About to leave for big roadtrip!

So the family is heading to Vancouver, from home, which is about a 10 hour drive(1,000km). It's going to be hot and have steep mountains to climb. I was told by the Mazda tech I talked to , after getting the CX-5 serviced, he said the car has no engine oil coolers or transmission coolers, since Mazda never had a heat issue when the car was in it's testing stages, so it never came with one. Should I be concerned about heat? Also, some people tell me I should use premium fuel for this type of drive? Is this true? Also in Vancouver we're meeting up with my uncle who has a 2,000lb(dry) camper trailer, where he tows it with his 2014 Mitsubishi Outlander, his car is currently having issues with faulty cooling fans and will not be ready for another couple days, so he asked if we could tow his trailer on a 1 hour drive to a campsite. The roads going there will be flat and slower speeds(50mph). The CX-5 has a hitch and wiring harness for his trailer, we just haven't fitted a brake controller. And since his trailer is about 2,000lbs dry, he'll have about 100lbs of water and let's say 200lbs of miscellanious stuff onboard. Can the CX-5 take this?

To summarize my questions:
-Should I be worried about heat with no oil and transmission coolers in hot weather on steep mountain roads?
-Should I use premium, so the car won't have to adjust ignition timing so badly that we may have reduced power on regular fuel?
-Can I tow a 2,300lb trailer with no brake controller for about an hour drive?

For sure do the premium fuel...

I'll let some others answer the rest as I take no liability. Lol

Enjoy your trip! Sounds fun...

the car has a small water /water oil and atf cooler

I regularly tow a 3000lb camper with my trooper that has a 5000lb tow capacity. I use a brake controller, oil cooler, biggest trans cooler I could fit on the front of the truck, a trans temperature sensor//gauge to monitor temps as I travel, sway bar and a 5000lb weight distribution hitch. I also installed expedition grade rear coil springs to help offset the weight and level out the load.

The tow weight of ANY vehicle is NOT what you can safely tow PERIOD. That is what the vehicle can tow when the following are ADDED in to the weight of the trailer.

1) Tongue weight
2) All gear in the trailer including water, battery, accessories like A/C unit, ovens etc.
3) The total weight of all of your passengers in your vehicle and your own body weight above 150lbs)
4) All of the gear in your car, on a roof rack etc.

So For instance, if you trailer weighs 2000lbs dry, you have another passenger that weights 200lbs and you weigh 200lbs. The tongue weight of the trailer is about 300lbs (not sure because every trailer is different but should be close for a single axle 2000lb trailer) you are now up to 2700lbs. If the vehicles max tow rate is 2000lbs you are now 700lbs over your max weight rating even before you have taken in to account your gear, water, battery additional passengers etc.

With that said, people tow over their max tow weight limit all the time and they are crazy! If you get in an accident your insurance company will leave you hanging out to dry and remove all liability from themselves if you did not adhere to your manufactures weight limits according to the manual. Lawsuits, lose your house, first born, wife leaves you kinda deal if serious injuries are involved. Not worth it!

Personally, if you like your CX-5 with a measly 4 cylinder engine with transmission designed to work with said engine you will not tow anything with it. Can it do it? Probably on flat ground. But why risk it? If you overheat the transmission for just a short period of time you can ruin it. And we have not even got into braking. The CX-5 weighs about 3200 to 3500lbs. When I towed my camper home with my trooper the first time (about 6 miles) with a brake controller that was not tuned. Coming to a stop on a hill the camper nearly pushed me right into traffic! The trooper's curb weight is about 4500lbs too! So I had a 3000lb camper WITH a brake controller connected to it pushing a vehicle that weighed 1500lbs more then it.

Hope this helps.

Oh an on the fuel...

The engine is designed to burn regular gas. High octane is not needed in any instance unless you have pre-detonation because of carbon build up on the pistons or your running a super charger.

buyingconstant7 said:

So the family is heading to Vancouver, from home, which is about a 10 hour drive(1,000km). It's going to be hot and have steep mountains to climb. I was told by the Mazda tech I talked to , after getting the CX-5 serviced, he said the car has no engine oil coolers or transmission coolers, since Mazda never had a heat issue when the car was in it's testing stages, so it never came with one. Should I be concerned about heat? Also, some people tell me I should use premium fuel for this type of drive? Is this true? Also in Vancouver we're meeting up with my uncle who has a 2,000lb(dry) camper trailer, where he tows it with his 2014 Mitsubishi Outlander, his car is currently having issues with faulty cooling fans and will not be ready for another couple days, so he asked if we could tow his trailer on a 1 hour drive to a campsite. The roads going there will be flat and slower speeds(50mph). The CX-5 has a hitch and wiring harness for his trailer, we just haven't fitted a brake controller. And since his trailer is about 2,000lbs dry, he'll have about 100lbs of water and let's say 200lbs of miscellanious stuff onboard. Can the CX-5 take this?

To summarize my questions:
-Should I be worried about heat with no oil and transmission coolers in hot weather on steep mountain roads?
-Should I use premium, so the car won't have to adjust ignition timing so badly that we may have reduced power on regular fuel?
-Can I tow a 2,300lb trailer with no brake controller for about an hour drive?

Click to expand...

I think that trailer is too heavy for the vehicle. If you are bent on it, I'd hedge bets and use 93 octane. It won't HURT anything, that's for sure.

CSI007 said:

Oh an on the fuel...

The engine is designed to burn regular gas. High octane is not needed in any instance unless you have pre-detonation because of carbon build up on the pistons or your running a super charger.

Click to expand...

I strongly disagree. The more octane, the less timing it will pull under load when hot.

Chris_Top_Her said:

the car has a small water /water oil and atf cooler

Click to expand...

