After 170,000 trouble free miles, my 2010 Mazda 5 threw a rod!

cburrell

Member
:
2013 CX-5 Touring, 2016 Mazda 6 Sport
After 170,000 trouble free miles, my 2010 Mazda 5 threw a rod, which luckily caused a engine compartment fire, which allowed me to make a claim under my insurer and they total the vehicle out for 3700$. After doing some research on the internet reading various forums, it became apparent that the 2.3 and 2.5 MZR motors in both Ford's and Mazda's have a tendency to burn oil quickly as they age and get a lot of miles on them. I changed the oil myself on the 5 and have been very religious about keeping up with oil changes. The other problem that I found with these motors as they age is that the low level oil sensors plastic housing will fall apart dumping oil everywhere quickly and leading to catastrophic engine failure and the driver won't get an engine oil low light warning because the sensor and the housing is what failed. The biggest problems with those oil sensor failures was in production year 04-09. Regardless, if you have a high mileage Mazda 5 check the oil weekly, if not daily because it could save you a lot of headaches down the road, because for some reason these engines burn oil quickly as they age and roll up high mileage without any visible evidence of smoke, or oil leaks...the Mazda 3 and Ford focus forums are full of info on owners who this has happened to...I think in the end it goes back to crappy engineering on Ford's end with the design of the engine blocks, like always...so glad Mazda is on their own now, Ford really dragged them down in my opinion.
 
Last edited:
So you DIY your oil changes. Dino or synthetic? What were your intervals? How brittle is the housing i.e. did it degrade in the heat, since you know, Arizona is at times much hotter than FL.
 
I have used Amsoil Signature 1 year or 20K since the time I acquired the MZ5 5 years with 40,000 miles on it. I never went the full year or 20k, I usually would change it around 7500 to 10K and always used Purolator oil filters. I didn't have a problem with my sensor blowing out like others have stated was the issue on the 3 and focus forums, but my sensor just failed, that's why I never got a low engine light warning, my mechanic said it was physically still there but that it failed. A test to figure out if it has failed is to put key in ignition and turn car on without cranking and see if all the lights on the dash, including the low engine oil light comes on. If it doesn't you need to replace it. What happened with mine is that my engine was burning a lot of oil, but I wasn't aware because there are no physical signs. The mechanic said they see it a lot with these engines, they burn oil but it is a mystery were it goes because there are no tangible signs until the engine has catastrophic failure. He wasn't shocked or surprised at all by it, said he seen it enough with the 2.3 and 2.5 MZR's when they get old and have high mileage like that...By no way does this sour me toward Mazda's because I put 130,000 trouble free miles on the 5 without any maintenance issues, it has been the most reliable vehicle I've owned which includes several Toyota and Chevy products. I partially blame myself because I feel had I not gotten spoil by its awesome track record of reliability, I would have been more vigilant about checking my oil on a weekly basis instead of every couple weeks like I grew accustom to doing. Had I caught it in time, I have no doubt I could have probably put another 50 to 70K on it easily....oh well it just gave me an excuse to get a CX-5...but it does seem like every time I hear about catastrophic engine failure in Mazda's, it always come back to Ford designs...just like the first gen CX-9's that used the Ford cyclone engines that the smart engineers at Ford decided it would be a brilliant idea to drive the water pump by placing it inside the engine and allowing the chain to drive it, so that when it failed it dumps water into the oil pan, turning the oil into sludge, which case the engine to suffer a catastrophic failure... not to mention that if it does go bad and you just happen to catch it in time before it does damage to engine, it cost 1200 to 1700 to replace because they have to lift the engine out of the car to change the water pump...so glad Mazda is designing 100% of their products now.
 
