tucker

Hello everyone,

I need some opinions.

I have an '06 Shinka. My car received the recall for the ECU update (where Mazda claims you need to put a quart of oil in every 700 miles [according to my dealership]).

My scenario is this: Last Wednesday, I hit that 700 mile mark and I put a quart of oil in (this makes the third one since my last oil change). After I did this, I started the car and after it warmed up, the clutch is shaky when trying to get into first gear. The stick also shakes much more than normal. I took the car into the dealership on Friday, they had it all day and they tell me they can't figure it out and they will have a guy take a look at it on the 25th, but since there haven't been any errors thrown, it should be safe to drive. I don't want to wait that long, and I'm skeptical to drive it.

My question is this: Is it possible that the burn-off rate of the oil is more than 1 qt per 700 miles? If so, this means that I have more oil in my car than I should. If this is the case, could too much oil be producing the symptoms that I have described above? And, what kind of damange could I be facing after approximately 70 miles of driving since this has happened? Blown seals?

I haven't noticed excessive smoke from my exhaust, however I know that may not mean much.

I apologize if this is a repost, however I did search before posting.

I appreciate any and all responses.

Thanks

Mazurfer

I really hope you aren't just adding 1 quart of oil every 700 miles without checking the level. If so.............STOP.
I can't tell from your post, but it seems as if you ain't even checking the level, just dumping some in. Too much oil can be a real mess and won't do the car any good either. I hope you just didn't put that info in this post????????


And..... you say "My question is this: Is it possible that the burn-off rate of the oil is more than 1 qt per 700 miles? If so, this means that I have more oil in my car than I should. If this is the case, could too much oil be producing the symptoms that I have described above? And, what kind of damange could I be facing after approximately 70 miles of driving since this has happened? Blown seals?"

Yes, you can burn more that 1 qt in 700 miles, but you question is backwards. If you were using more than 1 qt per 700 miles, then you'd might have too little oil. If you weren't using 1 qt in 700 miles and dumping a qt in, then you have overfilled.

Raptor75

What kind of driving are you doing? Mine has gotten as low as 600 and as high as 1000 but I am almost 100% city.

1.3L

How many miles do you have on your car? I noticed that as my 8 got more miles on the odometer, the oil consumption gradually decreased (very gradually). At 12,000 miles I only have to add a little oil once between 3000 mile interval oil changes. When I got the car (new), I was topping off the oil several times between oil changes. Also, when the car was brand new I would occasional get a whiff of burned oil as pulled into my garage. That rarely, if ever, happens now.

1.3L

tucker

Thanks for the info. But my question was correct. I did check the dipstick before the first two top-offs, but the last one I was in a hurry and forgot

My point was if the burnoff rate is slower than 1 qt per 700 miles, the oil is building up. I do have too much oil in my car.

I guess the only thing I can do before taking it to the dealer on the 25th would be to drain it to the correct amount?

tucker

I babied the car until about 10,000 miles. Now I'm at 12,000 and I'm getting the RPMs up to around 6 or 7k before shift.

I also am 100% city. I don't normally make it past 3rd gear.

Mazurfer

If it's too high, then I would drain some. "Yes", it can burn less than 1 qt in 700 miles.

tucker

Do you think that too much oil would produce the symptoms that I described, or is it possible that I have a different problem? I'm just taking a guess that this is the problem because the dealership could not figure it out.

CosmosMpower

I've never burned a quart in under 1000, it's more like 1 quart every 3000 for me. You probably have 10-12 quarts in there (system holds 8 with both oil coolers if you're a MT) if you're adding one every 700 miles.

1.3L

You haven't mentioned what the dipstick actually reads. If it's low, add oil. If it's too high, drain some out and find another servicer. I fail to understand why you are wound up in "burnoff rate" per 700 miles. Who arrived at that equation? Just add oil as required.

1.3L

Raptor75

Your usage sounds pretty much like my own. I have spoken to Mazda about this but they don't seem really ready to do anything. I can't say if this is normal or not, at first I thought it was very abnormal but now I am not so sure. I feel the amount of oil inject is probably tied into the amount of fuel you burn, in my case we are looking at 12.5 mpg (this mileage in and of it self maybe a problem. ) As of right now I am monitoring my oil consumption and waiting a bit to see how it develops over the next year. Oil is cheap and I would rather have the engine over oiled then under oiled.

tucker

Actually, I believe you have failed to read and understand what I am saying. Yes, I did mention that there was too much.

