HOW TO: Tranny fluid change on MS3

[killerMS3]

Hello: i've done a couple tranny fluid changes now, and after doing it by myself, i devised a good method for this one man job to get it done quickly. Obviously there are variations of this method that accomplish the same goal, but i have found this method works for me. there is not a definite HOW TO for the noobs on here, so i scratched this up to help ya'll out. make sure you read all of this and understand before you proceed.

lets begin!

Tools and materials needed:

floor jack
socket wrench
21mm socket
torque wrench
modified 24mm socket
tranny fill tube from pepboys, $4.99
empty quart of oil
drain pan
3 quarts of tranny oil of your choice

STEP 1. first things first. i grabbed the tranny fill tube from pepboys because it was cheap. it has threads on one end, so you can screw your bottle of tranny juice directly to it. it also has a twist valve to cut the flow when you are full. problem is, the threads did not fit my bottle of tranny fluid (Redline MT90). they did, however, fit an empty quart of pennzoil platinum i had laying around.
http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s24/paddedwallz85/Mazdaspeed%203%20GT/DIY%20Tranny%20fluid%20change/10-25-07_2312.jpg

what i did was cut the bottom off the empty quart, and screwed it onto the fill tube. then i poked a hole in the thing towards the top, so i can use a cable tie (or string or whatever) to hold it to hood prop rod while filling. this makes it easy and a one man job.

http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s24/paddedwallz85/Mazdaspeed%203%20GT/DIY%20Tranny%20fluid%20change/10-25-07_2311.jpg

next, i bought a cheapie 24mm socket from autozone, $4.99. it is a tight fit to get to the drain plug, so i used a grinder and shortened the socket so i can very easily get it in there. it still fit without the grinding, but there was not enough room between the lower control arm mount and the plug to get a good rotation with the wrench. so if you dont have grinding equipment, don't fret. caution tho, when you grind the socket, you lift up some of that cheap plating on the socket. this can give you a nasty sliver. use common sense.

STEP 2: alright, your ready to get to work. use 21mm socket, loosen left front wheel lug nuts. use floor jack, and jack up car. remove the wheel. at this point, you will be able to see the drain plug.
http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s24/paddedwallz85/Mazdaspeed%203%20GT/DIY%20Tranny%20fluid%20change/10-25-07_2317.jpg
there it is, right on the tranny, below that CV joint. using modified 24mm socket and wrench, LOOSEN but do not remove drain plug. after it's loose, put drain pan under plug. now remove the plug. i start the draining process first, because without opening the fill hole to let air in, the fluid drains out slowly and does not shoot out all over your LCA and make a mess.

STEP 3: this is where things are different. you need to remove your airbox to gain access to the fill hole. if you have a CAI, you might need to remove the CAI. this is not hard, just do it. after you get that off, you will be able to see the fill hole down there.
http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s24/paddedwallz85/Mazdaspeed%203%20GT/DIY%20Tranny%20fluid%20change/10-25-07_2316.jpg
http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s24/paddedwallz85/Mazdaspeed%203%20GT/DIY%20Tranny%20fluid%20change/10-25-07_2314.jpg

grab your 24mm socket and wrench, and remove this fill plug. at this point, i go back to my floor jack, and lower the left side of the car all the way until the brake rotor is almost touching the ground. this way i am sure all the oil is getting drained out, because the car is leaning towards the drain hole.

STEP 4. smoke a cig, drink a beer. wait a minute for the crap to drain out.

STEP 5. after it is all done draining, jack the car back up, use a rag to clean the drips off the drain hole. grab your drain plug, clean that off, and screw it back on. Torque to 20.2-37.5 ft\lbs. do not strip these threads. after you got the drain plug in, put the wheel back on, and torque the lug nuts down in the normal sequence (star pattern), to about 70-80 ft\lbs. drop the car down, and bounce the front left corner a couple times to get the suspension to even out.

