necrogami

I have a 2010 GT with now 11000 miles on it.

I purchased the car in may with 3200 miles.

Since i bought it. It has consisitantly used about 1 quart per 600 miles.

I was told by my local dealership (On my first oil change at 6000 miles) that they will use more then average during the first 15000 miles .. i said fine.

So i had my oil changed for the second time at 10102 miles.
At 10875 Miles i had my low oil light come on on a trip home. I was furious.

2 Fillups ago i checked it and it was a half quart low. I said ok and went on.

But yeah .. my dealership is getting this car tomorrow... this is insane.

necrogami

I also wanted to note i've never seen the car smoke, Or smell any burnt oil.

I've also never noticed any oil pools under the car so i have no idea whats happenning.

xexok

Did you check your oil level before you left the dealer or when you got home? Never trust them to do the job right. When it was half a quart low that was after the oil change right, did you top it off at all between that and the next 2 fill ups? If you checked your oil at the gas station without giving it some time to rest then the level should appear higher than it actually is so you may have been lower than that half a quart.


How do you drive the car? The harder you drive it the more oil you will use. Keep a bottle of oil in the car somewhere, I prefer the center divider in the trunk.

ASH8

OP, You know Rotaries are meant to use engine oil..it is not a fault or defect.

Frankly I would not let any Dealership touch my car unless you REALLY have to.

I am also wondering 'if' you have your 'oil checking/filling' regime set up correctly.

When checking it is a MUST to stick to the exact same procedure every time.

This is what I do...I have a relatively flat garage floor.

Mazda asks you to check oil 5 minutes after hot engine turn off and other things.

I prefer to check the next morning or when engine is stone cold.

Therefore a FULL Mazda RENESIS Engine with the correct level/amount of OIL is when it is about 4-5 mm (1/4 inch) BELOW the F or FULL mark on Dipstick.

Doing it this way there is no ambiguity, every 1/4 of an inch on dip stick is about half a litre or half a quart.

Anyway, stick to the exact same system and then see what your oil use is...
Your Mazda Dealer will do a similar test...that is all they really can do.

..I have to agree with 'xEXOK'.

I would also suggest "if" you are driving RX-8 hard , like constant high RPM's/Gear changing will result in more Oil use.

Bladecutter

[quote=necrogami;4322700]I have a 2010 GT with now 11000 miles on it.

I purchased the car in may with 3200 miles.

Since i bought it. It has consistently used about 1 quart per 600 miles.

I was told by my local dealership (On my first oil change at 6000 miles) that they will use more then average during the first 15000 miles .. i said fine.[\quote]

This is perfectly normal oil consumption on the RX-8 motor.
You should read your owners manual.

The engine injects oil into the combustion chamber in order to lubricate the apex seals, which means that the engine will lose oil over time. The harder you drive your car, the more oil it uses in the span of 1k miles.

Go read the New Owners Thread.
You should have done that before buying the car, but its too late for that now.

You should be furious.
You should be changing your oil every 5k miles instead of every 7500 miles.
Personally, I would recommend sooner, closer to 3k miles, but that's up to you.

BC.

necrogami

Yes i know. But from what i've read with 900 of 1000 miles being highway averaging about 65~70 i should not be burning a quart of oil every 350~ miles.

The problem i have is my car sits outside on a sideways slope so this is out of the question. I might beable to do it at work.


I do drive a bit hard but 90% of my driving is highway i drive 30 miles 1 way to work and i travel quite a bit outside of the city.

Bladecutter

Depends.
Are you keeping the rpms at 9k the whole 30 miles each way?

Okay, every 350 miles sucking a quart down is different than 1 quart every 600 miles.

You need to get your dealer to perform a couple tests on your car to determine if it truly is an issue.

First off, a compression test and a cooling system test to see if you have an internal leak that is easily identified. Also have them look over the injection lines and pump to make sure one of them hasn't sprung a leak that you haven't seen yet.

After that, you need to get them to admit to what rate of oil consumption is too much for the RX-8, and have them perform an oil consumption test.

What happens is they either do a full oil change on your car, or they top up the oil to the top of the full mark, and they place tamper proof stickers on the oil filler, the oil filter, the dipstick, and the oil drain plug. Then they tell you to drive the car either for x miles, or x period of time, being it back to them, and they check the oil level to see if your car burned too much oil.

If you have a free afternoon, just leave their shop, get on the highway, drive 150 miles away, then 150 miles back, and then have them check the level, all in the same day.

BC.

ASH8

Well, I guess you have to think a little more about it.

How about you check your oil at work (park in a flat area) before you come home, stone cold FULL mark is about 4-5mm BELOW actual F on dip stick.
So get that level correct first, if oil is above that mark (when Cold) then you have too much oil in sump pan.

Assuming you now have got to the correct oil level at work...then...

Drive home, park car where you normally do, next morning or when cold engine compare your readings with what it was at work...this is now where your sump pan is full on dip stick when parked at home on a slope...maintain your car to this level and check fill at same spot/location...

ASH8

WHY are you giving advice to get cooling system and compression checked when it is oil related and a 2010..owner says it does not blow out any smoke or have performance issues...I have no idea.

And to suggest to get dealer to "look over injection lines and pump", WHY?, you can not just easily "look over" injection lines and pumps as you can not see them....do you own a Series 2?..You have to remove UIM to see the two EMOP's...There have been no issues with EMOP's on Series 2's.....that is not the problem I see it.

Yes, the dealer will perform an oil consumption test/check first and nothing else.

The issue as I see it is for this owner to start a regime of 'correct' oil level checking first, then if he believes he is using too much oil then go to a dealer.

ASH8

IMO..If he is a hard driver then oil consumption will be higher....that is totally normal.

800 miles of hard (high RPM) driving/gear changing and oil light comes on?..meh...I am almost going to call that normal too...all depends @ this oil change was the correct amount of new oil added.?...not enough oil and oil level warning light will come on sooner than it should.

3 quarts is just under 3 litres...in 1000 miles..it is too much for 'normal' driving.

necrogami

Most of this was open highway driving. From Indianapolis to chicago and back and a few other places around the state. No heavy traffic no WOT for long periods of time (Just the occasional getting around someone so i don't get cut off from slower traffic)

Bladecutter

Then go to your dealer, and make them perform an oil consumption test on your car.

BC.

xexok

I still think they just did not fill it enough. *just theory beyond here*If he went in there and was 1 quart low and they changed his oil and filled him up and they put in only say 4 quarts or 4.5 he would have been around 1.5-2qt low when leaving. It also really depends on how the dealer does the oil, if they drain it or if they vacuum it out.

ASH8

/\ That is what I beleive...

However OP, Until You start a regular and correct Oil Level and top off method, WE are wasting our time....I have told you what to do, If you don't want to do it and actually let us know then how can you expect correct information?..just posting it uses 3 quarts in 1000 miles means nothing, was the correct amount of new oil put in 'whoever' did the oil change in the first case?

There are basically only two things that control engine oil use, apart from a visible/dripping/weeping oil leak.

1. EMOP's are injecting too much oil...a remote possibility, but I highly doubt that as they are load/rpm/electric/ PCM controlled.
2. Rotors, Oil Control Rings are worn excessively and it is burning oil via this way.
Correction of OCR is a engine rebuild.

THAT is all..

For a 2010 of only 11,000 miles I highly doubt any of either.