Sorry for not getting back sooner, but I wanted to post back for others that might have a similar issue.

My car had spun a bearing at about 60,000 miles. It had been serviced regularly and the oil had been changed around 3500 mile intervals. As soon the noise started, I checked the oil and it was low... There were no signs of an oil leak and no smoke to indicate that the oil was burning off. I have no idea where the oil went, but I believe that to be the root of my problem.

It's pretty frustrating that out of the blue, a car with 60k started eating quarts of oil in less than 1500miles. I bought this car to be a daily driver that will last years and took care of it as such. I drive the thing like a grandpa toting around the kids. I knew the previous owner personally and I know that the car was never beat on.

Anyway, Now I am basically driving it until it blows up. I can't in good conscience trade it or sell it to some poor bastard. I'm paying off my Wife's car and can't take on another payment, so I'm pretty much SOL. Mazda is useless as I'm 2nd owner and out of warranty. Even if I was in warranty, I doubt highly that I could produce 100% of the service records.

A local Scrapyard wants to sell me a motor with ~50k on it for $2200, so I'm looking at a ~$3600 repair bill - for a motor that very well could have the same problem soon.

My plan is to drive it until it inevitably blows up at which point I will replace the motor and then sell it outright. Hopefully I can get some decent money out of this POS at that point.

Hate to be the bearer of bad tidings, but if you have the ticking noise that I have, its not good... not good at all.

 

I'm having an issue with a ticking/tapping noise as well. I have an 06 with almost 76k miles, and just a few days ago when I was on my way home from work, my car started making the sound loud enough that it could be heard inside the car with the windows up going highway speeds. I found that my oil level was also low, and like BShow, had no signs of a leak or signs of it burning off. I topped it off with oil, but it was still making the same sound. I have no clue as to what it could be, but I had no choice but to drive it almost 30 miles to get home...

Right now it is sitting at my parents' house, and I am using one of their cars. My dad decided to change the oil yesterday, but I was in too much of a rush to check to see if it was still making the noise when I stopped by to pick up my daughter. I'm hoping it won't cost too much to fix.

EDIT: Well, apparently my noise turned out to actually be rod knock form a spun bearing. Luckily I was covered by my extended warranty. They are replacing the engine(their call), and I will only have to pay my $100 deductible, and it should be done either tomorrow or Wednesday

EDIT 2: Got my car last Wednesday, and it spun the bearing for the rod for cylinder 1. Running great now with the replacement engine

 

I have a very similar problem. Did you ever find a solution