STEP 6. grab your rigged filling apparatus. cable tie the makeshift funnel to the hood prop rod, and route the tube to the fill hole. for the first 2 quarts, i took the black thing off the fill tube and pushed it in the hole. i did this so i dont have to hold it in there. dump the first 2 quarts in. then take the 3rd quart, and dump about half the jug in. when its all in there, take the tube out and put the black nipple back on the tube. you need this on there, because if you dont, the oil will not drip out of the hole. now hold the black nipple in the hole, and SLOWLY pour oil in funnel, a little bit at a time. stop when oil starts dripping out of the hole. this means its full.

STEP 7. all full? clean off your fill plug, and screw in hand tight. take out makeshift funnel and tube. grab 24mm socket and torque down plug (to 20.2-37.5 ft\lbs), just like you did the drain plug. do not strip those threads!! next clean up the oil that you just dripped all over the black plastic under tray. you don't want your new car to be an oily mess, do ya? god have some respect. also clean your funnel so its good the next time you go to use it.

STEP 8. put your airbox\CAI crap back on. this is self explainitory, and is different depending on the setup your running.

STEP 9. take that baby out for a drive! in the first few seconds of driving, don't hammer on the gears. give it a little bit of driving to get the lube all over the inside of the tranny. after that, let it rip! bask in the glory of silky smooth shifts, and be proud, because you did it all by yourself!



This is a real easy thing to do. It's as easy as changing your own motor oil. As far as what fluid to use, don't ask in this topic, because there are big discussions about it elsewhere. personally, i use Redline MT90, bought from a local speed shop for $9.95 a quart.
http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s24/paddedwallz85/Mazdaspeed%203%20GT/DIY%20Tranny%20fluid%20change/10-25-07_2320.jpg

Bam! your done! this concludes this HOW TO.

[killerMS3]

I made this on the other forum. some people wanted it here, so here it is. All torque specs were taken from the factory repair manual, so i assure this is all correct info. one little tip not mentioned: before you open up the drain plug all the way, you should make sure you can get the fill plug loose. personally, i know i wouldn't have a problem with this, but lets say you can't figure out how to get your CAI out of the way, and you go and drain your shit, then you just f***ed yourself. use common sense.

[dread]

so you don't need to remove the gravel protector or whatever its called from under the car? What about the fender lining, does that stay on? Thanks for the writeup. Just what I was looking for.

[killerMS3]

so you don't need to remove the gravel protector or whatever its called from under the car? What about the fender lining, does that stay on? Thanks for the writeup. Just what I was looking for.
if you had to take that shit off, i would have said so in the how to. you don't have to take any of that off. just do exactly what i said and you'll be fine.

[dread]

just making sure, I am having trouble visualizing it. Thanks for the writeup, this seems like the easist way to do it.

[sfalexi]

I did mine today using this as a guideline. This is what I would add....

I found it much easier to access BOTH bolts from underneath the car. Take off the plastic cover from the bottom, then you can easily access both bolds. The poster is absolutely right about the tight squeeze by the boot. But all you need to do is crack open that initial pressure and hand screw it off.

But from underneath, REALLY easy to get to the fill plug. I have a Mazdaspeed CAI, and I was able to manuever the fill tube off the funnel to the fill hole without moving the CAI.

Also, one way I used to make sure that as much of the oil was out as possible, was use an air compessor and just blew air into the fill hole after it was slowly dripping. The high pressure forced more of the oil out. I used all three quarts and a little more spilled out than I would have liked before I managed to get the fill plug back in, but it shouldn't be that big of a deal.

Alexi

[USAF_TRobertson]

Did you guys really notice that big of a difference in the gearbox?

How often does Mazda recommend changing the tranny fluid out?

[sfalexi]

Mazda manual says to change the tranny fluid every 30,000 miles on my MS3. I did notice a difference. It didn't make the movement of the shifter any different (I still feel that squishiness of the rubber bushings which I need to change), but when pushing the shifter into gears, it locks it in much faster and smoother than before. Before, ESPECIALLY when cold, I could really feel it locking into gear. And sometimes it'd be jerky and I felt like I almost needed to "force" it into gear with extra pressure. Now, cold or hot, it just goes right in. No real force needed.

