No transmission maintenance interval recommended in owner's manual?

[TheMAN]

Nothing, I just prefer not to mix brands if you're not doing a complete change with all the fluid, personal choice. Ravenol is an excellent choice. What, in your opinion is wrong with the Mazda fluid? It's a very high quality fluid, and has taken quite a few CX5s past the 200k mile mark.

because this "high quality" fluid isn't really synthetic, so depends on where you drive and how you drive the car, the fluid can deteriorate before you know it... you better be changing it every 50k miles at the very most if you don't want to chance it

mixing brands isn't a concern for me, but I personally think it's a waste of money not flushing all of the original dino juice out for full synthetic ravenol... otherwise, just doing a single drain and refill of it defeats the purpose of synthetic... you just made the fluid really semi-synthetic lol... many here do multiple drain and refills and that too is a big waste of money... for the time and money spent, you're better off having the pros do it for you properly with a machine, and using only about 12 liters of that good stuff... in the end, cost is about the same, but you know for sure it's all synthetic inside

 

[TheMAN]

Just adding my experience with my own car. I don't have a scan tool either, so what I did was get the fluid circulating and up to temp. Remove the drain plug and let the fluid drain into a clean container for about 15 mins. Then I left the fluid to cool down to ambient temp, with the new fluid nearby. I planned ahead for this and allowed the fluid to sit for like 2 hours so that they would both be at the same temp. After the old fluid had cooled to ambient temps, I marked the level on the container, dumped the old fluid, then poured new fluid up to the marked level. Pour that back into the transmission.

The problem with this method, aside from the long amount of time it takes, is that it doesn't account for the potential problem of having an underfilled transmission from the factory, which has been reported by quite a few other owners who have performed this service themselves. So, with that in mind, if you do it this way, it's best add a final step to warm up the fluid and get it circulating, then park the car and check the level while the car is idling, using the transmission dipstick. Top up as necessary.

ELM327 adapters are cheap, and good ones around $50-80... just a laptop with forscan installed will get you a scan tool nearly the same as what mazdas dealers use, and it won't limit you for just checking the temps... you can do many other things, such as reprogramming/adding features in your car

do it right, and do it the way it's supposed to be done

 

[TheMAN]

See my post #9. If it's just a drain/fill then you're getting ripped. If they drop the pan, replace the filter, clean the pan then that's not a bad price.

i couldn't care less about the pan drop on a low mileage car... the likelihood of needing filter replacement and any cleanup is pretty much not there... for that money, it's better spent on a fluid exchange/flush machine service, that way you can change 100% of the fluid for something of your choice... whether it's the same overpriced mazda juice, or for not much more, true synthetic ravenol

 

[ruthrj]

Reminder that Aisin also offers an FZ equivalent transmission fluid. $8 a quart at Rock Auto. Aisin claims it’s synthetic (if that’s important to you anyway). Mazda OEM vs aftermarket was down to price for me, not necessarily conventional vs synthetic.

 

[madar]

because this "high quality" fluid isn't really synthetic, so depends on where you drive and how you drive the car, the fluid can deteriorate before you know it... you better be changing it every 50k miles at the very most if you don't want to chance it

mixing brands isn't a concern for me, but I personally think it's a waste of money not flushing all of the original dino juice out for full synthetic ravenol... otherwise, just doing a single drain and refill of it defeats the purpose of synthetic... you just made the fluid really semi-synthetic lol... many here do multiple drain and refills and that too is a big waste of money... for the time and money spent, you're better off having the pros do it for you properly with a machine, and using only about 12 liters of that good stuff... in the end, cost is about the same, but you know for sure it's all synthetic inside

I'll have to look into the Ravenol for my next drain and fill. I've used their 0w-20 engine oil and was impressed. I'm assuming the ATF is blue like OEM?

 

[dunhillmc]

How much difference is there really on the dipstick between cold and at running temp?

 

[sinistriel@]

How much difference is there really on the dipstick between cold and at running temp?

Quite a bit. Transmission fluid expands with heat quickly and where the geartrain rides can introduce air bubble in the fluid when the transmission is up to operating temp which makes it very difficult to get an accurate reading.

 

[a69mach1377]

There is a dipstick, but it can be hard to access. The hole for the dipstick is also the fill hole, but because of the location, you'd need a very long funnel or two to pour the ATF without spilling it everywhere.

Good to know!

 

[cx5_2014]

I'd like to try the ravenol but when I did my 3x drain and fills I used Valvoline max life atf as they said it would work with the fz 2014 cx-5 2.0 and I filled it with the engine running and at operating temp with the dipstick. 20,000 miles later and it's running fine. I'm thinking about doing it again soon but may try the ravenol or raisin this time. Or may actually get the Mazda fz fluid. What do you all recommend?

 

[theblooms]

Good to know!

