Help - dealer finally gave me their recommended maintenance schedule....

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bmninada

Contributor
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2016 CX-5 AWD GT+iActive Soul Red
I just got the 2016 CX-5 maintenance schedule from dealer. Location: NJ. Driving conditions: 65% HWY.
Dealer said I'll get free oil changes (and I confirmed its their bulk Castrol oil) as long as I adhere to this recommended schedule. The portion free: $44.95, subtracted from the published amount.

1. Is this schedule really necessary, i.e. fuel induction service at 15,000 miles!?
2. What's this fuel and oil additive they are adding?
3. Finally, at 30,000 it's about 650$?! Rear differential/transmission - is that actually required at 30,000?

What my BIGGEST concern is: in NOT following this schedule I forego the multi-point inspection which many tell me is a good preventive measure as in advance I can know of problems and Mazda can fix it, under warranty. By not doing it will this or any dealer deny my warranty? BTW: balancing the wheels every 10,000 miles costs around $30 here in NJ.
 

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This is a really excessive schedule in both price + unnecessary work.
You can definitely take your car anywhere to be serviced. Follow your owner's manual for what is really needed.

1. I can't find anywhere on my manual where it says that fuel induction service is needed at all as a maintenance item.
2. Who knows what they plan to pour in. The manual says not to add fuel additives.
3. Rear differential oil is recommended to be replaced every 30K if the vehicle is *primarily* used while:
a) Towing a trailer or using a car-top carrier
b) Driving in dusty, sandy or wet conditions
c) Extended periods of idling or low speed operation
d) Repeated short trips of less than 16 km (10 miles)

I just paid $120 for my 30K service at an independent shop, where the technician told me to go fix my leaking transfer case under warranty at the dealer. They could have asked me if its OK to fix it on their own and make more short-term money. They chose instead to gain my trust and repeat business.
 
Exactly my point. I carefully went thru the factory recommended schedules and failed to understand this schedule from dealer. Thought I must be mistaken. Are folks really this gullible and then end up spending so much?
My primary concern was the inspectioninspection, which ought to be done, regularly. Why? I can do the oil changes: myself. Cabin and air filter replacement: no issues. Tire rotation + balancing: enough Groupon deals! Fuel additive: I have been using Techron every 3000 miles and it's really, really good. Scenario: Handled. Oil additive: debatable at all required. Filling fluids: Oh, give me a break. I can do it, all except brake oil which I don't ever touch due to hydro.

This leaves this final 2 details: how do I get my car regularly checked (say btw 6 to 8k) for LURKING problems, beforehand?
 
ALafya said:
This is a really excessive schedule in both price + unnecessary work.
You can definitely take your car anywhere to be serviced. Follow your owner's manual for what is really needed.

1. I can't find anywhere on my manual where it says that fuel induction service is needed at all as a maintenance item.
2. Who knows what they plan to pour in. The manual says not to add fuel additives.
3. Rear differential oil is recommended to be replaced every 30K if the vehicle is *primarily* used while:
a) Towing a trailer or using a car-top carrier
b) Driving in dusty, sandy or wet conditions
c) Extended periods of idling or low speed operation
d) Repeated short trips of less than 16 km (10 miles)

I just paid $120 for my 30K service at an independent shop, where the technician told me to go fix my leaking transfer case under warranty at the dealer. They could have asked me if its OK to fix it on their own and make more short-term money. They chose instead to gain my trust and repeat business.
Click to expand...

Thank you, for the rear differential part. I missed it in the manual. Also, I noticed although they are charging $640, they are not even doing a flush, just drain & fill of AT! AT fluid - I am strong believer of doing a flush..... with ONLY OEM oil.
 
bmninada said:
This leaves this final 2 details: how do I get my car regularly checked (say btw 6 to 8k) for LURKING problems, beforehand?
Click to expand...

You can take your car to the dealer and tell them exactly what you want them to do at each service.

I would recommend you have a printed copy of Mazda recommended service and use that to advise them what to do. You can even find out ahead of time what the cost for such service would be to determine if its worth it for you to do your own oil changes, etc.
 
Thank you Ricsta. Yes, I am thinking along the same lines. So, fuel injection service at 15,000 miles: NOT required. Rear Diff. exchange at 30k: Not req. AT flush: Yes. I am uncertain as to how difficult Mazdas are, but for AT flush, I usually take out all the AT fluid from underneath, have it carefully measured and then was thinking of starting the car and having the tube going out of the torque converter spit out the remaining. At the end and in-between keep putting new fluid in carefully making sure what goes out, exactly that much goes in.
 