Alexi

[numbnuts22715]

Do you have to remove the wheel? I'm up at college and at my apartment I have ramps, but no floor jack.

Thanks

[night rider]

Fantastic write up, I now have something to do this weekend.

[sfalexi]

Don't have to remove the wheel. The original poster did and it's a good idea as you could lean the car down to get the maximum amount of fluid out. I didn't take my wheel out and it worked fine. I left the fill plug in and the fluid draining out was VERY close to hitting some part of the underbody, but it didn't. I did mine on a lift and used an air hose to blow into the fill hole to force more fluid out the drain plug.

[killerMS3]

I did mine on a lift and used an air hose to blow into the fill hole to force more fluid out the drain plug.

WOW! i hope you had a dryer on that air line! i wouldn't even think of using my air hose to do this, because i don't have one! no matter what, there is always a little bit of condensation in the lines! unless you have a good dryer, that is...

and as far as removing the wheel, i suggest you do. and don't bullshit me and tell me you don't have a jack, you have one in this little compartment in the trunk. its a good thing to do, because you can tilt the car and get more fluid out. if you took your jack out, use someone elses jack.

[FrancoNemo]

is this the same for the mazda 3 na????? how much oil should it take?

[killerMS3]

this is MS3 specific... i'm not completely sure of the process for an N\A 3... i can look it up tho.

[Zeya]

and as far as removing the wheel, i suggest you do. and don't bullshit me and tell me you don't have a jack, you have one in this little compartment in the trunk. its a good thing to do, because you can tilt the car and get more fluid out. if you took your jack out, use someone elses jack.

It's worth mentioning: do not get under the car while it's held up by only the scissor jack. The car can slip off the scissor jack and crush you. If you really want to get underneath, make sure to use jack stands and a floor jack.

[4thStroke]

It's worth mentioning: do not get under the car while it's held up by only the scissor jack. The car can slip off the scissor jack and crush you.

That happened to my cousin when we were lowering our cars one day (my Subaru, not MS3, and his 2007 Mustang GT). That was an aweful frightening experience.

[builthatch]

what is the angled bolt for that is labelled "do not touch"?

[Rotus8]

what is the angled bolt for that is labelled "do not touch"?
It is the shifter guide pin.

[builthatch]

It is the shifter guide pin.

oh crap, i loosened that, and noticed it looked longer that a drain plug as i was loosening it, so i quickly tightened it down. car shifts great and stuff, so i guess i didnt screw it up.

thanks!

[dkswim]

ill have to do this this weekend

[enganear]

ill have to do this this weekend

I did it today, the how-to is good. I used a Blitz funnel with flexible extension tube from Autozone for about $3.50.

I have not beat on it, but the initial valuation is s i l k y . I am hoping to avoid the 1-2 crunch I sometimes get in the heat of battle.
-enganear

[RENE063]

is this the same for the mazda 3 na????? how much oil should it take?

I just did this today. I have a stock 2006 3 n/a. The drain plug on our transmission is pointed straight down to the ground so this eliminates having to remove the tire. It can drain without having to remove the plastic under guard. However, life is easier to get to the fill plug if you remove the plastic under guard and someone can feed some tubing from the top down to you underneath to put into the drain hole. 3 quarts of oil is needed; owner's manual states 3.03. I figure that .03 will still be left in there and I was close to correct. 3 quarts did the trick.

[SwampAss]

I did mine today @ 27,000 miles. Using a 3/8th drive breaker bar (sans ratchet) and a standard craftsman 24mm socket yielded no clearance issues. I left my wheel on.
I also left my Xcel intake on and had zero issues. I bought a hose/bottle combo pictured in the first post. Made it tons easier.

While it can be done with 1 person, I still had a friend help. I held the fitting inside the fill hole while my help fed bottles at the top. I also left the fill plug in when I drained the trans and it glub glubbed all over my floor. :)

How did it feel afterwards? Much much smoother. No lie. I can flat shift with no grindage at all.

I used the fancy shit in the first post too.

