Sample of 2014 CX-5 ATF at 75k

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‘14 cx5 2.5 awd
Trans au jus, probably the first time it’s been changed on this neglected car. I’ve only owned it a few months and discovered how much love it needed.

Car is 2014 with 75k. First pic is the final drippings of 4qts drained, second picture is after running 4oz of fresh fz new through. Very dirty for 75k ‘lifetime’ fluid.

Thought this might be useful to someone.

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Did you happen to save any for used oil analysis? Mine looked just as dark at 50 and 100k on my ‘13 CX-5, but thankfully wear metals were extremely low. Blackstone doesn’t provide a particle count though.

Are you going to do another drain/fill or 2? I’ve been doing 3 drain and fills for each fluid service. Another 4+ quarts of fluid remain in the torque converter so multiple drain and fills are required to try and replace as much ATF as possible. You’ll see the fluid draining looking more blue with each drain and fill.
 
I’ll do a couple more d&f’s then a filter change. I still have the used oil but not planning to have it analyzed.
 
Second drain and fill drippings after rinsing 6oz fresh fluid through. Starting to take on a little more of the greenish hue of the Aisin FZ im using. Maybe one more d&f before a pan drop/filter change. Still surprisingly brown in my opinion.

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Question: is fluid color an indicator of fluid quality, suitability or performance? References please.
 
Second drain and fill drippings after rinsing 6oz fresh fluid through. Starting to take on a little more of the greenish hue of the Aisin FZ im using. Maybe one more d&f before a pan drop/filter change. Still surprisingly brown in my opinion.View attachment 319829
If you’re driving in-between fluid changes or cycling the transmission while the car is running, you should be good to drain and fill one last time while dropping the pan at the same time. Expect to use an extra quart or so refilling after dropping the pan as you’ll get slightly more out during the process.
 
Question: is fluid color an indicator of fluid quality, suitability or performance? References please.
Not on its own, if its black and burned that is one thing. FZ turns brown/yellow in not too long of time due to a large portion of the friction material inside the transmission being gray.
 
Not on its own, if its black and burned that is one thing. FZ turns brown/yellow in not too long of time due to a large portion of the friction material inside the transmission being gray.
From the old experience without a precision instrument the fluid color could be an indication of degrading. The ATF in dark red when fresh could last 20K miles without any color change in my old 1974 Chevy Impala. The ATF color didn’t change too much on my 1998 Honda CR-V when I do the drain and fill at the 60K ~ 75K interval. The same on engine oil that we assumed it’s bad when it turns dark.

In the modern era we’re told the dark engine oil won’t affect its performance. In fact the engine oil usually will become dark in a thousand miles due to its strong detergents. I imagine the ATF is the same. But I still feel the color change into black should still be some indication that the fluid is older and has plenty of wear materials in there, hence the color change. The fluid characteristic has to be different than the fresh fluid, due to the age and the service which has provided.
 
ATF works at lower temp than engine oil does ... much lower.
Typical ATF temp is about 193F or so.
Engine oil at 230-260F.
The latter decades much faster than the former.
I do 5K interval vs. 30K for engine oil vs. ATF.
 
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