Last edited:
the "MZR" *cough*duratech*cough* motors have been known to burn oil on their "recommended" 5W20 since the day they came out... a brand new motor off the showroom would burn half a quart of oil by the time you hit the first 3000 miles... this is pretty common knowledge

the unspoken secret was to stop using the 5W20 piss and switch to at least 5W30 European Mazda dealers used which took care of this problem... there were plenty of arguments over this how the engine clearances were "tight" and it can't "pump thicker oil", which are all false... if it was "tight", it wouldn't have burned oil... if it couldn't pump thicker oil, the engines running thicker oil in Europe, Australia, and rest of the world would've blown up long ago... as a matter of fact, aussies still stubbornly put in 15W50 or something goopy into their engines when that's completely unnecessary in this day and age... 0W40 is as much as you need in a modern engine.... Mazda USA "recommended" 5W20 because that's what they put into their test motors for EPA testing, and the law requires them to specify/recommend the same stuff that was in the test motor.... this is also one of several reasons that caused so many headaches with the RX-8

if you never caught wind of this little secret and used amsoil 5W20, or even unicorn oil at 5W20, it would've burned no matter what
and the conspiracy theory is: "planned obsolescence"
 
Last edited:
The funny thing is I ran fully synethic 5W-20 for 5 years in my 2.3 with very minimal oil burn...from what my mechanic and everything I've read says is the age of the motor and the high mileage...mechanic at the Mazda dealership I talked to said he had a customer who routinely brought their Mazda 3 to the dealership every 3k to 5k for oil changes, but the engine threw a rod at 215k...he said he has seen then burn a quart off in a couple days when they start rolling up the high mileage...I think everyone was aware that the MZR's burned a little oil from the start, that's no big deal, but to go from that to burning a quart in a couple of days is an extreme.
 
they don't burn oil when you used 30 weight oil, from when new to high mileage
 
Sorry to hear about the engine failure! I check the oil weekly on ours. Appreciate the insight---it will help the rest of us keep our 5s on the road.
 
I have used Amsoil Signature 1 year or 20K since the time I acquired the MZ5 5 years with 40,000 miles on it. I never went the full year or 20k, I usually would change it around 7500 to 10K and always used Purolator oil filters. I didn't have a problem with my sensor blowing out like others have stated was the issue on the 3 and focus forums, but my sensor just failed, that's why I never got a low engine light warning, my mechanic said it was physically still there but that it failed. A test to figure out if it has failed is to put key in ignition and turn car on without cranking and see if all the lights on the dash, including the low engine oil light comes on. If it doesn't you need to replace it. What happened with mine is that my engine was burning a lot of oil, but I wasn't aware because there are no physical signs. The mechanic said they see it a lot with these engines, they burn oil but it is a mystery were it goes because there are no tangible signs until the engine has catastrophic failure. He wasn't shocked or surprised at all by it, said he seen it enough with the 2.3 and 2.5 MZR's when they get old and have high mileage like that...By no way does this sour me toward Mazda's because I put 130,000 trouble free miles on the 5 without any maintenance issues , it has been the most reliable vehicle I've owned which includes several Toyota and Chevy products. I partially blame myself because I feel had I not gotten spoil by its awesome track record of reliability, I would have been more vigilant about checking my oil on a weekly basis instead of every couple weeks like I grew accustom to doing. Had I caught it in time, I have no doubt I could have probably put another 50 to 70K on it easily....
Sorry to hear about the problem. Noticed you said 130K trouble free miles but threw the rod at 170K. Was this a typo or did you get signs of something going bad in the last 40K; rough idling, lower power, poor mpg/drivability, emissions issues (CAT), something? I think part of the problem was the long oil change intervals (7.5-10K) where if something was amiss without obvious CEL, theres a mileage for things to get worst until its too late. A key take away is high mileage owner should NOT be using long life oils and change it more frequently. Stick with dino or semi syn, its an old/beater car anyway.


the "MZR" *cough*duratech*cough* motors have been known to burn oil on their "recommended" 5W20 since the day they came out... a brand new motor off the showroom would burn half a quart of oil by the time you hit the first 3000 miles... this is pretty common knowledge

the unspoken secret was to stop using the 5W20 piss and switch to at least 5W30 European Mazda dealers used which took care of this problem... there were plenty of arguments over this how the engine clearances were "tight" and it can't "pump thicker oil", which are all false... if it was "tight", it wouldn't have burned oil... if it couldn't pump thicker oil, the engines running thicker oil in Europe, Australia, and rest of the world would've blown up long ago... as a matter of fact, aussies still stubbornly put in 15W50 or something goopy into their engines when that's completely unnecessary in this day and age... 0W40 is as much as you need in a modern engine.... Mazda USA "recommended" 5W20 because that's what they put into their test motors for EPA testing, and the law requires them to specify/recommend the same stuff that was in the test motor.... this is also one of several reasons that caused so many headaches with the RX-8

if you never caught wind of this little secret and used amsoil 5W20, or even unicorn oil at 5W20, it would've burned no matter what
and the conspiracy theory is: "planned obsolescence"
What is the tight engine clearance referring too: piston rings, intake/exhaust valves, cam lobes? Are you saying the oil is burning in the engine? If so, wouldnt this foul the CAT/O2 sensors?

