Quote:
Originally Posted by retiredguy123
I am definitely not a car guy. But I thought I knew how to check the oil level in my car. The last oil change, I used synthetic oil because the mechanic said it would last 7,500 miles. Yesterday, after about 6,800 miles, the "check engine" light and the oil light came on in my car. I checked the oil level and it looked fine. There has never been any oil on my garage floor, but my car was almost totally out of oil. I took the car to Firestone, the guy changed the oil, and he said I only had about one quart of oil in the car. There was no indication of a leak. It is interesting that the low oil light never came on before yesterday. Apparently, when checking the oil, you need to look at both sides of the dipstick. I was only looking at one side. I was also surprised that a car with only 65,000 miles could burn off that much oil with no indication that the car was using any oil. In the future, I will be changing my oil much more often.
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I learned long ago that all new cars should be driven gently for the first 1000 miles, then change the oil at that point. Then 4 thousand miles later at 5000 miles change the oil again, then every 5000 thereafter. I’ve purchased many new cars over the years and followed this procedure and none of my cars have ever burned more than a few ounces of oil before my next 5000 mile oil change. Years ago I used 500/3000 miles as oil change rule, but 1000/5000 is appropriate these days. BTW driving a 2017 Mazda CX5 with 85000 miles on it. Just changed the oil, was down about 3oz.