transmission, to flush or not to flush?

M

meackerman

Member
:
Mazda 5
So we were in for our regular engine oil change and the dealer said our tranny oil was black and we should have it flushed. $189. Seems steep. Checked the owner's manual and it doesn't say anything about it. I see on the web some people are for it and some against it claiming the flush can clog up the tranny and cause it to fail. They recommend dropping the pan changing what oil is there and replacing the filter, though you'll end up with a mixture of new and old oil that way.

Its a 2006 automatic with around 48k miles on it, the wife's car, so I better not get it screwed up.

Opinions? Not inclined to take it back to the dealer to have it done for $189 if I do have it done.
 
My 07 had pretty dark fluid in it with 20K. The tech said it was normal but I purchased a few quarts and drained it myself. No filter change. Looks better and I will continue to change it every once in a while myself to get it changed more completely. Doesn't cost much and is as easy as draining engine oil.
 
Flush will not completely remove all old ATF.

Drain and refill is the cheapest, safest and simplest method.
 
At about 25k miles, I looked at the fluid, and it was so so looking, when I looked at it again around 35k it was nasty looking. I think it should be done every 30k miles if you want to keep away from problems.

I was faced with this dilema also, but the dealer wanted a little more for their "Power Flush" change. I decided to do it myself.

I went ahead and purchased a fluid extractor device for this task. $60
extractor_for_web_sm125.jpg


It is made by Motive Products, and the tank holds plenty, over 6+qts.

It is basically a reverse weed/pest sprayer, you just pump the tank with the hand pump to create a vacuum, put the hose down the dipstick hole till you find the bottom, and viola! It really sucks good. I have also used it for bleeding hydraulics, and even cleaning out the fluid resivoirs before bleeding.

With the ATF on my Mazda 5, I sucked the fluid out, refilled it, drove it for a day, sucked it and refilled it again, drove it for another day, and sucked and refilled once more.

Using this process took about 9-10 qts, but I kept samples of the fluid each time from each step, and observed the color and consistancy change each time.

So for less than $100, with oil and your new tool, and about an 1hr of your time you can do it yourself without ever having to get under the car.(cabpatch)
 
Last edited:
mazdadude said:
At about 25k miles, I looked at the fluid, and it was so so looking, when I looked at it again around 35k it was nasty looking. I think it should be done every 30k miles if you want to keep away from problems.

I was faced with this dilema also, but the dealer wanted a little more for their "Power Flush" change. I decided to do it myself.

I went ahead and purchased a fluid extractor device for this task. $60
extractor_for_web_sm125.jpg


It is made by Motive Products, and the tank holds plenty, over 6+qts.

It is basically a reverse weed/pest sprayer, you just pump the tank with the hand pump to create a vacuum, put the hose down the dipstick hole till you find the bottom, and viola! It really sucks good. I have also used it for bleeding hydraulics, and even cleaning out the fluid resivoirs before bleeding.

With the ATF on my Mazda 5, I sucked the fluid out, refilled it, drove it for a day, sucked it and refilled it again, drove it for another day, and sucked and refilled once more.

Using this process took about 9-10 qts, but I kept samples of the fluid each time from each step, and observed the color and consistancy change each time.

So for less than $100, with oil and your new tool, and about an 1hr of your time you can do it yourself without ever having to get under the car.(cabpatch)
Click to expand...

Do you have pics(of jars) of the improvement each time. About how much could you remove each time? How do you feel about this this "TSB" about fluid change? Can you feel any difference in the transmission.
 
Old Rotor said:
Do you have pics(of jars) of the improvement each time. About how much could you remove each time? How do you feel about this this "TSB" about fluid change? Can you feel any difference in the transmission.
Click to expand...

I guess i should have got pics, sorry, I didn't.

Fluid went from a purple-brown color before change, to a dirty red after the first change, a dark red on the second change, to a nice ruby red on the final change.

It made the trans shifting feel a little crisper.
 
not really looking for a change in driving, more interested in whether its going to likely increase the tranny life or decrease it.

Found a tranny flush coupon for the dealer, $129. So that puts them down in the range of other places around here. So might as well have them do, then if it screws anything up they can't blame some other place for doing it wrong.

I checked the fluid and its a brownish-red color.

I printed off the TSB, I'll bring that along.
 
does any one know when to change the transmission fluid in 08 M5? I checked the manual as well as the the mazda owner section at mazdausa.com, however it is not listed. My last car required ATF to be changed every 100k miles and I wonder if the 5 has same or similar interval for the change.
 
there isn't any scheduled maintenance for the tranny.

from an email from Mazda:
--
In regards to your inquiry, there is in fact no Mazda scheduled maintenance for the flushing of your transaxle oil as the transaxle is sealed. However, if a Mazda Certified Technician at an authorized Mazda dealer inspects your vehicle and diagnoses that the fluid needs to be replaced, that is different from scheduled maintenance and I would suggest that you take the technicians advice and have that flushed.
--

methinks they think a little too highly of their sealed transaxle.
 
I've gotten a slightly different response from Mazda:

--
Hello Jakub,

Thank you for contacting Mazda.

In regards to your inquiry, your 2008 MAZDA5 has an automatic transmission and Mazda does not assign a scheduled maintenance for that transmission. This is due to the fact that it is a sealed transmission. The dealership will have their own "recommended" maintenance schedule which is your choice to have performed however the flushing of the trans oil is not required for your vehicle.

Now if a Mazda dealer diagnoses a concern with your vehicle and their resolution is to flush the transmission, than this would differ in the fact that this would be considered a necessary repair and I would suggest flushing under those circumstances.

Again, thank you for contacting Mazda.
--

that means no transmission flush after 30k miles for me until it is really necessary.
 
arrgg.

the Mazda dealer's service department has been combined with the Chevy dealer's (same owner). The new service advisor is a royal pain in the as*. The old one was great. New one just wants to argue with you if you try and say anything beyond "my car doesn't work, fix it". I brought the TSB on the tranny flush in. He looked at it and said, most things you find on the web are wrong. Dude, this is direct from Mazda, are you telling me they're wrong? Last time we had it in there same thing. You try and say anything and he treats you like you're an idiot, smiling the entire time, like that's going to make it better.

Definitely never taking my Chevy there.

Sure wish there was another dealer nearby. When we get the survey from Mazda, he's not going to get good marks.
 
meackerman said:
I brought the TSB on the tranny flush in. He looked at it and said, most things you find on the web are wrong. Dude, this is direct from Mazda, are you telling me they're wrong? Last time we had it in there same thing. You try and say anything and he treats you like you're an idiot, smiling the entire time, like that's going to make it better.
Click to expand...

You should have brought in Chevy's TSB on transmission and apply it on Mazda. LOL
 
Please log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

1
    • Like
2012 Mazda5 Grand Touring ATF flush
Replies
6
Views
2K
MZ5black
M
T
    • Like
Transmission pan rot?
Replies
3
Views
2K
teetee1
T
M
New Mazda5 transmission won't engage after install
Replies
5
Views
3K
Marcello91
M

Latest posts

Back