My 08 with 103K burns (est.) < 1/4 quart every 5K OCI. I use Motorcraft 5-20, sometimes switching to 5-20 synthetic thats on sale. If indeed the 20-weight oil is too thin at hot operating temp, I would switch to 30. The mid-Atlantic gets both very hot summers and very cold winters. Parts of Australia have extremely hot climates so I can image the W (winter) weight rating means nothing to them so using 15W50 is not out of the questions but a very bad idea in the US (generally). Ive read that most manufacturers recommend 5-20 (peddling 0-20) mainly b/c of MPG testing; MPG and HP sells cars.
 
I'm also interested in this suggestion of clearance and using 30 weight oil. To my knowledge the 2.3 and 2.5 aren't used outside of the NA market, so you can't compare oil weights for other motors in other countries to these. I don't have an issue of oil consumption on my 12 with 105k miles either.
 
Silentnoise713...If you noticed I said I acquired the 5 with right around 40K on it...so when I stated later in the paragraph that I put 130,000 trouble free miles on it, I was referring to the miles I personally had put on it...
 
In the second gen Mazda 5 owners manual with the 2.5 MZR's the manual recommended using fully synthetic 0W-20 and changing every 5k to 7.5K. All 2012 and up Mazda 5's in the US has the listed oil on the motor as 0W-20...so I doubt the weight is that big of deal.
 
I will say it is a shame that Mazda axed the 5 because they could have really had a winner had they went full skyactiv on it and build a third generation on the Mazda 6 platform...My wife has a 2016 Mazda 6, and I just bought a 2013 CX-5 to replace the 5, and the level of refinement, upscale feel, and quality of materials in the interior of both those vehicles blows not just the 5 out of the water, but every Mazda product pre 2012 divorce from Ford...it really is a shame, I would have loved to see how a 100% Mazda engineered skyactiv 5 would have been like...but there is a rawness to the 5 that just made it a blast to drive, probably the funnest slow car I've ever driven as a daily driver.
 
Last edited:
Silentnoise713...If you noticed I said I acquired the 5 with right around 40K on it...so when I stated later in the paragraph that I put 130,000 trouble free miles on it, I was referring to the miles I personally had put on it...
Thanks for clarifying. Was hoping to hear there was some warning/indicator before a catastrophic failure like that. Confession: I never check my oil :p.
 
I'm at about 178k and it still doesn't burn oil and the oil light comes on at start up. Thanks for the heads up on this, as it will make me check the oil more frequently. I'm hoping to get another 10k out of mine or so. Its been fairly trouble free and easy on the wallet to own. The only non-maintenance items that I've replaced are the brake master/ABS pump(I think it was due to the dealer not changing the brake fluid, as there is no Mazda interval), a transmission mount, sway bar bushings, and a thermostat. Except for the tires, which seem to be about 40-45k replacement items, everything(shocks/struts, brakes) last longer than any vehicle I've owned. I was hoping for the diesel skyactive motor with a third gen update as well. Its a great vehicle for a small family.
 
Sorry to read about catastrophic damage, wow. Your post was helpful, though, to encourage me to check the oil level on my 5. It's new to me, bought with 72k miles on the clock.

I've used 7500 miles intervals on both my former 2010 Sport, and now this one. Checking my oil level, at 6500 miles on this change, I was down about 1/2 quart. So mine uses some, not drastic. I'll re-form the habit of checking it more frequently!
 
Sorry to hear about the loss of the engine and the entire 5.

I hardly ever see 0w20 or 0w30 around where I live. The shelves are full of 5w20 and 5w30. I usually just use 5w30 dino oil year round and change it every 5000 miles.

Of course, I live near the Gulf coast, so that has something to do with it.
 
what can one do instead of changing to 5w-30? Is there anything one can do? I'll check mine regularly now. I noticed mine burns about 1/2 - 1 quart every 6000 miles.
 
Back