High Mileage CX-5s - report in



'14 2.0L FWD

391,548 miles (~630,135 km)

JM3KE2BE3E0430683

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My conclusion: CX-5's with a 2.0L and a 6-speed manual are more reliable than other CX-5's.
wow it's already gone, too. That's even more miles than my 94 Integra GSR! 380,000 on it now, original drivetrain. That 2014 must have done ALL the highway miles.
 
Lol. Don't change it now.

And if you do, only change some of it.
If you do a drain and fill, you are only doing some of it.

I just did one at 118k. Did many back at 70k-ish. I wanted to do closer to 110k, but didn't get around to it.

Approaching my need for 10 year/120k mile coolant change. Anyway car is still great. Shifts like butter.
 
If you do a drain and fill, you are only doing some of it.

I just did one at 118k. Did many back at 70k-ish. I wanted to do closer to 110k, but didn't get around to it.

Approaching my need for 10 year/120k mile coolant change. Anyway car is still great. Shifts like butter.
Yep. But OP should not change at all at this point...or it'll screw up the tranny worse. If they feel a need to change it, only do a half swap and don't ever change the other half. The old mechanics tale of don't change it is correct. Had a friend that never changed his then after 120 k miles, did a full flush and tranny was slipping all the time. Better to leave it alone at this point. It's true that the thicker grittier old fluid helps gum up on the works and keep it running.
 
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Yep. But OP should not change at all at this point...or it'll screw up the tranny worse. If they feel a need to change it, only do a half swap and don't ever change the other half. The old mechanics tale of don't change it is correct. Had a friend that never changed his then after 120 k miles, did a full flush and tranny was slipping all the time. Better to leave it alone at this point.
Oh I agree completely at that point. Was just saying a drain and fill doesn't even get 50% of the total fluid.
 
Yep. But OP should not change at all at this point...or it'll screw up the tranny worse. If they feel a need to change it, only do a half swap and don't ever change the other half. The old mechanics tale of don't change it is correct. Had a friend that never changed his then after 120 k miles, did a full flush and tranny was slipping all the time. Better to leave it alone at this point. It's true that the thicker grittier old fluid helps gum up on the works and keep it running.
Did the 3x trans fluid drain and fill plus filter on ours at about 113K miles, which gets over 90% of the old fluid out. Mazda ATF FZ of course. That was nearly 2 years and 20K miles ago. Car still drives just fine.
 
Did the 3x trans fluid drain and fill plus filter on ours at about 113K miles, which gets over 90% of the old fluid out. Mazda ATF FZ of course. That was nearly 2 years and 20K miles ago. Car still drives just fine.
Was that the first time you have done transmission fluid on that CX-5? I did the 3x for the first time around 70k. I did a single drain and fill last weekend at 118k. I think I'll do the next one around 148k and keep to 30k intervals.

Anyway, shifts smooth as butter.
 
yep, only time the fluid has been changed to my knowledge. We purchased the car with about 55k on it in 2016, so I wouldn't expect the fluid to have been touched before when I did it. What came out was pretty dark looking.
 
158K on the odometer currently on my 2015. No real issues to speak of except the random squeak in the back that I haven't found a solid answer on (a couple of theories online) and a piece of plastic that falls out on the right side of the driver's area.
 
158K on the odometer currently on my 2015. No real issues to speak of except the random squeak in the back that I haven't found a solid answer on (a couple of theories online) and a piece of plastic that falls out on the right side of the driver's area.
dangit, same thing happens on our 2014! Super annoying when it falls out!
 
The high mileage trans fluid is a double edged sword. Once over 100k miles on the original trans fluid, pretty much all the additive packaging in the fluid is depleted. So the trans will begin to form varnish on parts like the valve body, hard parts, clutch plates, accumulator pistons, etc. Fluid will also lose ability to transfer heat properly and lubricate properly. Valves will start to stick and accumulator pistons will stick, etc. This can cause a bunch of problems within the trans.

If you change the fluid after 100k miles, the clutch material that is floating in the fluid is helping keep the clutch packs engaged, will be gone and you MIGHT get slippage if the clutch packs are really worn away. If you DON'T change the fluid, the trans will eventually die an early death due to the fluid being so badly deteriorated and it's inability to keep the valve body and hard parts clean. Stuck valve body parts will cause erratic trans behavior and can cause clutch packs to burn up from slippage due to not engaging the clutch packs with full line pressure.

So the moral of the story is to keep the fluid clean and service it every 60k or so, along with a filter change. Trans will live 200k+. If you don't change the fluid, the trans will most likely die an earlier death. If you change the fluid/filter after 100k miles, it might cause the clutches to slip IF the clutch packs are really worn away, and the clutch material in the trans fluid is helping to keep the clutch packs engaged while in gear.
 

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