Does it? I know my 370Z had a water/water oil cooler, and it worked VERY well for street use. many Z owners of 2011 and earlier models (no cooler) complained of oil temps hot enough to send the car into limp-mode during the summer months hitting the go-pedal hard. I never saw over abotu 220-225*F oil temps!

What about that ATF cooler? Is it legit, or is it worthless look-good?

Also, was it ever decided if the ATF should be changed, or not? I have 50k miles on mine, and am heavily considering changing it, because if that causes it to take a dump, I still have 10k miles more warranty, and if it does die because of it, it will do so in under 10k, especially with winter coming up (oddly, cold weather seems to be when they die, after you change the fluid, if it was a bad idea).

Unobtanium said:

I strongly disagree. The more octane, the less timing it will pull under load when hot.

Click to expand...

Totally.

I took my CX-5 over the sierra multiple times, including steep grades and with high temps (100F/38C in the valley, 80F/26C at the top) as well as low temps, with never any issue. At most, I drove with 3 people + gear.
I did try 91 Octane and it seemed a little better at altitude (> 6000ft / 2Km) , but only by a little bit.

I never towed anything in my life, but from your description (flat road etc.) it does not seem like a big deal at all in terms of drivetrain load.

Unobtanium said:

I strongly disagree. The more octane, the less timing it will pull under load when hot.

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This is correct!!!

I haven't seen any data that suggests the CX5 pulls timing under load in hot weather. Please provide the link... Ed

erhayes said:

I haven't seen any data that suggests the CX5 pulls timing under load in hot weather. Please provide the link... Ed

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What car ran by an ECU doesn't?

Hell, I'd run the premium for the safety and less detonation/knock factor alone while pulling the trailer. No data needed. Will the 87 work, sure it will, but the said conditions here is the perfect time to run Premium...

I would be surprised if you have any trouble. If you have time you might want to get a http://www.scangauge.com/ and set it to monitor coolant temperature. The coolant, cools the transmission fluid so they are related. If you see the temperature going up you can slow down until it starts to go down.

Unobtanium said:

Also, was it ever decided if the ATF should be changed, or not? I have 50k miles on mine, and am heavily considering changing it, because if that causes it to take a dump, I still have 10k miles more warranty, and if it does die because of it, it will do so in under 10k, especially with winter coming up (oddly, cold weather seems to be when they die, after you change the fluid, if it was a bad idea).

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Technically no. I inquired to this tech I talked to about the fluid a few weeks ago. He said they have cars coming in with 100k+ and the transmission fluid is stark black and thinner(it should be blue), they called Mazda on it and Mazda was adamant that the fluid doesn't break down and doesn't need changing(well, obviously it does since the fluid has changed colour and viscosity!). I know when mine reaches 60k, I'll be doing a drain and refill of ATF.

Well thanks for the info! Mitsubishi called him this morning saying the fans were in, and they were currently installing them, so his car will be back on the road before we even get there, so we'll have no need to tow anything. I already have a scangauge in my 2013 Jetta. Since we're gone for 2 full weeks, I'll just take it out of my Jetta and put it temporarily in the CX-5. Does anyone know the XGauge codes for the Scangauge to get the monitor for oil and transmission fluid temps?

buyingconstant7 said:

Well thanks for the info! Mitsubishi called him this morning saying the fans were in, and they were currently installing them, so his car will be back on the road before we even get there, so we'll have no need to tow anything. I already have a scangauge in my 2013 Jetta. Since we're gone for 2 full weeks, I'll just take it out of my Jetta and put it temporarily in the CX-5. Does anyone know the XGauge codes for the Scangauge to get the monitor for oil and transmission fluid temps?

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I know that Transmission fluid temp, (and oil pressure) are not available. The CX-5 doesn't generate any data for this. Also, depending on your scan gauge age, it may not shut off when the vehicle is shut off. The vehicle dosn't drop the RPM tp zero when s*** off. Later scan gauges will shut off at a reduced battery voltage. I am not sure about oil tempature.

In don't know how good a super overprice scan gauge is, but the FREE torque app can pick up the PID for trans fluid temp (in fact at 275 degrees it will throw a cel), along with displaying as gauges all types of other data. All you need is an android device with bluetooth and a $5- $10 Chinese obd2 reader from ebay or Amazon.

erhayes said:

I haven't seen any data that suggests the CX5 pulls timing under load in hot weather. Please provide the link... Ed

Click to expand...

That's a normal part of combustion theory. High altitude, gives you less power available anyways because of lower manifold pressure and less dense air. Hot gives you less compression because of course heat expands air. To keep the engine optimized the ecu pulls timing to reduce ("eliminate") knock events which means less torque because the the piston applies the spark sooner than it would in better conditions. Basically the spark comes on as the piston is going down atvsome point after top dead center. The lower the piston can get a spark and be efficient the better. So running an engine just before what the ecu has predicted as knock nets the best output. Worse conditions will have a lower threshold for the prediction and leave you with less power. Add that to driving up grades (engine load) outside air temperature, and altitude and it comes down to how far can the engine advance without knocking; obviously the 93 fuel will give you a better threshold.

The idea here isn't 93 is automatically better, or your motor will produce more hp/tq;(unless you are tuned for it) it's that under *certain* conditions you can and will with a modern engine maintain maximum output in a higher,hotter, and "loaded" environment.

CSI007 said:

Oh an on the fuel...

The engine is designed to burn regular gas. High octane is not needed in any instance unless you have pre-detonation because of carbon build up on the pistons or your running a super charger.

Click to expand...

Pre ignition * and detonation can easily go hand in hand.. the pre ignition caused by some hot spot would go hand in hand in a hot environment with an engine under load... in which case the higher octane is more resistance to exploding on the hotshots, and thus the fuel itself has a greater cooling effect