Dealers make little $ from car sales since so much info is available online, so their profits come from the service department. If more people understood this they would go to less expensive, non-dealer shops for out of warranty service and routine maintenance. There are people who are convinced that the dealer has magical powers that makes them smarter than anyone else regarding service to their car, when if they would just read the manual they would find that the dealer is trying to take advantage of them. Sure, there are complicated model specific issues that are best handled by a dealer. Routine maintenance is not that.
 
robertmazda said:
Dealers make little $ from car sales since so much info is available online, so their profits come from the service department. If more people understood this they would go to less expensive, non-dealer shops for out of warranty service and routine maintenance. There are people who are convinced that the dealer has magical powers that makes them smarter than anyone else regarding service to their car, when if they would just read the manual they would find that the dealer is trying to take advantage of them. Sure, there are complicated model specific issues that are best handled by a dealer. Routine maintenance is not that.
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hear, hear!
 
Transmission is "Fill for life". That is why it doesn't have a drain plug. Use it, use it up, throw it away, buy a new transmission.
 
Actually.. it does have a drain plug. It's a drain and fill procedure, so some fluid will be left over.

Done my oil of course, front transfer case and rear diff (pump helps unless you don't mind blowing fluid through a tube to get it all the way filled) + AT fluid
 
Chris - I did check this forum and found a 6 page article on AT fluid "Fill For Life" verses doing a drain and fill. I believe the common consensus is to do at around 30k. This primarily stems from the fact interpretation of LIFE as per Mazda Engineers is unknown. Is it up to Powertrain warranty? Is it up to 100k miles? No one really knows. Thus its best to do a drain and fill.
What I did NOT get was why ONLY drain and fill and why not flush it? If doing at 30k miles, relatively a flush should NOT effect much. However, if the oil's really old and (say) at 100k, then a flush might cause more damage than good.
 
Had the same issue with my dealer at 30k. I usually am pretty astute to dealer bs, but this time they got one by me changing the plugs, fluids, and rear brakes in just 30k of driving. On my survey I stated that not even the harshest conditions in the manual support a plug change. Mazda USA agreed and sent me an 80 dollar gift certificate towards my next dealer maintenance. Here's the kicker they replaced the rear brakes at 30k which sounded very suspicious. Fast forward to 6 months and 5k additional miles as I bring her in for my free oil change, telling them just change the oil. I get back home and look at the inspection report an see the rear brakes are at 67% after 5k. I looked back at the 30k report and see that the rear brakes were at 37% before they changed them. Can Mazda brake pads be that horrible? I don't think so, but would love to hear the experience of others here. (uhm)
 
Last edited by a moderator:
bmninada said:
Chris - I did check this forum and found a 6 page article on AT fluid "Fill For Life" verses doing a drain and fill. I believe the common consensus is to do at around 30k. This primarily stems from the fact interpretation of LIFE as per Mazda Engineers is unknown. Is it up to Powertrain warranty? Is it up to 100k miles? No one really knows. Thus its best to do a drain and fill.
What I did NOT get was why ONLY drain and fill and why not flush it? If doing at 30k miles, relatively a flush should NOT effect much. However, if the oil's really old and (say) at 100k, then a flush might cause more damage than good.
Click to expand...

The manual has a maintenance schedule marched out for how many thousands of miles? Well, it better be at LEAST that, then, because they obviously still think it's "alive" at that point if you're servicing it, no?
 
Heritage07 said:
Had the same issue with my dealer at 30k. I usually am pretty astute to dealer bs, but this time they got one by me changing the plugs, fluids, and rear brakes in just 30k of driving. On my survey I stated that not even the harshest conditions in the manual support a plug change. Mazda USA agreed and sent me an 80 dollar gift certificate towards my next dealer maintenance. Here's the kicker they replaced the rear brakes at 30k which sounded very suspicious. Fast forward to 6 months and 5k additional miles as I bring her in for my free oil change, telling them just change the oil. I get back home and look at the inspection report an see the rear brakes are at 67% after 5k. I looked back at the 30k report and see that the rear brakes were at 37% before they changed them. Can Mazda brake pads be that horrible? I don't think so, but would love to hear the experience of others here. (uhm)
Click to expand...
40K miles on the stock pads. They are just fine. Even though I drive like a bat out of hell according to this forum, and my car was a rental before I owned it...

...Mazda pads are fine. SOME DEALERS...are not.
 
bmninada said:
Thank you Ricsta. Yes, I am thinking along the same lines. So, fuel injection service at 15,000 miles: NOT required. Rear Diff. exchange at 30k: Not req. AT flush: Yes. I am uncertain as to how difficult Mazdas are, but for AT flush, I usually take out all the AT fluid from underneath, have it carefully measured and then was thinking of starting the car and having the tube going out of the torque converter spit out the remaining. At the end and in-between keep putting new fluid in carefully making sure what goes out, exactly that much goes in.
Click to expand...

