Transmission flushing question and more!

[DoubleT]

Had my 2008 Mazda's trans at ~72,000 km flushed a while back. Took the car to a dealer (a different one this time) in today for basic oil/filter work and the service person said my trans fluid was dirty. What the heck? I had then learned my previous dealer only has the equipment to do a half flush. Only recently this year my original and newer Mazda dealer got the full flush machines. Any opinions on this full or half flush of transmissions? Never knew about the half flush always thought it was full.
Also had my car's right control arm replaced, the ball(?) was very loose. Is this or should I say was under warranty (I am 3000 km + over the 80,000 mark)?
Also (sigh!) the led light went out on my climate control knob. $140 to fix which I won't do right now.
Although the light was not under warranty, my wife (pro mediator) might contact the Head Office for a break in the warranty issue. Worth a try, we (actual my wife) did great with the city of Toronto road department in covering all the $600 damage done to the bearings and front wheel of the car after hitting an unmarked pothole.

 

[lakersfan1]

By 'half-flush' I presume you mean a drain and fill? If you do a drain and fill every 15K miles/20K km you should be good. But it really doesn't require any machinery to do a flush. Just need to have an extra piece of hose to run out the tranny cooler to go into the fresh bottle of fluid and a buddy to put the tranny in and out of gear which will cause the tranny to pump the fluid out. The machines just attempt to stupid proof it from $6/hr lube techs.

 

[jimp]

the drain and re-fill is an easy one to do with the drain plug in the atx pan. I think the pan holds 3.5 qts, and put 3.5 qts back in. you can do the drain and re-fill, then drive for a few miles, then drain and refill again, and get the majority of it, then every oil change, do the drain and refill again, should not have problems going forward then. Changing the atx fluid is a must do on these as the trannys are hard on fluid for some reason.

 

[Martyd]

Does anyone know why the 5 needs a tranny flush. Is it more than a Chevy, Ford, toyota, etc..? My first 5, and I never heard of frequent tranny flushes needed in my other vehicles. Is it design? I just don't hear about this in other cars.

 

[jimp]

if you will search the Mz3 forums you will find numerous threads on the atx's in these vehicles. The Mz3 & Mz5 have identical motors & trannys, etc., so all you read on the 3 forums apply to the 5 as well. Is the flush frequency more, guess it depends on how you drive. I have an 07 Ford Sport Trac and just had the atf flushed this past weekend at 51,700 miles, yes I can tell a difference, especially in the mpg, which is a noticable improvement based on the scangaugeII. Would I go 51,700 miles w/o changing the fluid in a mazda atx, NO!. It's easy to do, just pay attention to how much you drain and put that amount of new fluid back in. changing the atf is cheaper than a new tranny for your 5.

 

[lakersfan1]

Mazda doesn't put tranny fluid filters in their trannies, so it doesn't filter out small particularites. Necessetates more tranny flushes.

 

[flcruising]

Mazda doesn't put tranny fluid filters in their trannies, so it doesn't filter out small particularites. Necessetates more tranny flushes.

Of course they do...http://tinyurl.com/87pfl6e

 

[Silentnoise713]

Of course they do...http://tinyurl.com/87pfl6e

That's interesting. Never seen a transmission filter like that. I guess this is the new standard to the old mesh screens of yesteryears. Are these new filter “lifelong”?

 

[thaxman]

Does anyone know why the 5 needs a tranny flush. Is it more than a Chevy, Ford, toyota, etc..? My first 5, and I never heard of frequent tranny flushes needed in my other vehicles. Is it design? I just don't hear about this in other cars.

Instead you hear of tranny failures. Look at the 99-03 Odyssey, most years of Chrysler minivans and a few other hard working trannies. Many people get 200K mi on the orig trans, while some are spending $5K every 50K mi. Its about the maintenance.

 

[golftango]

Of course they do...http://tinyurl.com/87pfl6e

That appears to be the filter for the 4 speed A/T. (STRAINER,OIL (FN01-21-500A)

Any idea if the 5AT has a filter?

 

[flcruising]

It does in the Mz3 - http://tinyurl.com/2c7vbdc

 

[golftango]

T

It does in the Mz3 - http://tinyurl.com/2c7vbdc

But isn't that a 4at?

 

[flcruising]

No. Mazda 3 S (2006+) only come with the 2.3l / FNR5 combination.

Notice the oil drain plug on the bottom of the pan is a match to ours.

The first link I posted is of the FN4A-EL (4 speed), but that was only to show the presence of an atf filter like lakersfan1 was denying.