Mazda diesel problems

General Discussion Forums Car Talk
2

Hi just hoping one of our knowledgeable members can help.<o:p></o:p>

My Sisters company car Mazda 6 diesel died last week, the engine began to run rough and lack power so see reported this to the lease company who said they would look at it at the next service. A couple of days later she was driving down the M11 when the oil light came on intermittently. Being a safety first driver see pulled into the next set of services grabbed a coffee and then checked a oil level. As it was showing minimum she checked her handbook as to what type of oil to use. She bought the right type for the service station but it was not the (Mazda low sulphur) recommended one just the generic equivalent.<o:p></o:p>

The lack of power uneven running did not get any better so when she got back to the office she rang the lease company and asked them to collect the car and check it out.<o:p></o:p>

Two days later she got a call for the garage saying that her car had engine failure followed by a letter from the lease company stating that the engine failure was caused by her using the wrong oil and stating that she was liable for the £6000 repair bill.<o:p></o:p>

1. Has anyone heard of problems with Mazda Diesel engines?<o:p></o:p>

2. Could toping up just 1 litre of non low sulphur oil really cause engine failure?<o:p></o:p>

3. If it can why does it not say use only low sulphur oil in big letters in the handbook?<o:p></o:p>

Any feedback welcome.<o:p></o:p>

 

3

 Hi,

If that’s the full story the lease company are trying to pull a fast one imho. Their problem may be that Mazda will not allow the claim due to the “wrong” spec oil being used and so they are trying to shift the bill onto her.

  1. Yes a friends company Mazda 6 needed £1500 particulate filter despite dealer servicing. The excuse was that he didn’t do enough motorway driving to heat it and burn it clean. Google failed particulate filters a bit and you’ll get the picture. Diesel fuel may be cheaper but you pay for it buying the vehicle, servicing it, and poluting the atmosphere.

  2. No way would 1L of non low SAPS oil cause a catastrophic engine failure. These oils are specified to protect the emission system and the wrong oil would have to be burned in quantity (not just used for lubrication) to cause a problem. That problem would then be with the cat/particulate filter not the engine itself as appears to be the case here. Besides she should point out the problem was present and had been reported before she topped up.

  3. It may be in smaller letters in the ACEA spec in the handbook but it won’t be the cause of a £6K failure. Sounds more like the previously reported problem involved excess oil consumption which had knackered the engine by the time she topped up to me.  

4

Wow many items. Not got a
6 but a fair experience with modern diesel. So here is my take.<o:p></o:p>

Lets try and take them one at a time, but I
would say your sister has made a number of mistakes in this so making her
situation a bit more tricky than it should be, but I doubt in a short time that
one top up of @ 1 Ltr over a short time would kill the engine. So I think you
need to build a better case for the defence and make the lease company justify
their assertion.<o:p></o:p>

When was the last time she checked the oil
level, if you can claim that the oil level has fallen rapidly then that is an
issue to be addressed prior to any discussion about the top up oil. If by
oil light you mean the low oil pressure light, then by the time the oil light
comes on you are in trouble.  If she regularly
checked the oil level and can say it dropped suddenly in a journey then a
failure caused the issue. If not then is it negligence on her part? Is she
certain the oil level was at or above the minimum or was it at a lower level? This
is vital, and as she added more oil they will have a good idea (unless it is
burning/leaking oil like fury)<o:p></o:p>

If that was caused by a
low quantity of oil then their argument might be more correctly that by failing
to check the oil level she failed to follow the recommendations and normal care
expected. <o:p></o:p>

If she drove it along
while the oil pressure light was flickering then she has taken a bad situation
and made it worse. Low oil pressure light = stop now or live with the
consequences. That quite fairly could wreck a number of parts of the modern
turbo diesel, as well as the normal parts of the engine you have the turbo
reliant on a good supply of oil for cooling as well as lubrication. Driving a
few miles with the oil pressure light on is very bad news. And if the light
went off after a top up then I suspect it was well below the minimum level. <o:p></o:p>

So defence case one,
(check that this is true first) assert that the oil level was monitored regularly
and was significantly above the minimum level at a recent check. Does the car
have a low oil level check or warning feature/lamp? If yes then site this in
your defence and ask then to check the ECU fault log. Also assert that at no
time the vehicle had less than the minimum level. Also point out the vehicle
only covered “x” miles so the impact of the oil is a question to be answered. A
fair offer would be to pay for an oil flush and the normal oil change service
but not the rest of the repair. <o:p></o:p>

Regarding the engine failure, what specifically has
failed on the engine, they should be specific about that, and next ask them to
justify why using the wrong type of oil on a short journey has caused the
problem. Give us some info and perhaps we can help. And again ask them for a
copy of the ECU fault code register and ask them if they can show event history
information and count. This gets them worried.<o:p></o:p>

To my knowledge (which is
not encyclopaedic on this) the issue of sulphur tends to be a long term item,
and it either relates to build up of long term deposits inside the engine or pollution
for example of catalytic devices.<o:p></o:p>

Has this engine problems
well yes, but it tends towards the opposite problem of the sump filling up and
there has been at least 1 recall. http://www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?t=77225

http://www.honestjohn.co.uk/carbycar/mazda/6-2008/?section=bad

If it is the older version of the car, pre 2008
model then there are two common failures, 1 the oil pump leading to @ £6,000
re-build of engine and the flickering oil pressure light could line up with
this. And the fuel injection pump seizing. http://www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?t=57098

So I would sit down have an honest chat with her
and decide what to do next. If she is certain the oil level was never bellow
the minimum then I would go back on the attack and ask if it is the well
documented and reported problem with the pump.

And if it is wear that is the problem point out the
low oil pressure occurred prior to the use of new oil so the oil could not have
contributed to the failure. 

5

Thanks for the feed back guys, the link to honestjohn was great. I will be seeing my sister at the weekend and have sent her the links

It is nice to have fellow members to help out.

Regards

John

6

 Yes it’s scary reading those links. Diesels seem to be rapidly disappearing up their own exhaust pipes with attempts at fixing problems caused by trying to fix other problems.

However, I wouldn’t get too involved with tech issues, it’s not your job to know the problem or cause. Be educated so they don’t try to bamboozle you, but just stick to what she should have been doing as a consumer. Build a case that could easily be presented to a third party;

  1. Establish that she checked the oil weekly (or whatever) perhaps as part of her tidying the car ready for the next weeks work (as many folk do on a Sunday) and knew about and kept an eye on the dash instruments.

  2. Describe the previously reported performance issue. Gather evidence of reporting or booking the car in and any other service work that has been done - dates, times, phone calls, work done, etc.

  3. Write down what happened on the day the oil light came on. Find the receipt or credit card bill showing the actual type/brand/grade of oil she added. If she doesn’t know, the price alone may be enough to establish this if she calls the petrol station to check the price against their oil price list. If they are local call in and photo the bottle and price on the rack and copy the purchase receipt to go with it.

  4. She might then want to get an AA/RAC opinion about using that particular brand 1L of oil as it seems that can be the only thing they can blame her for and, as said, (providing it wasn’t chip fat she added) it won’t be the cause.