Transmission fluid change "How To"

So, has anyone else changed their trans fluid? Is it a lifetime fluid?

To recap:

It uses Toyota T-IV fluid, 11 quarts.
So what about the filter? Only thing could find was something of the auto transaxle filter. But it doesn`t clearly say like in other cars, auto trans filter.

Any tips, recommendations?
 
I have mine replaced at 30K and 45K at local dealership.

Mazda dealer sells a transmission maintenance kit that you will need to DIY.
 
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I have mine replaced at 30K and 45K at local dealership.

Mazda dealer sells a transmission maintenance kit that you will need to DIY.

Can`t find it online. Any part number???
What does this kit has?
How much $?
 
This was listed on my bill of transmission flushing.
1 M194 Flush Kit = $36.25
10 MATF Multi ATF @$4.42 = $44.2
+ labor = $134 (after $14 discount = 10%)

So, I am sure there is a kit that looks like looks like helbigtw's link.
 
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Ceric,

I understand your points but as you note they are based on "IMHO" not on recommendations from the Mazda or Aisin engineers. I just don't subscribe to the conspiracy theories suggesting that they don't care about longevity. The Mazda recommendations are also essentially consistent with what Mercedes, Toyota and other companies are doing. Check the fluid regularly but don't change it unless it is clearly "abnormal" as defined by burnt smell etc. I don't trust local garages or dealers opinions as they have very clear incentives to get you to pay them to do more work with flushes or even just transmission oil changes. Many dealers after all continue to suggest 3,000 mile engine oil changes when that is an absolute scam and waste of both money and natural resources. I think the transmission oil thing is a parallel situation.

There must be data on this issue or the car companies would not be in agreement. I presume there must be position papers by some society of automotive engineers too but I've never bothered to track them down. Seems to me it is the responsibility of those who advocate something other than what Mazda recommends to provide evidence rather than just opinion. No one is saying an individual can't do as they please but if making contrarian recommendations on a public forum please back it up with evidence.

I tend to agree with this. The engineers make certain recommendations that should be followed. Replacing transmission fluid every 30K miles is a waste of money and fluids. I only changed it if needed. I changed mine at 100K miles due to it becoming bad. Started to smell burnt but more like turpentine and discolor. But it still shifted and ran smoothly. Although it smelled it most likely was still holding up to it's job of lubricating. I also changed Diff. Fluid which was actually golden still but had burnt smell. Now I clearly had to change mine out. At 100K miles. With inspection of rear Diff, there is no signs of wear. Tranny still shifting great with no issues ever!
I also hate the notion of changing engine oil at 3,000K miles. This is such an archaic thing. If your using cheap ass fluid, I would recommend at least 5K. If your spending money on good stuff, like I am, 100% synthetic, I change mine at 12K miles with a filter and liter change at 6K if needed. Most of the time it is not needed. I run all my cars this way. I have run my alfa with 15K oil change intervals. Not an issue. Wear is so minimal that the engine looks brand new inside. Tappets look amazing. If there is a need to change fluids so much then the manufacturer would have a TSB about it. I do not find any information on such frequent changes of any oils. Oil discussions and changes is such a crap shoot. Too much info out there on it and too many "opinions" on what to do to out smart the engineers/manufacturers. You really think they want your transmission to fail? Doubt it. They would not recommend what they recommend if they desired your transmission to fail. My question is why are you doing all the R&D when they spent millions on it already. Just follow the manufacturers recommendations unless you have a engineer on your payroll testing fluids and dismantling your transmission and engine all the time for testing. lol Following the recommendations unless otherwise changed by the Manufacturer leads to longer life of the vehicle. Trust me. Straying leads to issues. Flushing is no good. Drain and refill is a better way to do it. Forget replacing the screen, clean it and install it. You may need a new seal and thats it. Don't over think it.
 
Drain and Fill

I'm thinking of doing a drain and fill with my 9 with Redline D4. Does anyone know how much drains out? I have about 7 quarts left over for the Acura TL.

Thanks.
 
Guys, if you are technically-savvy to tell if certain fluids need replacement, keep doing that. It is your money, and your time.

I, for one, prefer going by schedules. My life is simpler.
 
Wow this thread certainly has gotten colorful. Time for me to interject my thoughts, opinions, and pictures on all this.

Having recently done a few drain and fills myself it would seem that i am uniquely able to comment on this particular endeavor.

First the pictures, which you can find here
http://www.mazdas247.com/forum/show...ATF-Drained-and-refilled-today-Lifetime-fluid

Of special note, the color of the fluid: not clear red, cloudy brown reminiscent of used motor oil, not ATF. I believe that would be considered "discolored" by the standards set forth in the manual for needing to be changed. Note the change in fluid color after just 1 drain and fill.

Next my thoughts and rationales for doing said drain and fill. Having a basic understanding of how these transmissions work. As it relates to fluid pressure actuating friction clutches, and small amounts of clutch material shearing off with every shift and thereby contaminating the fluid. It stands to reason that understadnding how this tranny functions then, that one would realize that the fluid would become contaminated after a time with the above mentioned friction material. And the tranny would be subject to this suspended material circulating around acting as liquid sand paper as well as becoming lodged at times in the myriad passage ways through which the fluid flows to actuate said clutches. Possibly at times occluding these passages.

The likelihood of the above happenning with contaminated fluid being much higher than with a fluid without as many suspended solids resulting from fluid being exchanged. I choose to drain and fill at regular intervals, because it makes rational sense... And the empirical evidence (pictures) provided above confirm the need for routine fluid exchanges.

