2011 CX9 Touring Transmission service

[DoxeyWeb]

Doxey, you won't have to worry about seeing dark tranny fluid in your CX9 will you? lol

Their must be breather somewhere in the tranny area to allow drainage without creating a vacuum. But then where do you refill a drained transmission? Does the OM address this?

Well, if i do have dark tranny fluid...I'll never know. Thanks Mazda!!!

From what i've read on other sealed tranny's there are probably a drain and filler bolt on the side of the tranny.
Need to have up on a lift to access. I guess the Mazda dealers have a few years to figure out how to service them...
I'll let someone else go first....hahaha

 

[kornholio]

Well i went to koeppel mazda on saturday. They gave me this whole bunch of baloney saying that only the 2007 had the dipstick because the 3.5 litre engine was from ford. I told them that the engine in the 2011 is also from ford and i even pulled out the oil dipstick and showed them that is said ford motor company, i even explained to them that they just bored it out to make it a 3.7 and that it is still a duratec engine. They were not happy and were glad to see me go. Now i ask on this forum. Does anyone from 2008 and up have the dipstick in their vehicles transmission to measure the fluid? i would like to know. Do you know that guy from the castrol commercial that used to hit people with the dipstick for the oil. He needs to pay a visit to this dealership. I won't buy a car from people that have no knowledge of what is going on.

 

[SeCX-9]

Yes. My 2008 GT has a transmission dipstick. Rubber cap directly behind the battery. Pulled it up and saw the stick going down..

 

[daneli]

My 2010 has the transmission dipstick too - in the same place described by SeCX-9. I guess they didn't start using the super-magical-never-needs-maintenance-transmissions until 2011.

 

[daneli]

All kidding aside, I'm guessing that Mazda service departments are going to check the ATF fluid level and condition in 2011+ cars by pulling out the rubber plug and inserting a regular old fashioned dipstick into the tube. If your dealer does an oil change and Mazda Full-Circle Inspection I bet the Automatic transmission fluid level/condition item will still be checked on the Inspection Report Form. How do they inspect the fluid level and condition if they don't use a dipstick??

I'm not certain, but I think deleting the dipstick is maybe supposed to thwart do-it-yourself ATF inspections. Maybe the concern is related to temperature. Mazda specifies that the transmission fluid level must be inspected when the transmission fluid is at 65 degrees Celsius +/- 5 degrees. Outside this narrow temperature range, the dipstick reading is inaccurate. In earlier cars the technician was supposed to insert a temperature probe into the transmission through the dipstick and monitor transmission temperature as the car was running, waiting to check fluid level until the specified temperature was indicated by the probe. (The probe had to be the same length as the dipstick!) In later cars the temperature is supposed to be monitored through the M-MDS diagnostic system. I think Mazda figures that since most owners can't accurately measure transmission temperature, the ATF fluid level check is best left to the dealer.

 

[DoxeyWeb]

All kidding aside, I'm guessing that Mazda service departments are going to check the ATF fluid level and condition in 2011+ cars by pulling out the rubber plug and inserting a regular old fashioned dipstick into the tube. If your dealer does an oil change and Mazda Full-Circle Inspection

If anyone finds out that it is possible to check fluid by simply inserting a dipstick into the plugged tube in our 2011's, please let me know. I asked Mazda directly and they indicated that it is not checked from the dipstick and a dipstick cannot be installed. (???) (scratch) From what i've read the car must be raised on a level ramp, brought up to temp, then there is an inspection/fill bolt on the side of the tranny that must be removed to check fluid level and condition. (???)(scratch)
Again, just what i've heard. Hopefully there will be a chilton/haynes manual published before it is time for service on my cx9. I always do my own service...but i may have to turn this over to the dealer $$$. (scratch)

What is Mazda Full-Circle Inspection? My first Mazda. Is this something they just do when getting service, or do i need to request this. ($ im sure.haha)

Funny thing is that when i received the car, i had a checklist. Everything outside and inside the car was inspected and checked off by the service manager. All fluids including tranny fluid were checked off. So....did they put it on the lift and warm fluid and inspect...or mark off the entire checklist when they couldnt find the dipstick....huh?(boom02)

 

[daneli]

DoxeyWeb:

A Full Circle Inspection is something the dealer does for free, usually during an oil change. I've attached a pdf showing the inspection "report card."

If the plugged tube on the 2011 cars is really a dipstick tube, then it should be possible to remove the plug and insert a suitably sized dipstick. However, note that there are two tubes on the previous years' transmissions: A dipstick tube and a breather tube. The breather tube is "blocked" in that it has a plastic end-cap on it that I don't think you are supposed to remove. The dipstick tube is longer than the breather tube - it comes up to about the height of the lower part of the battery. The breather tube is shorter than the dipstick tube and sits behind the dipstick tube. Don't place a dipstick into the breather tube!

