Advice on the Mazda MZR 2.3 L Turbo

My mother's daily is a Mazda CX-7 turbo. For the past year, it's either been losing or using quite a bit of oil. I do oil changes every 3-4k. I never get quite as much oil out of the pan as I'd like to see. The oil is also always very thin when it comes out. The last oil change was done at 4k, I added 2 qts at 3k and still got less than 5 out of the pan during the change (should be ~6).

Not really sure how to tackle this. There's no obvious signs of a big leak. There's a cover under the engine which catches some oil, but it's never soaked or anything. No spots on the driveway. No smoke from the tail pipe. The car runs and drives well, I just want to keep the oil in the damn crankcase.

So what am I looking at here? Can I run a thicker oil?

Also, if anyone knows of a good adapter to run a canister oil filter, I'd like one. I hate this paper element filter.

How many miles are on it?

Does it have an oil cooler that could be leaking in a spot you don't expect? I had an RX-7 that leaked near the oil cooler way up in the nose of the car and ONLY under pressure.

step 1: get access to the turbo and see how coked up it is

step 2: ????

step 3: profit

~90k.

To calteg: Was afraid of that suggestion, it's not in a nice place.

Yeah the turbo seals fail on the k04 fairly regularly. The other place to check is the pcv system... Its been problematic on several disi cars, including mine. Also not fun to get to.

Also http://www.streetunit.com/mobile/Product.aspx?id=5065

mndsm wrote: Also http://www.streetunit.com/mobile/Product.aspx?id=5065

Any idea what filter it uses?

MA2LA wrote:

mndsm wrote: Also http://www.streetunit.com/mobile/Product.aspx?id=5065

Any idea what filter it uses?

Standard spin-on filter for the 2010+ Mazdaspeed3. The 2nd. gen. switched to spin-on as opposed to the 1st. gen.'s cartridge filters.

In reply to RoughandReady:

What oil are you using, anyway? The DISI is notorious for fuel dilution and being harsh on oil in general. I used Pennzoil Platinum and Ultra 5W-30 in my MS3 as it is one of the few oils that can survive the fuel dilution. Then again my MS3 did not burn much oil. The guys who did experience excessive oil consumption switched to 40 weight as per Mazda. I think the popular one was Shell Rotella T6 5W-40 diesel oil. This also helped reduce oil consumption.

Yep shell rotella is the jam. Fixes turbo seals, reduces consumption, grows hair on your chest. I know with my spin on, its a standard Ford filter. Which I believe is what the 2g cars went to.

Sounds like the PCV sysem might be causing your oil problem. I would try replacing the PCV valve with a new OEM one. I don't trust aftermarket ones.

You can get the oil filter housing cheaper from oediscountparts.com in Ashland N.C. $56 for the housing, $3 for the gasket.

My MZR runs 5W-40 in the summer time, 5W30 only in the winter.

No problems.

If the rotella doesnt work for you to reduce consumption you can try enuos. They sell it at napa. It took the s/c'ed cavalier from going through 1 quart of mobile 1 per oil change to losing no oil at all.

mndsm wrote: Yep shell rotella is the jam. Fixes turbo seals, reduces consumption, grows hair on your chest. I know with my spin on, its a standard Ford filter. Which I believe is what the 2g cars went to.

+1 on the Rotella, I use it in my truck and it does reduce consumption compared to the Delo or other oils I use. Trying to keep the flat-tappet TBI motor happy, plus it's relatively cheap at teh wally world..

I've been running 5w30 cheapo stuff. I'm certainly a fan of Delo and Rotella in my beaters. I ran 15w40 in my Volvos, Datsuns, and now in the Subaru. I'll see what that does next oil change. Test I can do for the PVC valve? I don't have a whole lot more money to sink into this. Just dropped a ton on getting the VVT working properly, timing chain, etc. Caught it just before the chain came all the way loose, the pin that holds the chain tensioner in place was missing the day the chain was changed.

I don't know if you should use Rotella 15W-40 as it is conventional. The DISI eats through dino oil quickly thanks to fuel dilution. Rotella 5W-40 is reasonably priced, synthetic, and is good for extended oil change intervals.

Mazda has a TSB for the PCV valve (warning: PDF file)

http://www.accessecu.com/accessport/mazda/AP-MAZ-002/TSB%2001-002-11.pdf

One other thing to do would be to clean out the EGR valve. It tends to get gunked up over time and noticeably reduces power and response. I cleaned my MS3's EGR valve at about 75k miles and it felt so much better afterwards!

In reply to RexSeven:

Is there a part on these engines that didn't have a TSB come out for them?

Probably not, no.