Thanks for another really nice write-up with plenty of pictures!
Feel the same unfortunately and wish Mazda can have a better design on dipstick preventing dirt accumulation in the area.
BTW, when you cleaned those dirt, did you go from underneath without seeing the dirt or from the top? In other words, is there any space from top to do any part of work (such as taking the ATF measurement while engine is running)you'd done without removal of the air box?
Thanks yrwei52, appreciate the compliment, there's no space from the top to clean without removing the airbox assembly,
I do recall reading somewhere that the radiator tube bracket can be easily detached to try to wiggle the radiator tube out of the way to reach the dipstick but I didn't try , the air box housing is the main component obstructing most of the path to the dipstick and bolt, and also it's quite deep, even if you take out the airbox , you have to really reach all the way down to get to it.....
also, shout out to Chris_Top_Her for his write up (post#1) a lot of useful info, but one thing I noticed was when I opened up my hood, his access to the dipstick was cavernous compared to mine, obviously he has the Corksport intake.....
also thanks to Gova (post #91) for pointing out the dirt accumulation, his heads-up helped a lot, otherwise I would have never caught it, and I'm 100% absolutely positive Mazda dealer mechanics wouldn't even care,...........
I had to try to clean it blind, I ripped a small piece of my detailing clay bar and used clay slowly over the dirt and the clay grabbed most of the debris, then like Gova used a damp cleaning wipe to clean the remaining residue, worked quite well, obviously, I threw out the clay, no way I was going to use it again for detailing, the encased debris will cause scratches.
the Mazda design is questionable, the dipstick basically rest on a "stage" if you will that allows all sort of debris and dirt to accumulate, most of my previous cars was just a metal tube and the dipstick was a long metal with a rubber cap, no "stage" for dirt to accumulate.