My Mazda3 has erratic diesel consumption?

My 2010 Mazda 3, 2.2 diesel 185 bhp Sport can return 60 mpg on an extra-urban round trip of say 10 miles or so but should i make a few stops on the way, the fuel consumption goes up like there's a tap been left on somewhere.

Should I do a short trip with a few stops then the consumption shows to be 28mpg. I've never experienced such extremes of fuel consumption before. Even allowing for engine warm up (or lack of it) this inconsistency is frustrating to say the least. I always drive in a relaxed manner at low engine revs (circa 1000 rpm).

Asked on 4 June 2013 by desperadojim

Answered by Honest John
The extra fuel will be being burned in order to regenerate the Diesel Particulate Filter that your style of driving will not. You need to keep a very close eye on the oil sump dipstick. If you see the oil level rising, this is neat diesel that has been introduced to the engine to burn off the particulates but has instead sunk into the sump, contaminating the lube oil there and raising its level. If this rises beyond the danger level, the compression ignition engine will start running on its sump oil and could become uncontrollable and blow up.
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