2.5L Oil level fluctuation

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2014.5 CX-5 GS FWD 2.5L
Ok, guys I'm at the end of my rope and need some help here. Sorry for the long read, but had to put all the details down.
This issue has gone on for a long time and it's definitely not getting anywhere with Mazda. Dealer or the Canadian help desk.
So I have a 2014 with the 2.5L gasoline engine. Checking the dipstick, the oil level is all over the place.
First off, the level is always checked the same. Parked in my garage, and checked the next morning before it starts. There's no arguement about a level surface and if there was time for all the oil to drain back into the pan.
I've actually kept strict records for the last 2 months.
Driving around town, start & stop, cold starts, etc, over several days, the oil level will slowly creep up the dip stick. If there have been a couple weeks around town, the level will easily be 1/8" above the full hole on the dipstick.
Then when we go for a highway trip, the oil level will drop a good 1/4" when I check the next morning. Drive around town, and the level will slowly creep up again.
It's like around town the level goes up and on extended driving, the level will go down.

This was first noticed at oil change #2. The oil level was a good 1/4" above full. I had the oil tested and it had 12% fuel contamination. It was blacker than black and poured like water. After that the dealer changed the oil 3 times within a month period and eventually changed out the high pressure fuel pump. At first they thought the problem was solved, but here we are 10,000kms later and the same thing is still happening. My coolant is good, so the only thing left is fuel.

I know these DI engines like to over fuel when cold and some contamination is normal, but not this much. And if the dipstick shows that much overfill, I can't see it burning that much fuel off on a highway drive. Frick that much fuel I would expect a small explosion under the hood.
I guess I could solve this by never checking the oil again, and as long as we do mixed city/hwy driving, it should average out by the next oil change.

Like I said, I'm fishing here. The car is at the dealer for other misc service work, but they shrug their shoulders at this oil issue.
So any ideas out there? Do you guys check your oil regularly? Does it stay fairly clean between changes? I'd be curious for you city drivers, check before and after a long road trip.
Or maybe this is pefectly normal for the Skyactive technology??
 
this looks related, but the PCM reprogram only applies to earlier production 2.0L engines.
http://oemdtc.com/10927/check-engin...an-increased-engine-oil-level-2012-2015-mazda

Gasoline is fairly volatile, so when the oil is heated up to high temperatures during your highway drive, the fuel could be evaporating from the oil in the crankcase and going through the PCV system into the combustion chamber where it belongs.

How long are your around town drives?
 
1. Check if the PCV system is correctly connected. The hoses, etc. This was a problem in my friend's car and finally it was identified that at the point where the hose goes back into engine it was slightly loose. The car was NOT CX5.
 
Sounds like fuel dilution is the culprit and probably from short drives. Who and how was the fuel contamination test performed? 12% is bad for sure and the first thing I would do is buy some TECHRON FUEL SYSTEM CLEANER (not the injector cleaner version) and run a full tank of fuel with the cleaner. Change oil if needed and recheck level as you have been and see if it improves. Ed
 
Or maybe this is pefectly normal for the Skyactive technology??

Ha! No, not normal to have 12% fuel dilution in Skyactiv G (or any engine for that matter).

Do you use your remote start a lot? Because an engine at idle doesn't have enough combustion pressure to create a good ring seal. That's why I shun remote starts in favor of pulling out of the driveway or parking lot cold. Idling is not as benign as many people assume. The engine is "happier" with a light to moderate load on it. If you don't have any error codes it may just be due to excessive idling/short trips.
 
+1 as MikwM stated. 2% dilution is consider the normal max for a daily driver in most cases. My CX5 yielded ~ 1-1.5% fuel dilution. Ed
 
Prolonged idling and lower- load periods, low tension piston rings, DI fueling features. Every DI engine will do that with short trips. My wife's CX-5 has been doing this from the get-go. We take the car for a long trip at least once a week, and that helps.
Looking at the fuel dilusion level, no wonder that severe service specifies 4 months between oil changes, at least in Canada.
 
