It's nice having a car that doesn't consume oil

[buster]

All 3 of the Mazda 3's (2007, 2014 and 2015) have never consumed a drop of oil. I average 80 mph + in my car and it hasn't moved from the full mark in over 4k miles.

The Honda/Toyotas I had always consumed oil. It doesn't mean much, or impact engine longevity but it's nice not having to add any

One difference that may or may not have impacted oil consumption is engine break-in. Toyota/Honda were driven gently the first 1k miles. The Mazdas were broken in aggressively.

 

[gregk24]

It is nice, what Honda engines have you owned exactly? Im sitting at just under 129K (not a lot I know) and dont add oil between changes.

 

[HTSS_TR]

My Honda S2000 doesn't consume more than 1/4 quarts in 5k OCI, even the engine was turning at more than 4500 RPM at 84-85 MPH.

The engine in E430 didn't consume measurable amount of oil, 8 quarts in almost 8 quart out after 10-13k miles, even with xW20 instead of A3/B3-B4 grade.

 

[hotwheels]

Originally Posted By: buster
All 3 of the Mazda 3's (2007, 2014 and 2015) have never consumed a drop of oil. I average 80 mph + in my car and it hasn't moved from the full mark in over 4k miles.

The Honda/Toyotas I had always consumed oil. It doesn't mean much, or impact engine longevity but it's nice not having to add any

One difference that may or may not have impacted oil consumption is engine break-in. Toyota/Honda were driven gently the first 1k miles. The Mazdas were broken in aggressively.



What oil diet do you feed your car? And how do you achieve an average speed of 80 mph? Since I am interested in buying a new Mazda, can you comment on rust issues?

hotwheels

 

[BlownF150]

All IC engines consume some oil. It may not be much in your case but yes, your engines are burning some oil.

 

[fdcg27]

Our Hondas have never consumed enough to require adds out of the eight we've owned and that includes our K24 on drains as long as 8700 miles with 0W-20.
The newer Subie doesn't consume enough to worry about and its longest run was 8K on GC.
The Focus shows nil consumption over an OCI.
Even my old BMW won't be below the add a liter line after 3K.
Cars which require regular adds have been an anomaly in my experience.
Nice that your Mazdas show such low oil consumption, though.
One less thing to have to worry about and keep after.

 

[Oro_O]

Originally Posted By: buster


The Honda/Toyotas I had always consumed oil. It doesn't mean much, or impact engine longevity but it's nice not having to add any


Odd. I've had a solara and a Land Cruiser, never used a drop (up to 150k as long as I had them).

We have an ES300 now and it used 1/2 quart in the last 7,500 mi interval (so basically 2 ounces/1k miles). That's with 235k miles on it, too...

There were some Toyota 4-bangers that had a defective ring design, but other than those engines I've found them to be awfully tight WRT oil consumption

 

[hotwheels]

Originally Posted By: BlownF150
All IC engines consume some oil. It may not be much in your case but yes, your engines are burning some oil.


If the oil level remains the same over time, I would expect fuel dilution to equal oil consumption. Surely preferable to oil thickening, but worth keeping an eye on.

hotwheels

 

[fdcg27]

Originally Posted By: hotwheels
Originally Posted By: BlownF150
All IC engines consume some oil. It may not be much in your case but yes, your engines are burning some oil.


If the oil level remains the same over time, I would expect fuel dilution to equal oil consumption. Surely preferable to oil thickening, but worth keeping an eye on.

hotwheels


Nah.
High fuel dilution would be something like the 2.9% I saw in my BMW UOA. 2.9% of the four quarts and change I drained out of it would amount to less than 4 oz, not enough to make up any appreciable amount of oil.
More typical UOAs show fuel dilution of less than 1%, so fuel cannot be making up lost oil volume.
I think that the explanation lies in the amounts actually consumed.
While at least a little bit of oil must make it all the way down the valve guides and all the way past the rings, the amounts are small.
In a typical engine, lets say five quarts are used in a fill.
That would be 640 oz.
Let's say the engine consumes 2% of this oil.
That would be about a beer can full, less than thirteen oz.
On drain, it would appear that you got back almost the entire five quarts, although the engine did consume some oil.
I think this is where the answer lies.
Many engines simply consume so little oil that they appear to consume none at all.

 

[turtlevette]

Let me borrow them for a month. I'll get them to use oil.

 

[Mr Nice]

Maybe Mazda has better engineering than Honda ?

 

[fdcg27]

Originally Posted By: Mr Nice
Maybe Mazda has better engineering than Honda ?



In four cylinder engine design and manufacture?
Maybe pigs really can fly?

 

[MrQuackers]

160 ounces in 5 quarts. 3% fuel dilution would be ~5 ounces

 

[fdcg27]

You're right.
5 X 32 = 160.
Don't know what I was thinking.

 

[MrQuackers]

^^^ you were thinking gallons. It is OK, my brain farts all the time.

 

[michaelluscher]

Nothing I own uses any observable amount of oil.
Never has, and hopefully never will.
I'll be fair, the Camry used ~.5 of a quart the first time I ran Mobil 1 5w30 in it, but subsequent OCI's were nothing.

 

[hpb]

My parents have owned 3 new Toyotas - 1997 Camry 4 cyl, followed by a 2002 V6 Avalon, which was traded on their current 2008 Corolla 1.8. Both the 4 cylinders would use around 1 litre every 10,000km right from new, while the V6 never needed topping up.

My CX 9 uses around 750mL in 10,000km - although of course, it does use a Ford engine!

 

[Doog]

5 Toyotas and two Hondas with no consumption. The 2008 Rav4 has the bad design pistons with the too small oil return holes and it consumes which is a PITA. But they just extended the warranty to 150,000 miles for the issue. So I will get a free rebuild in another 2 years.

 

[Nick1994]

My car used about 1/2 a quart in 10,000 miles on its last oil change. I don't think its bad.

 

[buster]

The Toyota I had was a 2001 Corolla. Consumed 1/2qt every 3k miles since new. Ran like new when I got rid of it with 180k miles on it. The Honda Accord with the 2.4L consumed 1/2 qt per 5k miles for most of it's life, but it increased to 1/2qt per 3k miles near the end.

All the 3's we've had have never consumed any oil for whatever reason.