ATF...Change or not?

[RL911]

are you sure you are referencing the right service schedule? i don't have the schedule handy but, when people ask on here for the NA models, they are usually told not to worry until much higher mileages about doing the jobs you're worried about OP's friend having missed.

Edit: i think a lot of the maintenance should be done before Mazda suggests; i'm referring to what they suggest in the maintenance schedule.

Why would you do maintenance faster than Mazda suggests? i trust Mazda engineers know what they are doing, which is why I bought a Mazda in the first place. I have not read about widespread failures to engines or the power train on Mazda vehicles, is there evidence otherwise? I follow the maintenance schedule in the book, including oil changes at 7500 miles, not 5000 like I read many on this forum do. There is no way Mobil 1 and a Mazda skyactiv engine need more frequent changes.

That said, contrary to the manual, I do believe that differential fluid, transfer case fluid and trans fluid are NOT lifetime fluids and will change them out at some point at or around 60-100k miles.

 

[AVC]

If it still shifts great at the mileage, then no foul. The fluid is not spanked. For peace of mind, just do a trans drain and fill with OEM FZ-1 and drive it. Repeat the drain and fill at 60k intervals in the future.

As mentioned above, you're more likely to have an issue with the cylinder head long before any trans issues show up. That said, likely the vast majority of the 2018/2019's will go their entire service life without that issue cropping up, either.

 

[sinistriel@]

Don't worry about hurting it doing a trans service at that mileage. I'm inside multiple transmissions daily and it won't hurt anything to get some fresh fluid in it. The caveat of course if it is actually burned and not just discolored. The misnomer of don't change it based on "high" mileage comes from fresh ATF allowing an issue the transmission already had to surface that was being disguised by the old "thicker" fluid or altering the chemistry of the fluid enough to effect operation. Use either the OEM FZ, Ravenol FZ or Aisin FZ. A large part of the coefficient of friction available to each clutch set is due to the fluid itself. For a wet clutch set to engage and hold correctly it needs a certain dynamic and static coefficient to operate as designed, this is especially important in a clutch to clutch transmission which these are. When you mix one fluid with a different friction modifier you can alter the chemistry of the fluid enough that the the dynamic changes and the transmission can grab harder than it should or flare the shift.

 

[potownrob]

If it still shifts great at the mileage, then no foul. The fluid is not spanked. For peace of mind, just do a trans drain and fill with OEM FZ-1 and drive it. Repeat the drain and fill at 60k intervals in the future.

As mentioned above, you're more likely to have an issue with the cylinder head long before any trans issues show up. That said, likely the vast majority of the 2018/2019's will go their entire service life without that issue cropping up, either.

mine shifted okay when i had it flushed at ~110k miles. tech said the trans. fluid was amongst the dirtiest he had ever seen. probably was the first time the transmission had been opened, but probably shouldn't have been.

 

[yrwei52]

mine shifted okay when i had it flushed at ~110k miles. tech said the trans. fluid was amongst the dirtiest he had ever seen. probably was the first time the transmission had been opened, but probably shouldn't have been.

Are you sure the shop actually “flushed” your SkyActiv-Drive automatic transmission at the time? The easiest way to tell is from your invoice and see how much the FZ ATF had been used for the “flush” job.

Based on reports here, the Mazda ATF FZ will get very dark after 30,000 ~ 50,000 miles when it was drained.

 

[ColtX-5]

I recently purchased a 2018 GT from a friend. It has 102,000 miles on it. Most all are road miles as his wife had a daily 100 mile commute to work. They purchased it new and all maintenance has been done at dealership. They gave the service records to me. Oil changed every 5000 miles, filters at regular intervals. At 90,000 miles they had new belts, battery, plugs, and induction service done. My question is the AT fluid was never changed. With these amount of miles should I do a drain and refill, or leave well enough alone. Transmission shifts fine.

If it were mine, I would, and drop the pan, change the filter and clean off the pan magnet.

 

[clownshoes2]

OP has a 2018 CX-5 GT, and it has a 2.5L NA with cylinder deactivation. Looks like you mistakenly thought the OP has a 2.5T as the cracked head / coolant leak、and exhaust manifold gasket issue are for the 2.5T. The symptom on the cracked head of the 2.5L NA with CD is leaking oil, which is different from the 2.5T. In addition, the spark plug change interval is 75,000 miles for the 2.5L NA, not 40,000 miles for the 2.5T.

I love it when you come in and BTFO of some misinformation.

 

[potownrob]

Are you sure the shop actually “flushed” your SkyActiv-Drive automatic transmission at the time? The easiest way to tell is from your invoice and see how much the FZ ATF had been used for the “flush” job.

Based on reports here, the Mazda ATF FZ will get very dark after 30,000 ~ 50,000 miles when it was drained.

no, i'm not sure and not tearing things apart to find out, but they usually do a flush and it says flush on the invoice. i was kind of hoping they'd just do a drain and fill at that mileage, but i left it for them to decide what to do (they've done a lot of transmission flushes/changes for me in the past).