[RichB]

Just did mine today. Feels silky smooth when shifting.

I ended up putting in 3 Quarts tho. Maintenance manual says MS3's take 2.6 qts. Anyone else notice something similar?

[SwampAss]

I got 3 quarts in mine also, minus the little puddle on the floor.

[john blutarski]

Nice writeup bro

[RichB]

I noticed something today. When the tranny is cold and I make low speed turns I hear a lot of noise. When everything warms up it goes away.

Anyone else experiencing this?

[justanothermp5]

hmm interesting
is it a bad thing that ive never changed my transmission fluid?
like never, and the car has almost 200,000 miles on it

might need to look into doing it one day, maybe thats why im having trouble shifting

[DaleNixon]

I just got my 3 quarts of MT-90 from the UPS guy. I'm gonna give this shit a whirl really soon.

[controlo]

this is what i need to do...

[SwampAss]

WORFIT

totally

[DaleNixon]

I did it! But I made an error (hand)

The washer from the drain plug fell out into my drain pan, and I didn't notice. I drained the fluid and filled the tranny with MT-90 and torqued everything down, then I noticed the washer in the drain pan when I was pouring it into my oil waste pan.

I don't have any more MT-90, and I know removing that drain plug to put the washer on will cause a lot of fluid to leak out. I'll have to order some more. In the meantime, how dangerous is it to drive around without the washer in the drain plug?

The plug is torqued in, and I am not detecting any leaks. Feel free to call me an idiot. I already know I am one (hand)(hand)

---------------------------------------------------------------

Nevermind. I'm going to put the washer back on. I'll capture the fluid that flows out in a glass container and pour it back in. Everyone, learn from my dumb mistake!

Edit: Done. Ok. Keep an eye on the fill hole and the drain hole when you remove the bolts. Make sure you retain the WASHER on the bolt.

Thanks to the OP for posting an awesome guide!

[PCspeed3]

drive it around the block and see if there is any leakage.

[khoney]

I have some Rhino Ramps, and figured I'd try something different. It's important to know that these are the standard ramps - NOT the low profile ramps - I have to use 2x8s to get up them.

1) Get up on ramps (only if you have a 24mm socket - otherwise run to Home Depot first!).

2) Remove plastic underbody shield.

3) Make sure you can get fill plug loose (at rear of tranny), then remove drain plug (VERTICAL plug at front of tranny, NOT angled plug), followed by fill plug, and have a beer. These are both REALLY easy to access on ramps.

4) Replace drain plug, torque to spec, and use a pump to add 3 quarts of your favorite fluid (I used MT-90). You will NOT get any overflow out the fill plug if you put in all 3 quarts (assuming you are on level ground and using the same ramps I did). Don't worry about it!

5) Hand tighten the fill plug after 3 quarts are in, then get off the ramps.

6) Put a shallow pan under the fill plug and remove it. A very small amount of oil will drip out - I'd say maybe 1/2oz at most. I'd say you can actually skip this step and just tighten up the plug while you're on the ramps and be done with it, because you have almost exactly what you need if you put in 3 quarts while on those ramps. But, if you're anal like me and/or don't want to believe me, let the minimal excess oil drain out. My next change, I'll skip a few steps - I'll do step 8 after step 4.

7) Hand tighten the fill plug and drive back up the ramps.

8) Tighten fill plug to spec and replace plastic shield.

9) Go take her for a spin!

Note that I did this in my garage, NOT driveway, so the surface was level.

[Abilor]

I had a crazy time doing this.

I did this in my driveway, using Rhino Ramps. It's indeed true that you can access the bolts easily from underneath. Once it was up on the ramps, I oriented myself the drain plug, and the fit was indeed tight. I was using a 1/2" driver with a huge socket, and with a bit of a magic wiggle, finally got it in. Once the seal was cracked, you can unscrew by hand.

Once I found the drain, I oriented to the fill. I don't know how the poster above me did it, but I would have said the fill hole is horizontal, underneath the angled bolt of death pointing up and towards the airbox. I confirmed this looking at the images, and it seemed to match up. The fill bolt also looks just like the drain bolt, 24mm with a little circle in the middle.