If the dipstick (and dipstick tube) have been deleted from the more recent cx-9's then the question is whether the earlier dipstick and tube could be added to the more recent cars. Is there a removable plug or something on the transmission case in the location where a dipstick tube could be installed?

Another question: why did they eliminate the dipstick? Is it just to discourage do-it-yourself fluid checks, or is there something more technical going on?

 

[DoxeyWeb]

This is all i know.
I asked both Mazda dealer and Mazda service center if i could have a dipstick installed (at my cost), they said NO!
I asked why they removed it..did not get an answer. (?)
A friend that works at a GM dealer said that they were being removed to discourage owners from checking and overfilling transmissions...not sure if this is true or not.
-
As far as maintenance..Mazda says none is required...ever! (cryhard) (they responded in writing)
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I normally do all my own service..but looks like im screwed on the 2011.
My current plans are to bring in and have serviced at 50k..unless im advised to come in sooner.

 

[ceric]

-
As far as maintenance..Mazda says none is required...ever! (cryhard) (they responded in writing)
.

That is the interesting part. No maintenance needed for the transmission.
However, they only warrantee it for 5yr/60K miles. So, if you decided not to do anything about it, and the transmission
fails at 65K miles, will Mazda pick up part of the bill? Tough luck.
I am sure w/o any maintenance the transmission can probably pull for 80K w/o a problem.
However, if you plan to keep it for many years and many many miles, I'd suggest do the flushing every 30K miles or so.
$100 is not too much to pay every 30K miles. A refurbished tranny will cost you 30X that.

 

[tstex]

I'd suggest do the flushing every 30K miles or so.
$100 is not too much to pay every 30K miles. A refurbished tranny will cost you 30X that.

My dealer charged me $179.00 for a transmission flush on my 2009 CX9 GT...did I take the banana on this one?

 

[pyroMark]

That seems like a reasonable price for a flush from the dealer. Much cheaper to do yourself, but you didn't get screwed. The fluid is expensive and they probably went through about $100 retail of it for the flush.

 

[pyroMark]

Doxey - I think you could probably still do a drain and fill yourself. You just need to get access to the fill port on the side of the transmission. I've seen threads for other cars showing some interesting funnel setups (using a clear plastic tube attached to a flexible funnel) that do a good job on the sideways fill.

 

[ceric]

It asked specifically before I committed to have it done.
If I recall correctly (99% sure)
$120. OE fluid. Flushing, not drain and refill.
Call OakTree Mazda in San Jose, if you don't believe me.

 

[4wardmotion]

My dealer charged me $179.00 for a transmission flush on my 2009 CX9 GT...did I take the banana on this one?

That's just about what I paid earlier this year - and that was after contacting at least 5 dealerships to get the best price. The fluid is about $6/qt and I believe it takes about 11 or 12 qts. I was charged $34 for a 'transmission kit' - whatever that was, and then about an hour of labor.

Ceric gets a much better price at his dealership for some reason - I suspect he has pictures of the service manager in compromising positions with a sheep.

 

[DoxeyWeb]

I guess i need to "call around"...
My dealer quoted me $260 for a transmission flush!!!(boom05)

They just happen to be a BMW/Mazda dealer...so i guess they charge everyone for BMW $ervice...going to be hard to justify that price every 30k.

I either have to find somewhere else to have it serviced..or figure out how to do it myself.

 

[ceric]

I guess i need to "call around"...
My dealer quoted me $260 for a transmission flush!!!(boom05)

They just happen to be a BMW/Mazda dealer...so i guess they charge everyone for BMW $ervice...going to be hard to justify that price every 30k.

I either have to find somewhere else to have it serviced..or figure out how to do it myself.

You're probably right.
BMW used to charged me $300 for transmission flush. They "claimed" BMW's fluid is full synthetic and it cost $30 a qt!
I paid $120 (or less) at my local Mazda dealer.
Mazda's transmission fluid is not synthetic AFAIK.

 

[veyl_oiuja]

Just a newb question, so transmission flushing is different from transmission service? whats the difference?

 

[table5511]

Trans service includes things such as adjustments, lubing certain components (linkage), etc. Flush is just draining the trans fluid and putting new fluid in.

 

[danz75]

I asked my dealer about the transmissiion fluid change and he said that it' $160 that only includes draining and filling up. Nothing else. I think i will my $160 when the time comes.

 

[Wingman52]

Thank You......end of subject!