My wife's 09 Mazda 6 4cyl seems to drink oil. It is about 1 quart low at 3000 miles on average. Of course the service department told us this is considered a normal range of consumption. I have never noticed cloudy exhaust or any leaks. The car runs fine but I've never owned a car that drinks oil like this after 3000 miles and barely shows any oil on the dipstick.

Is this normal?
Is this a problem I should insist they check into?

Thanks for any thoughts!

 

A quart in 3k miles is not excessive, but for a 1-2 year old car...?
My 3 is now nearly 7 yrs old and I barely use 1/2 quart in the 10k miles between oil changes... using full synthetic, of course.

Does the car get driven very short distances regularly? That can increase oil and fuel consumption.
Do you drive in a lot of stop and go traffic?
Do you accelerate hard from a stop?

The dealer is not liable to help you unless you have something to show them. You may have to prove the car is using oil and that could be a tough one. But even if it doesn't get "resolved," 1qt@3k is not a lot either. As I suggest, it could be the way the car is being used or driven, or even the conditions that it's driven in.

If you are a DIYer, I would personally look into it. See if there are any small drips anywhere. See if after 1-2k miles the oil smells like fuel or is dark in color already.

Keep using 5w-20, the recommended weight but perhaps try using a different brand of oil.
Convert to synthetic if you already haven't, and from your post I assume you are running dino oil? I do oil every 10k with a filter change and top-off every 5k and have had no oil consumption problems. For several reasons, not all valid to your post, I waited until nearly 20k was on the odometer before converting and still no problems.

 

FWIW, virtually every manufacturer in the world considers consumption rates of less than a quart per thousand miles of driving "normal". The fact is, engines should consume some oil if for no other reason than the health of the valve guides and stems. Personally I'd rather my engine consumed a quart every three thousand miles than if it didn't consume any oil at all.

 

before you start it up.i noticed my car would show maybe a half quart low after driving it.id add half a quart and the next morning it would look a little high.the longer it sits before you check it might account for a little. my millenia has 180,000 i usually have to add about 1.5 quarts between changes at 3500-4500