Thanks for all your help guys,
Will be contacting the dealer in the morning, as they have not got back to me, and will let you all know what the outcome is......
consider me a dumb blonde, but I never checked the oil after the first 1500 miles...did water etc. and oil level was fine, it was a brand new car and have owned 2 previous new vectras (3 yrs each) with no oil top up at all (except for services when it was changed).
First problem with this fault was when engine light came on at 9000 miles, beacuse it had no oil. Filled it up and over the next 1500 used half the oil again. After a lot of complaining and 6 weeks mazda did the work. It uses fully synthetic oil, and the oil was changed when it had its 12000 mile service, they did the piston work straight after.......and had the cheek to charge me for the oil on the service, knowing what work was coming!!
There have never been any leaks and no smoking exhaust. What makes matters worse is that the dealer is unbelievably incompetant and not very keen to see my point until I get mazda UK involved,,,(have had many other issues with their customer service, or lack of it) so know that from the word go things are against me, primarily their attitude to customer service. Mazda are supposed to be superior where customer service is concerned....am waiting to experience anything good! Just at my wits end, thought this was resolved in june.........................................the saga continues! Thanks again, Becky
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I wouldn't cough that bit though.
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Let me sum up: you ran the engine until it was out of oil, and now you complain that the dealer won't help? Its not the dealer thats incompetent.
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it was a brand new car and had been to them 3 times for other faults before it had done 8000 miles, each and every time they did a healthcheck....I should not have to double check their work, now knowing what they're like maybe I should have.........even if I had continually topped it up as it burnt the oil the fault is still there...
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each and every time they did a healthcheck....I should not have to double check their work,
Did this healthcare check include checking the oil level?
The first thing you need to do is set yourself a regime of checking the oil level on a frequent basis - once a week or every 1000 miles for example. Especially as you are aware that the engine is using oil. No excuse to blame the garage for asuming that they *should* have done that during their healthcare check.
In your earlier post of saying that you guess it's using 1 litre per 1000 miles; that is an acceptable limit with a lot of car manufactuers. Does it mention oil consumption levels in your handbook at all?
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Yes, each of the 3 healthchecks incuded them checking the oil.
These were done at regular intervals between 3000 and 8000 miles, before the oil consumption was even a problem. I checked the oil each week for the fist month and the level stayed on full....so it was safe to assume the healthchecks would show any problems....didn't give it another thought. It was only 1500 miles after the last health check that the engine light came on and this all came to light. What really worried me was the three different expectations from mazda mechanics about what to expect, one said 1L every 500-600 miles with another saying no relevant usage expected....
it does not state anything in the handbook about how much oil consumption is expected
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I checked the oil each week for the fist month and the level stayed on full....so it was safe to assume the healthchecks would show any problems....didn't give it another thought.
Never ever assume anything where oil levels are concerned. The garage mechanic may well have pulled the dipstick on each of those 3 occasions and saw that the oil level was still above the min mark and took no action whatsover. As it was above the min level so he wouldn't have had to do so. This is of course that I am assuming that, whereas the mechanic may well have topped it up. I wasn't there, most probably you weren't either so how would anyone other than him and his work sheet have known what he did with the health check. You just assumed that he had done so.
When you say "engine light", is that the oil pressure light, or a dedicated light to show low oil level? If it was the former, I wonder what other damage has occured by running the car low of oil? As others have already pointed out, don't release volunteer this info to the garage, and also pray that they don't ever stumble upon this thread.
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**The garage mechanic may well have pulled the dipstick on each of those 3 occasions and saw that the oil level was still above the min mark and took no action whatsover**
on the healthcheck sheet there are 3 columns next to each check....immediate action required...advisory action...no action required.... if the oil level was less than full either the immediate or advisory column should have been ticked....instead of the no action??
at 9000 miles the low oil pressure light did not come on, it was the engine light....and does not state what it is dedicated to show in the manual....just says immediate attention by dealer needed.
The garage have never been funny about whether or not the oil was checked....they just could not decide as to whether a new car like this should go through so much oil......it had been admitted to me that it was not normal by all but one person there, yet they still proceeded to carry out £2000+ work, which tells me its not normal. This car stands alone amongst all other mazdas of the same model/spec for oil consumption, I just put it to you all whether or not this is the exception or the rule.....just really want to know whether this is a dud car, or to be expected.........................thanks
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need to correct what engine light states. manual states when this light comes on it is a 'check engine light', which indicates one of the following.....fuel tank empty or low....electrical system fault.....emission control problem......
may have stated before it was low oil/ low oil pressure because that was stated as the reason it came on by the mazda engineer
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The garage have never been funny about whether or not the oil was checked.... they still proceeded to carry out £2000+ work, which tells me its not normal.
well, if you're satisfied that the car is still faulty, and the garage were previously ok with carrying out £2000+ worth of work, then take it back and inform them that the oil consumption is still excessive and you want further work carried out.
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but I never checked the oil after the first 1500 miles...>> First problem with this fault was when engine light cameon at 9000 miles, beacuse it had no oil. Filled it up and over the next 1500 used half the oil again.
