First off let me say that Im new to this site so bare with me. I searched for this issue but could not find anything. Anyways, my friend has a 2004 Mazda 3 hatch with around 139k miles. She claims that her car is leaking oil, not just a few drops, like 2 quarts a week. I have checked her car many times, (never lifted the car or did a thorough underneath check) and cannot find ANY major leak spot. Her engine bay is ofcourse dirty which makes it hard to see. But my question to you all is, do these cars leak oil badly while running? Do they consume large amounts of oil while running? She checks her dipstick regularly and it is always coming up dry. Her oil light never comes on, and she never over heats. She is frustrated at the fact that her dipstick never shows the amount of oil it should. Im thinking shes got the wrong dipstick in the car but thats why i want to ask you guys. Im not a Mazda owner so i have NO idea about them. She left her car parked on a white concrete driveway for about 4 days and not a single drop of oil showed up. I can only come up with 2 options, either her dipstick is not the right one for the car, or her car is burning tons of oil while being driven. She doesnt drive her car harshly or anything like that. Any info you guys can give me would be greatly appreciated.

 

Research the Dipstick solution. Im sure there is a Mazda 3 somewhere in a junkyard, not sure how much a dipstick would cost at the dealer. Or if you know someone else with a 3, compare the dipsticks. Where are you located?? In general, Mazdas are usually really great, reliable cars, my sister has over 200K on her 2.3L Mazda6 with no issues! Hopefully its just the dipstick and not burning oil. If its burniong oil then thats above my level of experience, would guess something internally wrong with the Engine though.

 

Yeah thats what i figured, but its just really weird because even on level elevation, sometimes it shows a decent amount of oil, and then sometimes it doesn't show any. Thanks for the input.

 

drive the car, you will know if its burning oil. Blue smoke = burning oil, a common issue with disappearing oil for mazdas is the rear main seal even still on 2010 models

 

if youve ever been behind an old honda civic then you probably know what it looks like when a car is burning oil lol (sorry tracker for the civic joke lol) and youd be able to snell it too

 

lol!!!!

 

well its true, its hard to find a civic that DONT burn oil

 

I know this post is old, but did you ever find out why it was burning oil like this? I have an 04 3s as well and having this exact same issue.