Also, without removing the fill bolt, when I removed the drain bolt the existing fluid POURED out of the tranny. It gurgled against the vacuum, like pouring out of a gallon jug, and funky fluid got everywhere. Fortunately my drain pan is quite large and it caught most of the fluid.

That done, I re-sealed the drain bolt, and got my redline MT90 ready. I got the same fill tube as the OP, but mine had a convenient measured funnel on top, i forget the specific name. It holds a quart. With a little grace and patience, you can fill the funnel, tuck it under the stock airbox, feed the hose directly into the fill hole, and twist the seal to start flow. Doing this, I fed all three quarts of redline in, minus a puddle (I also used a compressor to drive out as much fluid as possible). I also spilled a bit on my arm when I overfilled the funnel (hurrying because of rain, see below). On the last quart, just at the very end, the fill hole didn't accept anymore of the fluid. I would say it was 2.90 quarts in all - it didn't drip, but I was up on the ramps.

While I was filling the tranny, the heavens broke open and pissed all over me with torrential rain. I was already filling the tranny, so there was no turning back. That bit sucked, completing the job in the rain. I made sure that no water got into the redline, and the fill plug was dry when I put it back on.

Questions: Can someone confirm that the drain and fill plug are identical? I'm about to go drive it, and I sure hope I didn't fuck that part up.

As far as the amount, most of three quarts is sufficient, yes? This is already kind of answered, but what's the worst that can happen if it's a tad over full? I'd prefer not to take the plastic underthing off again and crack the fill plug, as I don't like playing with the threads on these screws anymore than I have to.

Yay. Hope this was worth it. I'm still paranoid about doing things like this to my very expensive baby...

[Abilor]

OH. SHIT. SON. (omg)

Before: Shifting was like sorting dried twigs and brush with a rusty rake.

After: Shifting is like buttered ninjas cutting silk with feathers.


It really does make a big difference; it's just so... greased. Light. I was having a "crunchy" noise and feel going from 1st to 2nd, really feeling it locking in. 4th to 5th was just difficult. While these problems have not gone away, the incredible new smoothness of the shift assembly as a whole really brings the notchiness out in relief. 2nd to 3rd is just warm butter..

After taking it easy, I really pounded it in my neighborhood with lots of stop signs, and I could move through the gears much more quickly, with more "snap", if that makes sense. Still notchy/crunchy, but greased and featherlite. Odd that it helps some of the transmission issues so much and others still just suck.

Now that I've done this, I just hope the TRZ rear motor mount and eventual short shifter and bushings will complete the silky smooth experience.

[DaleNixon]

The following three mods are ranked in order of improving shift quality FOR ME:

1. Motor Mount (inserts in my case)
2. Shifter Bushings
3. Redline MT-90

You're in for a treat man!

[AWDthis]

Just did this and its super easy! (yes)

Took some pics for those that a bit confused as to which plugs is that you have to remove and location.

Heres my fill apparatus, its a 2 liter coke bottle cut, it screws in perfect! Very useful.
http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q15/hawk3t/SSPX0243.jpg

Here is what the plugs look like, Both are the same.
http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q15/hawk3t/SSPX0242.jpg

Here is the location of the plugs viewed from the front of the car.
http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q15/hawk3t/SSPX0238.jpg
http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q15/hawk3t/SSPX0239.jpg
http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q15/hawk3t/SSPX0241.jpg

Hope this helps someone! (rockon)(headbang)(drive2)

[Speed3ForMe]

Tons of help, thanks a lot Teran!

[Abilor]

Awesome pix! Thank you for incorporating and enhancing my "Angled bolt of Death" terminology.

So what's your review? Totally worth it? After three weeks or so now, I'm still a buttered ninja. It's still sticky in the cold, but after heating up or on a day in the 50s or higher, so s m o o t h...

[Speed3ForMe]

After three weeks or so now, I'm still a buttered ninja. It's still sticky in the cold, but after heating up or on a day in the 50s or higher, so s m o o t h...

