Oh, they're coming from all angles! (fight) (enguard) (lol2)
I have pulled out from this discussion. I won't keep the car that long, to worry about it's length of life.
Thank you V8 for elaborating, your comment is basically spot on. I wasn't indicating any link to any failures.I can understand Skorpoi's point but as others have pointed out its hard to quantify and link to actual transmission failures. I would agree though that abusing the transmission can certainly shorten its life as I think we can all agree that this is just common sense. I think he's just trying to point out that if you are doing things like downshifting to too low a gear regularly as a habit, that it makes the engine race and stresses the bearings and gears more than normal and you may run the risk of shortening its life over time. Again how can one quantify that and link it to the number of shifts you make; well you just cannot.
I think the more important thing would be regular maintenance or the lack of it can shorten the life of any mechanical component like a transmission. Of course Mazda for some reason does not specify what the maintenance interval should be.
I think your schedule is sound, like engine oil, I too, believe it's better in the long run to change sooner than later, even if only for peace of mind.I plan to go 30K fluid changes on transmission. This has served me well over the years. I was doing them at 15K miles on my Maxima but that was probably overkill.
Apology accepted Scorpio! I hate credentials on forums because there is no way to verify them. I beleve you are a mechanic because you've shown good knowlege in other posts. But who knows if I'm realy a physicist!
The fact that you've noticed a lot of transmission failures in Mazdas is very important and useful information, but says little about the relation between transmission failure and engine braking, unless you can show that Mazda owners are more inclined to engine brake. That said, your experience could be beneficial to this thread!
And so you should! As far as any argument about car mechanics that is... I know nothing about that. But then again I would never argue with any mechanic about any mechanical detail.I will take the mechanics word over the Physicist any day....sorry.....now had you said you were a mechanical engineer, that might be a different story, depending on your area of expertise.
Except that normal engine braking does not load the transmission excessively and it doesn't cause transmission failure. But using the brakes excessively does wear them out prematurely. The transmission does not CREATE the braking force, that is done by engine compression, the transmission merely transfers the force, which is what it's designed to do.
While I don't recommend downshifting at high rpm's every time you need to slow down briefly, engine braking should be used to maintain a steady speed down long inclines. You will save a lot of wear this way.
Are pistons on rear calipers reset pushing straight in or do they screw back in like some Nissans with attached emergency brake linkage?
Thanks!!! I am far from brake replacement time but this is good to know.
When I get some time, I will do a write up on brake pad replacement.
Paper work says TSB 04-003/14, thats all Im getting from it.
The dealer was informed of the SB only after calling Mazda..they were stumped as to why this would happen at only 15k and asked me questions such as, "Do you drive with two feet?" "Do you use the parking brake often?".
Me too, but I've already dissembled the brakes twice to paint the calipers with only 3,000 miles . When I get some time, I will do a write up on brake pad replacement.