OH, and I'm using castrol edge syntec 5w-30. Is it worth switching to a high mileage oil?

Thanks!
 
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I would fill it to the top (it is one quart between the marks) and just continue to monitor it...

(We only hold four quarts and the oil pick up can starve on hard cornering - so keep her full, eh?)

It may not be a bad idea to add a can of Restore[tm] at the next oil change. I have had good success with it (if the loss isn't too bad yet).
 
mine has 158,500 miles and does not use or leak a drop of oil, oil consumption or loss is not a normal thing for any car.
 
kms1990 said:
mine has 158,500 miles and does not use or leak a drop of oil, oil consumption or loss is not a normal thing for any car.
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Yeah, but you can get by for decades just keeping it filled. Worse thing is gonna be carboning up your egr & cat sooner than if it didn't burn any. Our rich tunes will do that anyway, just takes longer. Keep driving until rebuild is convenient.
 
i12drivemyMP5 said:
Yeah, but you can get by for decades just keeping it filled. Worse thing is gonna be carboning up your egr & cat sooner than if it didn't burn any. Our rich tunes will do that anyway, just takes longer. Keep driving until rebuild is convenient.
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i change it regularly
 
pcb said:
Some of our P-5's burn so much oil you don't need to change it,...
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not quite on mine but might be moving towards it a bit. Depends on how I drive it, so makes me drive it nicer, lol...............
 
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weird mines never even hinted at starting to burn it, no smell, no smoke in exhaust even at startup no leaks and oil comes out obviously used but one can tell the internals are clean. the dipstick reading never moves i guess using castrol syntec has really helped mine its been using castrol its whole life and went from conventional to synthetic a few years ago when my dad started having me do the oil changes (as syntec is all i use) and its quiet and smooth idles great and gets 28ish mpg average in 70/30ish city/highway driving. i run seafoam thru the vacuum line and gas every oil change and do all regular maintenance. guess its luck of the draw and previous owner treatment if bought used (my dad owned this one since 05 with 30,000 miles on it.) so i know it was maintained well.
 
kms1990 said:
weird mines never even hinted at starting to burn it, no smell, no smoke in exhaust even at startup no leaks and oil comes out obviously used but one can tell the internals are clean. the dipstick reading never moves i guess using castrol syntec has really helped mine its been using castrol its whole life and went from conventional to synthetic a few years ago when my dad started having me do the oil changes (as syntec is all i use) and its quiet and smooth idles great and gets 28ish mpg average in 70/30ish city/highway driving. i run seafoam thru the vacuum line and gas every oil change and do all regular maintenance. guess its luck of the draw and previous owner treatment if bought used (my dad owned this one since 05 with 30,000 miles on it.) so i know it was maintained well.
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Its important to note that you live in a warmer climate, and these are not expensive cars. According to some SAE article I read somewhere, ~80% of engine wear happens when the engine is cold, which means that people who don't let their car idle on a cold start or drive it hard when the engine just started is treating it poorly. Over the years, this shows significant wear on the engine especially in cold climates, but why should they care, for the price they paid, if it lasts them 5 years they will be happy. My car was treated poorly by the last owner, goes to show why he sold it to me for $500. You can never tell that there was anything wrong with my car right off the bat, starts and runs well, but my compression readings and oil burning is unacceptable, to some people at least.
 
the_big_dill your correct but there are other things that hot climates eat up (like rubber seals) that can cause leaks in any car. yet this car has held up very well and does not have any leaks burning or major mechanical issues. hell my sister drove her 98 mazda 626 with the 2.0 13 miles overheating (shes kinda not car savvy as you might could tell) and all we had to do was fix the leak tat was causing the issue in the first place. she drove it 3 times about 4 miles overheating before that and somehow did not blow the headgasket or seize up the engine. the mazda 2.0s are very tough.
 
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pcb said:
It's LITERS !!! We Don't No A Quart From A Nickle,.. (Neither Do the Japanese (Who Built ALL P5'S ))
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I stand corrected!

(I did ponder the Liter vs. Quart as I typed it... But I always used four quarts (and the Mazda 626/V6 (bigger) filter...)
 
its funny because a quart and a liter are very close in terms of amount of liquid. 1 Liter = 1.05668821 Quarts [Fluid, US] so its technically a liter or a quart between the low and full line. .05 difference will not be hardly perceivable to a human eye
 
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The_big_dill said:
Its important to note that you live in a warmer climate, and these are not expensive cars. According to some SAE article I read somewhere, ~80% of engine wear happens when the engine is cold, which means that people who don't let their car idle on a cold start or drive it hard when the engine just started is treating it poorly. Over the years, this shows significant wear on the engine especially in cold climates, but why should they care, for the price they paid, if it lasts them 5 years they will be happy. My car was treated poorly by the last owner, goes to show why he sold it to me for $500. You can never tell that there was anything wrong with my car right off the bat, starts and runs well, but my compression readings and oil burning is unacceptable, to some people at least.
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beside that most people do not used their garage to park their cars. this also does not help, the fluctuation of temp also plays a big role in speeding up the wear and tear of vehicle. so if you got a garage- use it for the intended purpose.
 
i had a nissan sentra go well over 400,000 sold still running never garaged its entire life (asked original owner who sold it to me at 276,000 miles) and never leaked or burned anything until about a year before i sold it. it started leaking a drop every now and then from the oil pan. it depends on maintenance and repair intervals as well.
 
Mine made it 2 years burning a quart every 600 or so miles. Played with iton a back road and spun a bearing and still drove it 3 weeks before it chucked a rod
 
P-Funk! said:
I stand corrected!

(I did ponder the Liter vs. Quart as I typed it... But I always used four quarts (and the Mazda 626/V6 (bigger) filter...)
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kms1990 said:
its funny because a quart and a liter are very close in terms of amount of liquid. 1 Liter = 1.05668821 Quarts [Fluid, US] so its technically a liter or a quart between the low and full line. .05 difference will not be hardly perceivable to a human eye
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I was just being a smart ass,... but our old system used England's gallon which makes a bigger difference. All three are very close. Even my keyboard wants to spell it litre. I think that's our French influence.

oillevel_zpseb4141ae.jpg
 
thats funny my fluid guide in the owners manual says 3.7 US quarts for oil on the 2.0
 
Mine has had Castrol Syntec for the past 17k miles (after the rebuild, with scored cylinders) and goes from H to L on the dipstick every 2-3 tanks (600-900 miles, depending)

I've come to accept that this will be how it is until I buy another car. I have picked up a 93 Escort GT that was treated poorly by the previous owner (as far as I can tell) and I will be monitoring oil consumption in that also. Curious to see how it stacks up against my P5.

I'm the 5th owner of the P5, so lord knows how the previous owners took care of it. Owner before me was a high school girl. When I bought it, if I left it for a few days and started it up, blue smoke galore. After the rebuild, far less smoke. Now I can only smell it (might be my knackered primary catalytic converter flange), but I smell it often now. Will be remedying that soon, hopefully.
 
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