Dang...makes me want to ditch work and school just to do the install now.

[AWDthis]

Your welcome guys, yeah Im a buttered Ninja aswell! Speed3ForMe dont be afraid, I put this aside for about 2 weeks figuring It would be hard but its really easy! I love the term dude :P Had to use it haha.

[meicalnissyen]

oh crap, i loosened that, and noticed it looked longer that a drain plug as i was loosening it, so i quickly tightened it down. car shifts great and stuff, so i guess i didnt screw it up.

thanks!

I used that bolt on my rolla as the fill port. with the tranny in neutral it has no tension on it (rolla 5spd guaranteed, likely with any manual)

[meicalnissyen]

Just did this and its super easy! (yes)

Took some pics for those that a bit confused as to which plugs is that you have to remove and location.

Heres my fill apparatus, its a 2 liter coke bottle cut, it screws in perfect! Very useful.
http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q15/hawk3t/SSPX0243.jpg

Here is what the plugs look like, Both are the same.
http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q15/hawk3t/SSPX0242.jpg

Here is the location of the plugs viewed from the front of the car.
http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q15/hawk3t/SSPX0238.jpg
http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q15/hawk3t/SSPX0239.jpg
http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q15/hawk3t/SSPX0241.jpg

Hope this helps someone! (rockon)(headbang)(drive2)

Wow, where the F@&$K did your car go?? three illinois winters? or low tide beach cruzin?

Any way, the OP on this how to did NOT do a good write up. The topside access to the fill port is not an option, just wrong.
this is a ten minute job except for that gay piece of plastic with the hole cut by a blind retard

AWD has some nice pics showing how to do this quick

we need to send him a case of wd 40 for his tranny case

[karl hungus]

thanks khoney and awdthis (even your socket is rusty!). if you can change the oil in your engine, you change the tranny too.

[AWDthis]

LOL yeah IDK im a rustbucket, bought the car used, the salesman said the "nice old lady" that had it never went out of Florida and the car has never seen snow...A little bit off topic, will WD40 remove the rust or is there a better alternative out there you guys know about? thx

[meicalnissyen]

if you had to take that shit off, i would have said so in the how to. you don't have to take any of that off. just do exactly what i said and you'll be fine.

No, Not fine

job goes very well with the airbox etc intact, wheel on.

just pull the shroud like you do for an oil change.

drain and fill are right there

very easy

[meicalnissyen]

LOL yeah IDK im a rustbucket, bought the car used, the salesman said the "nice old lady" that had it never went out of Florida and the car has never seen snow...A little bit off topic, will WD40 remove the rust or is there a better alternative out there you guys know about? thx

LPS is nice, but I imagine there are better
removing is not gonna happen but you can keep it from going deeper.
its mostly cosmetic, but there are some shaft seals around there, the clutch slave and shifter linkage come to mind
a rust pit will tend to gnaw at the seal

[Red08Speed3]

Nice lil write up

[Monkey_3]

Can you overfill the tranny? I see some people had no problems putting in all 3 quarts.

[karl hungus]

Can you overfill the tranny? I see some people had no problems putting in all 3 quarts.

you'll lose some of the 3 qts to spillage. i got pretty much 3 in the tranny and haven't experienced any problems. the more the merrier.

[Monkey_3]

Well as long as no one who filled in 3 qts have had their tranny blow up its all good. I think we have vents on our tranny.

[dizzin9]

you'll lose some of the 3 qts to spillage. i got pretty much 3 in the tranny and haven't experienced any problems. the more the merrier.

i did lol. i should have at least 2.6 qts though. so should i buy a quart just in case? how do i know i messed up since there is no dipstick? i drove my car all around and it felt great. any advice?

(nailbyt)

edit: oh. and one tip use an injector thingy, makes it easier to transfer the fluid. i did mine on a lift and accessed it from below. i ended up zip tying the plastic protector underneath coz it's too weird to put it back plus i have no patience.

[rjs_speed3]

nice write up! will be using this soon!! :)