MX-3.com

Can anyone please tell me what oil mazda recommends for the MX3 V6 1.8 1992.

Ive lost all my doc's that come with my car and wanted to know what the manual says for oil ?

Any Help Would Be Great.

look under the hood, there must be a plate with common info..

5W30 is the oil that my mx has written on that label...

Thanks for the reply.

I still having problems with my Mazda mx3 v6 1992.

The car seems to be eating oil every 1000-1500 miles.
I cant see the car leaking any oil on to the floor but have noticed around the sunt tank rim i can run my finger around it and will get oil my my finger also a bit around the oil drain plug to.

Does any one have any idea's ?
I love my mazda but don't want to get rid.
Ive never had the oil light come i all was top it up when it goes under low on the dip stick.

I have been using 10w-40 oil in the car.

Any help would be great.

Look through the online manual. There is a section in there that states to use either 5w30, or 10w30 based on what temperature range you live in. I dont remember exactly what they were, but i use 5w30 in the winter and 10w30 in the summer.
Also it is very common for the k8 to eat oil because of worn valve seals. If you are not finding any oil on the ground when you park the car, you most likely are burning oil. Do you see any smoke from the car on initial start up? or at wide open throttle? If so those are both signs of leaky valve seals.

Nate

Piston rings are a common place for the seals to leak also. It is also common that valve cover gaskets, oil drain, front and rear main seals will leak. You probably need some maintenance done on the car and special attention to oil seals. Take a look at the ones I've described. Most of them can be changed yourself.
How many KM are on your motor?

Thanks for the reply.
I have looked at the car when is started and running and seems to smoke a little at start (white smoke) when running a light white smoke till shes warm.
I belive this is Condensation

Inside the inner tube of the tail pipe of the exhaust it is very black like a diessel would be.

If the car is burning oil any idea's/thought's on what to do with it ?
Or how to get the car tested ?

Current millage is 108464 Miles 1992 Model.

If you want to find out where you are burning oil, you could do a compression test. There are three places an engine can loose compression, piston rings, head gasket, and your valves. I would do some research on compression testing, and go that route.

Nate

External leaks are much easier to find and to fix. The valve cover, front and rear main seals and oil pan gasket can all be checked visually. If you see oil around the seal then it is leaking and could be replaced. The amount of oil you see would determine if you think it is worth the cost. The valve cover seal costs about 100 bucks from Mazda, 30 from a parts store and even less on E-Bay. The front and rear main seals are pretty cheap, but harder to get to. The front one is under the timing cover and the rear one is under the fluwheel or flex plate. The oil pan is usually something you want to avoid unless it is pretty bad as they will usually leak worse if you take the pan off and replace the gasket. A new oil pan and libral use of gasket maker instead of a rubber or cork gasket is the better way to get a oil pan to reseal. A compression test will tell you if it is leaking internally, but as far as I know it will not tell you where internally it is leaking. If the valve seals, or piston rings are leaking then you will just get oil out hte tail pipe in the form of smoke or wet oil if it is enough to not burn on its way out. You might get a better check on the amount of oil coming out the exhaust by removing one of the O2 sensors and putting your finger in the tube to see how much is in there and whether it is wet oil or dried burnt oil dust. Still, all you know is that something is leaking. The valve seals are not that hard to do if you are pretty mechanically inclined. A shop will likely charge about what the car is worth to replace valve seals or piston rings. With that said, the value of the car is about 3000 US, if I had to guess. Could you buy a better lower milage car for that much? Probably not, so doing the repair means that your car is in better shape to last longer and thus may be worth the cost.
My suggestion. Organize a UK MX-3 meet. The UK is not that large and I bet you could get 5-15 guys/gals to show up. You then have a close knit community of like minded friends that can help. Without MOCA (MX-3 Owners Club of Atlanta) I doubt I would still own a MX-3. Their help, knowledge and friendship have really kept my interest in the MX-3 alive and kicking.

If cylinder compression is low, place a few squirts of oil into the cylinder, and if the compression jumps for second, that means you have leaky piston rings. If you have bad compression , or over heating probelms, that would mean your head gasket. If you have bad compression and the compression doenst jump with a few quirts of oil in the cylinder that would only leave leaky valves. Which i would imagine is very likely if you have leaky valve seals and oil is constantly getting on the valve seat.

But i do agree with Patdiesel and i would first check to see if you have any external leaks and remedy those before assuming its something internal.

Nate

K8 are notorious for having this problem around 45000-60000 miles.
Pull the plug right next to the timing belt cover. See what it looks like. If its covered in oil then you know you have a leak. if its to bad. (Like my K8 was) then you will probably have to replace some stuff.

oh ya valve stem seals go really quick.. also these alluminium blocks .. if you overheat them even once theres a chance you will start wearing parts easier. My old k8 smoked at high soeeds but rarely. it seemed like valve stem leaks. Engine ran strong tho. Like a champ. These freaking engines are reliable IMO