I have a transmission funnel that I heated with my heat gun, and bent it at a 45 degree angle. Man, that thing is PERFECT for working on Mazdas!

 

[cx5_2014]

I have a transmission funnel that I heated with my heat gun, and bent it at a 45 degree angle. Man, that thing is PERFECT for working on Mazdas!

I use the bottom of a turkey basket with the rubber ball slid off and run that into the fill hole then put a funnel on top of that and it works great

 

[ruthrj]

I'd like to try the ravenol but when I did my 3x drain and fills I used Valvoline max life atf as they said it would work with the fz 2014 cx-5 2.0 and I filled it with the engine running and at operating temp with the dipstick. 20,000 miles later and it's running fine. I'm thinking about doing it again soon but may try the ravenol or raisin this time. Or may actually get the Mazda fz fluid. What do you all recommend?

Personally, I’ll use Aisin or Mazda FZ. We all seek aftermarket when it’s cheaper and perceive it as good quality right? In this case Aisin is marketed (by a company that (manufactures transmissions, EDITED, please see sinistriel‘s post below). If I can’t get it much cheaper than OEM when the time comes, I’ll stick with OEM.

Note I say “perceived” quality. I haven’t seen any UOA reports for Aisin and my UOA for Mazda FZ revealed viscosity slightly below spec after 50k miles of use on my old ‘13. I haven’t seen any UOAs for Ravenol or the one-size-fits-all fluids either in a SkyActiv transmission. I’m sure Ravenol is just fine, could be superior in a sense. Just too much money for me. I’m relying on the Aisin name if I use that in my ‘23 and based on my ~20k miles of no ill effects on my ‘13 before it was totaled.

 

[sinistriel@]

Persian

Personally, I’ll use Aisin or Mazda FZ. We all seek aftermarket when it’s cheaper and perceive it as good quality right? In this case Aisin is marketed by the company that manufactures the transmission. If I can’t get it much cheaper than OEM when the time comes, I’ll stick with OEM.

Note I say “perceived” quality. I haven’t seen any UOA reports for Aisin and my UOA for Mazda FZ revealed viscosity slightly below spec after 50k miles of use on my old ‘13. I haven’t seen any UOAs for Ravenol or the one-size-fits-all fluids either in a SkyActiv transmission. I’m sure Ravenol is just fine, could be superior in a sense. Just too much money for me. I’m relying on the Aisin name if I use that in my ‘23 and based on my ~20k miles of no ill effects on my ‘13 before it was totaled.

Something to keep in mind that oft gets incorrectly repeated is that Aisin makes the Skyactiv Drive, they do not, the linear solenoids are an Aisin style but this is all. Mazda holds multiple patents and designed and manufactures them in-house. It is a rumor that started on some East European websites about a decade ago and is incorrectly referred to as a variant of the the Toyota U660/760 family. Anyone that has ever had both units apart knows just how unrelated they are.

 

[ruthrj]

Something to keep in mind that oft gets incorrectly repeated is that Aisin makes the Skyactiv Drive, they do not, the linear solenoids are an Aisin style but this is all. Mazda holds multiple patents and designed and manufactures them in-house. It is a rumor that started on some East European websites about a decade ago and is incorrectly referred to as a variant of the the Toyota U660/760 family. Anyone that has ever had both units apart knows just how unrelated they are.

Good to know, thanks for sharing that! Edited my post to clarify.

 

[theblooms]

Mazda has been making their own transmissions for decades. Even my old 93 Ford Ranger has a Mazda transmission in it.

 

[jadmt]

Something to keep in mind that oft gets incorrectly repeated is that Aisin makes the Skyactiv Drive, they do not, the linear solenoids are an Aisin style but this is all. Mazda holds multiple patents and designed and manufactures them in-house. It is a rumor that started on some East European websites about a decade ago and is incorrectly referred to as a variant of the the Toyota U660/760 family. Anyone that has ever had both units apart knows just how unrelated they are.

as someone who is obviously well versed in these what do you think a reasonable interval is for a cx5 turbo? thanks.

 

[sinistriel@]

as someone who is obviously well versed in these what do you think a reasonable interval is for a cx5 turbo? thanks.

I recommend 30k~ miles for any planetary automatic if it is something you plan on keeping. The valve body is made of aluminum and has anodized accumulators, they move very quickly and begin to wear. That wear gets ground up into very fine particles suspended in the fluid that will pass through the filter. This then gets into the accumulator bores and can accelerate wear. This is not specific to Mazda but any OEM that uses a setup like this. First 2 pics are a worn R-3-5 accumulator in a Sky that failed at ~90k miles, this caused a bad clutch apply especially in Reverse and it scored the steels. It held very poor vacuum. 4th is a typical Sky pan around 30k miles. Using oil testing services will also not show this type of wear generally, this unit came back with no elevated numbers at all.