Sorry Becky, I think you may be on dodgy ground if you tell the dealer this information. You really should check the oil regularly, your owner's manual will say so. Not checking between 1500 miles and 9000 is crazy. As has already been stated, many engines use oil in the first few thousand miles (and some always), I think that's poor engineering but that's the way it is. If I were you I would keep very quiet about the lack of checks and hope for a good outcome. If Mazda knew i think they could quite rightly tell you to whistle.
It amazes me that some new cars use so much, it's like going back to the 50's and 60's. My new Subaru has used none in nearly 3000 miles so why can't all manufacturers manage that? I still do under bonnet checks weekly though. Incidentally, Subaru still specify an oil change after the first 1000 miles, surely one of the last manufacturers to do this.
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Surely the low oil light will come on way before the oil pressure switch light!
Unless there is a sensor problem. So, until the oil light comes on, the engine has NOT been running on low oil. Otheriwse it would be utterly pointless to have the sensor so low.
Therefore, I think that the owner has really done all that is required. No, really how often SHOULD one have to check the oil in a brand new car, especially when the dealer has had it a number of times. If the dealer is worth anything then THEY must check the oil especially considering the reason for the customer complaint and the notoriety (?) of, maybe, this type of engine gulping oil.
Engine is a dud. Owner deserves a new one.
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"Engine is a dud. Owner deserves a new one".
Owner is a dud. Car deserves a new one.- I hope it is nobody I know!
To the OP, you must keep an accurate log of miles ( and I would suggest type of motoring) and oil consumption if you are to have any hope of getting the garage to do anything further. If you present info like you have above they will run a mile! Do you ever check your tyre pressures? or Brake Fluid?
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pmh (was peter)
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Hmmm, I was suggesting that the car deserves a new engine, not the owner.
Agree with pmh...this thread covers part of the problem when dealing with, er, dealers.
You need to be technically minded and have experience of writing technical reports (and I don't mean just IT reports, I mean materials analysis type reports).
There is a lot of information in the above postings by the OP, but it had to be teased out by verbal lashings from other backroomers. You cannot afford to do this infront of the dealer otherwise you will get due process.
Information must be chronological and succinct, otherwise you will give the impression of afterthought. Perhaps all the information in this thread can be put into a letter by the OP in a judicious way and sent to Mazda UK to get the once-and-for-all decision.
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The OP didn't know that the engine was out of oil, until 9,000 miles. When the engine light (whatever it was) came on, the oil was pretty well gone, as 4.5 liters had to be added, it was stated. The car had been to the dealer for rectifying other, unstated faults. Why would the dealer be responsible for checking the oil level on those occasions, as the OP was blissfully unaware that the oil was disappearing? No engine can stand that abuse. I suspect that the dealer knows the engine oil was ignored.
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Please, I do not need to justify myself to you, but of course Mazda were aware of all the details, at length, at the time.... I'm thankful for your concern.......the details were too long and too arduos to go into on the original posting, and were not necessary in the first instance, as my question was 'whether or not it was normal for that model car to consume so much oil'. but for everyones benefit, and in my defence, I elaborated on the issue as each question was posted...................my oversight for not wanting to bore you.
All of the info did go to mazda in the first instance and they did the work they thought necessary to rectify the problem, just that the problem is still there.....hence my original question to pre-empt their possible statement that 'it is normal' now that the problem is still apparant.
It seems that a few of you overlooked the fact that it uses so much oil in the first place.......
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It seems that a few of you overlooked the fact that it uses so much oil in the first place.......
As I said to you previously, most manufacturers say that using 1 litre per 1000 miles is an acceptable limit. You mentioned that this is what you estimate the consumption to be. You need to therefore get confirmation of what the acceptable oil consumption is from MazdaUK, and not your local dealer, who have given you differing values.
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Its a great pity that manufacturers don't put a low oil warning in place, as many people are unaware of the possibility of oil consumption at the rate Dave mentions. Good luck with your quest.
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I have a Mazda6 1.8 - and that uses a little oil - maybe 500mL - 800mL between services. I would consider that 'normal'. I would expect no top-ups on the majority of engines, but there will always be exceptions.
If the engine's not leaking oil, then it must be burning it. If it's not bypassing the piston rings, then it must be coming through the valves. I'd expect both to cause smoke under some circumstances. Just because the pistons and rings have been replaced does not mean that the oil is not bypassing the rings - it may be a bore problem.
I'm very surprised that Mazda haven't replaced the entire engine - and sent yours back for inspection. I've known Mazda replace an MX-5 engine just for a broken valve spring.. I would certainly push for a replacement engine in your case. You may need an independent assessment though.
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SteVee you are the third person to mention a bore problem....although the exhaust pipes do not appear to be any more sooty than they should.......I am not aware if the cylinders were re-sleeved when they did the work so could be onto something.
Thanks for all of your advice...............................................will let you know the outcome in due course. In the meantime Im off on a hot sunny holiday for 2 weeks on thursday, so this will be the least of my worries! Cheers.
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