As I said in my original post, I was told after an ECU update that I was to add 1 quart of oil PER 700 miles because 1 quart would be burned within that time. My whole theory (which I have proven to be correct, but more on than in a minute) was that Mazda (or my serviceman) was incorrect and the "burnoff rate" is LESS THAN 700 miles per quart thus causing a buildup of oil.

Also, as I mentioned, at the last 700 mile mark I was in a hurry and failed to check the dipstick.

And for my update... I called the service department yesterday to tell them my theory and see what they thought. I was told that this would not cause the problem. I told them that I had made a mistake and forgot to check the dipstick and I do in fact, have too much oil. They told me to bring it by today and they would change the oil for me, however they were certain this would not fix the problem.

So... this morning, I took it in and they changed the oil and VOILA... the car is back to normal.

Now, I do accept partial responsibility for this as I did not check the dipstick the last time. However, I do put more responsibility on Mazda for telling me to fill it every 700 miles. Even though I knew, they failed to tell me to actually monitor my usage (hey... I'm a software developer, not a mechanic... they can't assume that I know this stuff). Also, one thing that really ticks me off is that they had this thing ALL DAY Friday, and failed to notice that I had too much oil. My theory on this is that they looked for error codes, and since they didn't find any, they didn't have a cause to cross reference.

Socket7

A software dev huh. I see the problem now.

Whoever told you that a renesis will burn a quart of oil in 700 miles either has never owned one, or had a bad engine. I suspect his intent was to give you some truthiness to scare you into checking the oil on the regular basis, to keep you from getting lazy and letting it run out.

You can estimate how much oil an engine will burn by examining the CAD drawings of it. You can even put 10 engines together and run tests to find the mean oil consumption rate of the renesis, but the truth is this.

Every engine will burn a different amount of oil. The ONLY accurate measurement of the rate of oil consumption for your Renesis is to check the dipstick regularly. Once you have established a baseline of what YOUR Renesis burns in 700 miles, you can determine if something is wrong by measuring the variation of oil use from your individual baseline.

I've got almost 2000 miles on my Renesis, and I've yet to use a full quart of oil. I check it and top off as needed during my weekly car wash.

Trust in your dipstick and play with it regularly.

Raptor75

Each mark on the dip stick is about .5 quarts, never add oil with out checking the dip stick.

Mazurfer

That's because you are in software!
I do both software and hardware!
Okay, so I'm glad the car is back to normal and I feel a little vindicated because I believe I did read your post right and that you hadn't checked it via the dip stick and just added at least one quart(as instructed by meatheads at the dealership) at least at one 700 mile point.
Now.....having said all that crap! You should check the oil(via the dipstick) about every two fill-ups. You really don't have to add any at any particular time, but I usually don't let it get more than about 1/2 quart down before I top it off. I'm assuming you know to check it after the car has been sitting for awhile(to let it drain back into the pan) and that you know how much to add given the marks on the dipstick. Anyway, without the whole story(which you may not have mentioned to them), it would have been one of the last things I checked because I believe you said "you added a quart at 700 miles", and not that "you checked it, were a quart low, and then added it"..........there is a difference.


Okay.....of those three times you added oil.........two times you did check the dipstick and we have to assume it needed 1 qt(however unlikely). The last time you didn't check it and added a quart, so we know you were at least 1 quart over filled, and I'll bet you were probably over two quarts too much. If they drained it, did they happen to tell you?

Lesson.............When in doubt, don't listen to service tech(unless you find a very good one).


Dave

astrozoom

32000 miles with mixed highway/city as my driving, and I really never add any oil between 3000 mile oil changes, and I check it every other fill-up because my 8 generally has not burned enough between every time I get gas to warrant checking it after every fill-up.

Mazurfer

His problem is solved guys/gals, we can let this thread lie.
He had too much oil in his car and it caused it to run like crap. EOS------End Of Story

mysql101

oil burn rate is based on driving conditions. if you baby it, it will burn very little oil. If you track it, you'll burn a lot of oil. Most people get 3000 miles per quart of oil.

When your dip stick is on the low marker, you're down about a quart.

or you can install the sohn adapter, and not have to worry about burning engine oil (my preferred method)

Razz1

700 miles / quart is absurd for street driving. The dealer meant to tell you to check it every 700 miles not add!

I can go from 1500 miles plus to almost a Quart on race day!