'08 Mazda 3 2.3L apparent oil deprivation - "how f__ked is it?"

Automotive
#1

I drove my ‘08 3 to and from the folks’ house this weekend. Apparently on the return leg somewhere between a fuel stop in Texarkana and here the engine started making an unpleasant rattle at ~1000RPM and 3000RPM. I realize now that I vaguely noticed it inching along 35E then especially after exiting the highway in Lewisville. It’s RPM- and seemingly load/throttle-dependent. It’s distracting and hard to miss, but there’s no apparent (to the driver) tactile response; performance might be a tad degraded but I didn’t push it very hard getting it home.

I initially thought it was some underhood plastic pieces, but straightening those out did nothing. It also occurred to me that it could be bad gas, but I bought from Exxon rather than Local Sketchy Gas, Inc so I doubt it.

Did some checking on the all-knowing internet and oil deprivation was a suggested problem. Run the dipstick in and out a few times with liberal wiping and it’s coming back rather dry. I also now realize that what I thought was a patch of power steering fluid from the truck where the 3 parks is engine oil.

Will adding oil (then addressing the source of the oil leak natch) remedy this? Am I likely to need to learn engine repair? Or should I firesale it and look for a new daily driver?

It’s not going anywhere until I can at the very least get more likely sacrificial oil in it since I have a backup vehicle.

#2

Locate the leak first, then decide. They’re usually pretty easy to find, and I feel sure your buddies in the workshop will be willing to help :slight_smile:

#3

Locating the leak may be the easy part. That knocking could be a rod with running for a period of time with lack of oil. Determining where the knock/noise is coming from is easy enough to find if you have a stethoscope or a broom handle…

1 Like
#4

It could also be piston slap… a problem where it meets the rod. That one has a distinctive sound and gets louder in certain RPM ranges more than others.

1 Like
#5

Hydraulic valve lifters which are not getting enough oil will cause these sounds. Add oil and observe if sound goes away. If yes, then there might have been some accelerated wear, but you can only tell if you do a tear-down or an oil analysis (with previous history) to see what was wearing.

If adding oil does not make the sound go away, then you’ve got a potential problem. You might want to bring it in on Thursday and have @TLAR put a well-trained ear to it.

2 Likes
#6

Oil is cheap in the general scheme of things. Fill it back up to the proper level and see whether the noise goes away. Engines can sometimes be surprisingly tolerant of abuse if it does not last too long.

#7

Ouch, that doesn’t sound good. Without hearing the sound I would guess terminal engine damage (worn rod bearings = rod knock). Fill it with Lucas Oil Stop Leak and drive it till it explodes/throws a rod/seizes?

#8

Ugh, fix-in-a-can. Avoid like the plague. If you’ve got a leak, find it and fix it.

2 Likes
#9

I was always told that unless you are emotionally attached to the car or enjoy a good romp under the hood a oil debacle of that magnitude means it’s time to start seeing other cars…as it’s generally the first step of mechanical apocalypse. Time+$ for repairs is only slightly more justifiable than just getting a new one.

1 Like
#10

As a shade tree mechanic, I’m willing to do some exploratory surgery, especially​ if the fixes fall within my abilities. Parts are a fraction of the cost of labor if you’re willing to do the wrenching yourself.

4 Likes
#11

You can always opt for a JDM engine to drop in. :slight_smile:

2 Likes
#12

The rest of your post might be right on, but you’ll find heavy refute for this point among the gearheads.
But it DOES depend on how you value your time.

YAY!

Once you’re hearing noise, it’s effed all the way. The only thing to do now is figure out exactly WHAT is hosed, and decide if you want to explore THAT far.
Used engines for these (assuming yours is boat-anchor hosed) are not all THAT costly, it would seem, and traditionally R&R engine in one of these guys is fairly straightforward…
https://www.ebay.com/p/?iid=192178173389&lpid=82&&&ul_noapp=true&chn=ps
(Of course, one should NOT rely on used stuff except in case of emergency, but nothing stops one from buying used, overhauling/refreshing, and then inserting…)
But you MIGHT be able to save the factory carcass and just insert new [whatever’s broken]…

#13

Mazda-Nissan Heaven is the preferred area wrecking yard for the Miata folks.

#14

I didn’t have much luck on a JDM motor for my wife’s car. They wanted a lot more than I was willing to pay. So I rebuilt the whole driveline myself. City motor did my short block, but it was a labor of love for my wife. She had sentimental attachment to the vehicle.

1 Like
#15

Lol exactly. Opportunity costs are minimal when you enjoy the work at hand. I’d rather pull my own fingernails out than diagnose an engine and would likely wander off to make a lamp or something from the parts instead of finishing the job.

#16

  1. Get some oil in there!

  2. Find and fix leak

  3. Observe oil consumption and overall condition

  4. If it’s burning oil you can add a lot of oil a quart at a time before approaching the cost of major repairs. Not that I advocate driving a car that burns oil but hey, you gotta prioritize what you can afford (money/time/aggravation are all costs!)

#17

Oil starvation can be a tricky thing. Anecdotally: My old Civic went ~20k without an oil ‘change’. I’d just wait for the light to come on and dump in another quart or three. The thing leaked but was certainly not worth any repairs as it had a decent amount of body damage from a couple of late-in-life fender benders and over 250K miles of wear and tear on it. Eventually, the distributor itself (not just cap & rotor) went bad enough that I scrapped it. Probably didn’t have any oil in it when it went to the scrap yard either.

#18

Natch. Haven’t started it since determining it was out of oil, won’t start it again until I’ve refilled the oil. I have another vehicle in good operating condition that can substitute as a daily driver.

I’m hoping it’s the oil filter cap since Mazda brilliantly opted not only for a cartridge filter, but one that hangs upside down and uses a plastic cap.

Going to be monitoring that oil level regularly should it at least act more normally after lubrication has been restored.

I do have a pain point on this, and it’s time. I might throw a weekend or two at it if it’s something I can reasonably fix myself. But longer than that … I make a reasonable living and maybe someone wants a project vehicle.

1 Like
#19

I’d disagree, if you truly mean “new” car.

New cars are on the steep part of the curve which describes their remaining value versus time, and that’s a bad thing if you aren’t just paying cash for it. Additionally, if you have to finance the vehicle, you’re also required to keep comprehensive/collision insurance in addition to state minimum liability insurance, and that’s the expensive part of insurance. New vehicles are also early in the bathtub curve of failures, so they aren’t guaranteed to be trouble-free. Finally, the enemy you know is preferable to the one you don’t know.

Now, if you want a new car because it makes you happy, then go for it. However, justifying the replacement of an older car which needs $1k of engine work (giving you 50k-100k more miles to go) with a new $25k+ car does not hold.

I prefer to find something reasonably used, with minor/no body or paint damage, and then fix any minor issues myself in the garage. I’d also recommend saving up the cash to buy it, and not finance, if at all possible.

1 Like
#20

@ESmith, you didn’t say something important. You didn’t say that your oil pressure warning light turned on. Seems like it should have turned on before you had engine damage. That’s what it’s there for.

So you could have gotten lucky and not damaged the engine. Or, your oil pressure warning light system is bad.