I have a 2014 CX5 and had a strong smell of gas in the oil,and doing short trips most of the time
really concerned me.Sent a sample of oil off and checked ok. I was on a 4 month oil change.
<a href="http://s108.photobucket.com/user/mariner_03/media/Blackstone%20Report.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n1/mariner_03/Blackstone%20Report.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo Blackstone Report.jpg"/></a>
 
As for short trips, the wife does a lot of 10 minute around town drives. This may be for a couple days or a couple weeks before she hits the highway again. Vehicle parked in garage, so I noticed she now starts it up, may idle for a minute and she slowly drive away. Even though the short trips may contribute to this problem, it sort of dumb if you ask me. I have a nice $30k vehicle, oh but can't let it idle, go to the corner store with it, and it doesn't like cold starts. So much for technology.
I'm pretty sure they checked injectors earlier, but I got the feeling the dealer plugs the engine into their diagnostics center and it reads ok. It seems these days, if the computer says its ok, well it must be? I'll ask today what their procedure is on injectors.
Six months back we did a long road trip, 2800 kms, and the oil level did not change, if that matters.
Scheduled oil change #3 I did myself and forgot the sample, but the oil did look ok compared to the time before. I have about 4000 km on this run and want to get another sample.
It's at the dealer for the week to perform a bunch of repairs, and this fuel/oil is on the list.
 
As for short trips, the wife does a lot of 10 minute around town drives. This may be for a couple days or a couple weeks before she hits the highway again. Vehicle parked in garage, so I noticed she now starts it up, may idle for a minute and she slowly drive away. Even though the short trips may contribute to this problem, it sort of dumb if you ask me. I have a nice $30k vehicle, oh but can't let it idle, go to the corner store with it, and it doesn't like cold starts. So much for technology.
I'm pretty sure they checked injectors earlier, but I got the feeling the dealer plugs the engine into their diagnostics center and it reads ok. It seems these days, if the computer says its ok, well it must be? I'll ask today what their procedure is on injectors.
Six months back we did a long road trip, 2800 kms, and the oil level did not change, if that matters.
Scheduled oil change #3 I did myself and forgot the sample, but the oil did look ok compared to the time before. I have about 4000 km on this run and want to get another sample.
It's at the dealer for the week to perform a bunch of repairs, and this fuel/oil is on the list.

Funny you mentioned cold starts. Mine does not like cold starts (below 15F), I feel like it cranks longer than any other vehicles I have had and when it does fire up it sounds like it wants to die (not literally). All of my other vehicles sounded similar but when the temperatures were well below 0F.
 
It's at the dealer for the week to perform a bunch of repairs, and this fuel/oil is on the list.
May be you should ask your dealer to perform an engine compression test for all 4 cylinders.
 
As for short trips, the wife does a lot of 10 minute around town drives. This may be for a couple days or a couple weeks before she hits the highway again. Vehicle parked in garage, so I noticed she now starts it up, may idle for a minute and she slowly drive away. Even though the short trips may contribute to this problem, it sort of dumb if you ask me. I have a nice $30k vehicle, oh but can't let it idle, go to the corner store with it, and it doesn't like cold starts. So much for technology.

I'm not sure I'm following you here. A pre-emissions car from the late '60's-early '70's that was only run on short trips in the middle of winter with plenty of cold idling would likely have worse fuel dilution in the oil. This was a huge problem in the day and, coupled with the larger bearing clearances, explains why many needed new main bearings before 100,000 miles. Newer engines cope better with a bit of fuel dilution (due to smaller bearing clearances) but multiple short trips in very cold weather can still be problematic. I'm not sure what the price of the vehicle has to do with it. Even a $200,000 Rolls Royce is not immune to multiple short trips in cold weather!

Also, the measure of fuel/oil is susceptible to large inaccuracies depending upon the stratification of oil/fuel and at what point in the drain process the sample was obtained. Fuel dilution is only a problem if it shows up in the used oil sample with high metals content. That is what killed the low tech engines before they hit 100,000 miles.
 
Just had my first oil change on a 2016 cx5.

The tech got oil all over the door handle and steering wheel and a little hell raising by me resulted in a no charge oil change. We aren't talking about a single finger print here folks.

So I have no confidence in the work done and my attempts to check oil level have me convinced it is over filled. If it was overfilled, should I get a check engine light code? I hope the answer is yes and I can just ignore what appears to be a high oil level.

Nc
 
Check engine light signals emission - related problems in majority of the cases, so no, you wouldn't get CEL for over - filled oil. But this doesn't mean that it's OK either. Go back and express your concern, as over-filling is not good for the engine.
 
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