Yes, i realize the manufacturer does not recommend routine fluid changes. But one must also realize that it is in the manufacturers' best interest to build a vehicle with the lowest possible cost of ownership in order to stay competitive.
While it is true that many manufacturers have designed "sealed for life" transmissions, one must also note that there are differing qualities of fluid put into these units. As someone had pointed out earlier they got 160k out of a Benz without any service. ZF, the company that manufactures trannies for Benz, uses a proprietary fully synthetic ATF that is far superior to the simple highly friction modified dinosaur juice placed into our trannies by Aisin. It has better shear resistance, and vastly better heat tolerance than the Aisin spec'd fluid, so we aren't exactly comparing apples to apples. Mind you, the ZF spec'd fluid runs about $20/qt at dealer cost.

The bulk fluid the dealers use to service your tranny is manufactured by Exxon Mobil and sold under their own brand Mobil JWS3309, Toyota T-IV, Mazda T-IV and also as Volvo OEM ATF, among many others. It's nothing special, and it's cheap. No way should you pay $10/qt for it just because it has a mazda sticker on the front.

As far as transmission specifics, there is a metal filter screen designed to catch large debris which become suspended. There is no need to replace it. Just clean and reuse if you desire. To access it you will have to remove the tranny pan and unbolt it from the valve body. You will also need to replace the tranny pan gasket with a new one if you are going to do this.
 
So I sent an email to Mobil and got a response....

Mobilproducts <mobilproducts@ourdataworks.com>

Mobil ATF 3309 is the product you need. Not Mobil Super ATF 3309.

Mobil1website@exxonmobil.com wrote:
What is the difference between Mobil Super ATF 3309 and Mobil ATF 3309? I noticed it appears the "super" is in Canada. I am in the U.S., have a 2008 Mazda CX-9 which utilizes a reconfigured version of the Aisin-Warner AWF-21 6 speed transmission. I am ready to buy some transmission fluid which is JWS3309 / T-IV compliant. Thanks for any input!
 
a 12pk of mobil jws3309 is ~$62 on amazon today.

also, you may want to consider Valvoline maxlife which is jws3309/T-IV compliant and also a synthetic fluid for about a dollar a qt more. i'm planning on switching to the valvoline once my warranty is up.
 
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Finally got around to rotating the tires/wheels and drained/refilled the trans fluid twice. Ended up just going to Toyota and buying T-IV fluid (same as JWS 3309, just different Toyota label on the bottle)
The first time, only 3.2qts drained out, and the second time less than 3, so thankfully I have some bottles to return to Toyota. I bought 10 and will be returning 3.
Fluid was dark brown at 59,600 miles. Drained it, re-filled it, drove it around the block, came home and did it again. Second time around was red, but darker than the new fluid, so changing it twice is a must for diy'ers.

I can't seem to get a good read on the dipstick.... the bottom notch is for cold and the top notch is for warm engine readings, but it seems to go all the way up the collar from the tube... will try in the morning to take another reading.

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At 32,000 miles my transmission fluid was about the same color as the pictures helbigtw posted above. I did three drain and fills over the course of a couple days, removing about 3.5 quarts each time. (I've read that repeating the drain and fill 3 times is supposed to exchange about 85-90% of the old fluid.) By the last drain and fill the fluid looks new again. Was this necessary maintenance? I'm reassured to have done it, but the standards in the FSM are a bit confusing. According to the book, "reddish brown" fluid without a burnt smell is "normal" and the dark color results from "oxidation" rather than from particulates suspended in the ATF. This implies that we are supposed to tolerate some degree of discoloration of the fluid.

I also wanted to replace the crush washer. (I know, another area of controversy.) My local Mazda dealer charges $8.55 for the part, but I found this place selling aluminum crush washers for 70 cents each. (http://www.goldplug.com/Extra_Drain_Plug_Washers.html). The Mazda transmission crush washer has an inside diameter of 18 mm and an outside diameter of 24 mm. The replacements I ordered have the same inside diameter but have a slightly larger od (26 mm rather than 24 mm). It seems to seal fine.
 
Does anyone here have the part no's for the drain plug and the crush washer. All info would be greatly appreciated.
 
Are there any instructions on how you all are draining the tranny fluid? I asked my local shop about it, and they said they have to hook it up at the radiator, and replace it w/ a machine. There is a 'drain' plug on the bottom of the pan, but turns out that is really just a fill straw.

I have an Oil Buddy extractor that I use for the boat that could probably suck everything up thru the dipstick, but I'm at 120k (no issues) and I'm a little nervous to rock the boat at this point b/c there isn't any noticeable issues. The only reason I gave it any thought was b/c the the guy at the local oil change place told my wife it looked dirty, and they wanted to replace it.

As much as I hate working w/ liquids, I don't mind using the oil buddy b/c it is so easy and generally not messy.
 
They are describing a flush. They hook up their machine at the radiator because they unplug the send and return lines from the Tranny oil cooler. As the old fluid is pumped out of the tranny it goes into a collection container in the machine and new fluid is pumped by the machine into the return line back into the tranny. This method will replace most of the fluid but does not address the pan magnets and all accumulated crud sitting in the bottom of the pan. There is much debate about whether these flushes do more harm than good depending on the health of the tranny prior to flushing.

If the tranny is mechanically sound there should be no issues by just replacing the fluid as you describe with an oil extractor. The issues arise when new fluid with a fresh detergent pack is added into the tranny which causes varnish on parts and other larger particles to be washed loose and block fluid passages in the tranny.

Also, DO NOT have them put some random universal ATF into your tranny. If you do go that route, make sure they (or you) use a properly spec'd ATF. Mobil 3309 is the spec called for in the manual. You can get a case on Amazon for about $70 with free shipping. Or use Valvoline Maxlife ATF with the proper spec.
 
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