 

[yrwei52]

no, i'm not sure and not tearing things apart to find out, but they usually do a flush and it says flush on the invoice. i was kind of hoping they'd just do a drain and fill at that mileage, but i left it for them to decide what to do (they've done a lot of transmission flushes/changes for me in the past).

The reason I asked was Mazda’s SkyActiv-Drive automatic transmission has different ATF cooling design and it sends the engind coolant into an ATF cooler which is attached on the transmission. Unless the shop can remove the ATF cooler and attach a special adapter which isn’t widely available, there aren’t external ATF lines coming out and in to attach to a commercial ATF flush machine and do an actual flush. Just curious if an average shop can do a real ATF flush to Mazda’s transmission nowadays with a commercial ATF flush machine from your experience.

 

[Conrad 16.5]

no, i'm not sure and not tearing things apart to find out, but they usually do a flush and it says flush on the invoice. i was kind of hoping they'd just do a drain and fill at that mileage, but i left it for them to decide what to do (they've done a lot of transmission flushes/changes for me in the past).

More than likely, they charged you for a flush but only did a drain and fill...

As yrwei52 stated, without that adapter for the trans a flush can't be done, and that adapter is not commonly available.

 

[potownrob]

The reason I asked was Mazda’s SkyActiv-Drive automatic transmission has different ATF cooling design and it sends the engind coolant into an ATF cooler which is attached on the transmission. Unless the shop can remove the ATF cooler and attach a special adapter which isn’t widely available, there aren’t external ATF lines coming out and in to attach to a commercial ATF flush machine and do an actual flush. Just curious if an average shop can do a real ATF flush to Mazda’s transmission nowadays with a commercial ATF flush machine from your experience.

i honestly don't really care, to be honest

 

[Conrad 16.5]

i honestly don't really care, to be honest

You don't care that you might have paid more money than you should have? The dealership loves you!

 

[madar]

You don't care that you might have paid more money than you should have? The dealership loves you!

Some garages consider a drain and fill a "flush". You don't really know what got charged.

 

[Tchman2016]

A Fluid exchange is the proper term for purging all fluid and replacing with new in the entire system, aka "flush". A fluid exchange machine like a BG replaces all old fluid, including the torque converter and line fluid with new in a systematic fashion. Drain and refill is only rhe fluid in the pan. Much less expensive.

 

[Conrad 16.5]

Some garages consider a drain and fill a "flush". You don't really know what got charged.

My point exactly.

 

[yrwei52]

Some garages consider a drain and fill a "flush". You don't really know what got charged.

I’m with Conrad 16.5 that if a shop says he did the ATF flush, it will be charged accordingly which is more expensive than a simple drain-and-fill. Also remember a real flush will use at least 9 quarts (8.5 quarts total ATF capacity) but a simply drain-and-fill needs only ~3.75 quarts. Consider the high price on the ATF FZ ($17 ~ $23 a quart?) the charge for a true flush has to be much higher.

My point is to find out if an average shop can do a true flush to our automatic transmission nowadays from potownrob’s experience. If that’s the case we can suggest many CX-5 owners here who hesitate to DIY for ATF change to find a capable shop to do a true flush for them (more effective and less waste) before it may be too late. But he isn’t interested to find out, and not much we can do.

 

[madar]

I’m with Conrad 16.5 that if a shop says he did the ATF flush, it will be charged accordingly which is more expensive than a simple drain-and-fill. Also remember a real flush will use at least 9 quarts (8.5 quarts total ATF capacity) but a simply drain-and-fill needs only ~3.75 quarts. Consider the high price on the ATF FZ ($17 ~ $23 a quart?) the charge for a true flush has to be much higher.

My point is to find out if an average shop can do a true flush to our automatic transmission nowadays from potownrob’s experience. If that’s the case we can suggest many CX-5 owners here who hesitate to DIY for ATF change to find a capable shop to do a true flush for them (more effective and less waste) before it may be too late. But he isn’t interested to find out, and not much we can do.

Well now, there you have it, truth by popular vote. I'm not disputing what happened, we don't really know. A parts listing would be more definitive. I'm just pointing out that a flush isn't always defined as what you and I prescribe it to be. And seeing that some Mazda dealers refuse an actual flush via machine or even a drain and fill because they see it as unnecessary and not sanctioned by Mazda, what are the chances that an actual flush occurred? Geez...I already wrote too much on this topic already...

 

[madar]

Funny, I went to the local Jiffy lube to see what a transmission "flush" costs, starts at $129. Wonder how they can do that? I put in my Mazda information.

 

[yrwei52]

⋯
what are the chances that an actual flush occurred?

Totally agree, almost zero chances!

 

[Tchman2016]

And they absolutely do NOT use the proper mazda fluid. Disaster waiting to happen!! Stay far far away from these places