I've never done this type of flush but if done right should be good. I only do drain and fill on ATs myself. I'm convinced the last "flush" that was done on my Infiniti caused the failure of TC. Replacement was covered by warranty though. I think their system reintroduced old fluid as part of the process of replacement. There was a video linked on here in the past showing someone dropping the AT pan and replacing the filter as well. I'm not likely to goto that extreme.
 
Kedis82ZE8 said:
I've never done this type of flush but if done right should be good. I only do drain and fill on ATs myself. I'm convinced the last "flush" that was done on my Infiniti caused the failure of TC.
Click to expand...

I know. You would think a flush (or even a drain and refill) would be a good thing. However, apparently this has potential to cause more harm than good. I wanted the automatic transmission fluid in my S80 replaced as a preventive precaution when it had around 60,000 miles on it. However, my experienced and trusted service manager at the Volvo dealership told me it was not recommended. When I pressed them, they basically wouldn't do it. So I asked the service advisor at a trusted independent import shop to replace the tyranny fluid and he told me the same story-not recommended and he basically refused to do it as well, saying it had the potential to do more harm than good. You would think they would want the work since it's all time and materials? I got the feeling they were both looking out for my best interests.

So, I don't know what to make of all this.
 
I replaced by ATF at 50K and sent a sample to Blackstone Labs for analysis (it was fine). I asked them for their thoughts on lifetime ATF. Here's the reply I received:

"We can't say the manufacturer is wrong. After all, they designed the transmission and they are the ones to replace it if/when it fails. Still, the oil itself has a limit as to how much metal and insolubles it can hold before it becomes abrasive, and for that reason, we think the oil should be changed at some point.

Oils that have been in place for 100K miles or more are often full of wear-in material and any accumulation over the course of those 100K miles, and in some cases, the oil can actually stay in place longer, while in other cases, the oil is abrasive and full of insolubles, which cause more wear overall.

It's hard to put an interval on it, but you've done the right thing by checking in at 50,000 miles. This way, you can get an idea of how things are going and if/when you need to change it next.

The basic rule of thumb is that changing the oil doesn't hurt anything, but leaving it in place for a long time can cause excess wear, which could've been avoided with shorter intervals."
 
Heritage07 said:
Had the same issue with my dealer at 30k. I usually am pretty astute to dealer bs, but this time they got one by me changing the plugs, fluids, and rear brakes in just 30k of driving. On my survey I stated that not even the harshest conditions in the manual support a plug change. Mazda USA agreed and sent me an 80 dollar gift certificate towards my next dealer maintenance. Here's the kicker they replaced the rear brakes at 30k which sounded very suspicious. Fast forward to 6 months and 5k additional miles as I bring her in for my free oil change, telling them just change the oil. I get back home and look at the inspection report an see the rear brakes are at 67% after 5k. I looked back at the 30k report and see that the rear brakes were at 37% before they changed them. Can Mazda brake pads be that horrible? I don't think so, but would love to hear the experience of others here. (uhm)
Click to expand...

I don't remember in which thread but someone here, quite knowledgeable gave a detailed explanation. Bottom-line is Mazda has carefully calibrated the brakes. If you normally brake hard, the front ones will "die" faster. However, as most folks do mostly soft brakes usually, Mazda will put max pressure 1st. on rear brakes. Thus rear brakes tend to "die" quicker. Actually, 40k is not at all bad. I am seeing folks here replacing at 30k. The pads are actually very good, potentially looks to be ceramic considering abnormally low brake dust.
 
MikeM. said:
I know. You would think a flush (or even a drain and refill) would be a good thing. However, apparently this has potential to cause more harm than good. I wanted the automatic transmission fluid in my S80 replaced as a preventive precaution when it had around 60,000 miles on it. However, my experienced and trusted service manager at the Volvo dealership told me it was not recommended. When I pressed them, they basically wouldn't do it. So I asked the service advisor at a trusted independent import shop to replace the tyranny fluid and he told me the same story-not recommended and he basically refused to do it as well, saying it had the potential to do more harm than good. You would think they would want the work since it's all time and materials? I got the feeling they were both looking out for my best interests.

So, I don't know what to make of all this.
Click to expand...

You're missing the point here. No one disagrees with 1 fundamental aspect of AT fluid. If you or the 1st. owner never flushed it before 60 to 100k (maybe did just a drain & fill or not even that) then one MUST, ABSOLUTELY refrain from flush.

However, if someone is REGULARLY flushing it every 30k miles, then as I understood it's okay and fine. This is the part that's bothering me. What I wrote right now about 30k and flush seems to be the norm across most vehicles. However this is a Skyactiv high compression engine and how it's mated with the AT I really don't know. So asking?
 
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