Change automatic transmission fluid?

Sorry if it*s been shared before but I think this cat has the right idea: https://youtu.be/RuNNqh8-jkw

Colorado, give it another 50k. 125k sounds like a nice round number :D People over at BITOG are way more aggressive though. I saw somebody suggest fluid changes every 20-25k after the initial change, but I think that*s overkill for this animal.

Or do it when you*re flushing/replacing your coolant around 100k if you can*t wait lol.
Sounds like solid advice. Thanks!
 
My fluid analysis on drained atf says otherwise.

And my local dealer says the exact opposite of yours, but then they try to sell a flush which can't be done on these. Long story short, most dealers don't know jack and either tow the company line of "lifetime" fluid, or they say change fluid is necessary but then they sell you a service that can't be done lol. Very few good, honest dealers it seems.

Go with common sense. Mazda also refused to define what "lifetime" means in years or miles when I reached out to them, so if you plan to own your CX-5 forever like me, makes sense to regularly change a wear item.

My dealer does a fair amount of volume given the area, and I keep inquiring about failed CX5 transmissions. The only 1 I've heard about so far from this dealer was a woman they said who flooded the vehicle at the lake or something of the sort.

I am currently at 100K, and we will just see how many licks it takes to get to the center of this lollipop!
 
My fluid analysis on drained atf says otherwise.

And my local dealer says the exact opposite of yours, but then they try to sell a flush which can't be done on these. Long story short, most dealers don't know jack and either tow the company line of "lifetime" fluid, or they say change fluid is necessary but then they sell you a service that can't be done lol. Very few good, honest dealers it seems.

Go with common sense. Mazda also refused to define what "lifetime" means in years or miles when I reached out to them, so if you plan to own your CX-5 forever like me, makes sense to regularly change a wear item.

I agree with your policy on regularly changing with a wear item. Haven't owned an automatic since '90 so need put these things back on the radar.
 
So here's a question.

I did my first drain/fill sessions around 71k, which admittedly I should have done sooner, but oh well. I was thinking maybe 30-40k around 100-110k miles, but wasn't sure. What do you think a good next mileage interval would be? Would it also make sense to just go ahead and drop the pan and change the filter too by that point and mess with this RTV or whatever?
I believe you can do next drain-and-fill at 50K-mile interval like ruthrj suggested from your driving style with no towing. I wouldn't worry too much to replace the ATF filter cartridge if you really don't want to mess with the RTV for pan gasket. After all the filter cartridge is designed for "lifetime", and chances are the filter will never get clogged with its large size.
 
Interesting. Last time in (something very minor) the service manager said to not change the tranny fluid that it was life time. Doing so was not a good thing.
My Mazda dealer has always been suggesting to do drain-and-fill on ATF, although many customers refuse to do so due to it's not on Mazda's official maintenance schedule.
 
I'm not a fan of Scotty Kilmer. He seems a bit haphazard, and I saw a couple of videos he did, one on the CX-5, where he was spreading around some blatantly false information.

That said, I do agree that "lifetime" fluid is a bit of a farce. Lifetime to a car manufacturer is probably just the extent of the powertrain warranty. Lifetime to me is when the damn wheels fall off and the car has served me well for many years and hopefully at least 200k miles. I got 300k out of my last vehicle which was a Jeep GC.
 
I'm not a fan of Scotty Kilmer. He seems a bit haphazard, and I saw a couple of videos he did, one on the CX-5, where he was spreading around some blatantly false information.
Yeah I can understand some people may not like this good old Texan Scotty and he trashed Mazda's because he has seen too many transmission issues.

Here's another and better video with actual parted transmission to show you why you need to do ATF change and why some people such as Unobtanium experienced transmission failure after the ATF change in detail:

 
Yeah I can understand some people may not like this good old Texan Scotty and he trashed Mazda's because he has seen too many transmission issues.

Here's another and better video with actual parted transmission to show you why you need to do ATF change and why some people such as Unobtanium experienced transmission failure after the ATF change in detail:


Yeah but it was misleading. Look up his CX-5 video. He explains how someone bought a "used one with a turbo for like $2k" and how it was broken and therefore can't trust this Skyactiv technology.

Which is completely misleading because at the time there was no turbo CX-5, I certainly don't think you are picking up any CX-5 for $2k, and the Mazdas with the turbo engines with problems were all pre-Skyactiv, minus the CX-9 of course, but I don't think you are finding a Skyactiv era CX-9 for $2k. So he may be correct, and the story is correct, but he made it sound like it was a Skyactiv Mazda in his story, when there's no way.
 
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Amusing column from Ezra Dyer about changing trans fluid in the December Car and Driver here. Anyone who works on their car can relate. Even tho he's talking about a stick.
 
If someone thinks that transmission fluid will last forever and will never need changing. That person should forfeit their drivers license and just take mass transit. They should then have their picture placed in the vehicle maintenance hall of shame.
 
Forever is a long time, I can see both sides of the argument here, but what I'd really like to know is what time frame/mileage the manufacturers consider to be lifetime?? 100k miles? 150k miles? 15 years? Fluid does not last forever. There has to be a limit somewhere.
 
Amusing column from Ezra Dyer about changing trans fluid in the December Car and Driver here. Anyone who works on their car can relate. Even tho he's talking about a stick.

That was an entertaining read. Thanks!

Scotty is fun to watch but his references are Ford/Mazda era.... I'm gonna go ahead and change my AT within the month. If it ends up that I have a AT leak so be it.....although unlikely. I had been on the fence as I didn't want to waste new fluid $$$ depending on resolution to my long-standing issue.

Yeah, be sure to do a measurement on dipstick of ATF before you drain and will be curious if its under filled as mine was, or if it's even lower if that's the source of your leak.

Forever is a long time, I can see both sides of the argument here, but what I'd really like to know is what time frame/mileage the manufacturers consider to be lifetime?? 100k miles? 150k miles? 15 years? Fluid does not last forever. There has to be a limit somewhere.

Mazda would not give me a definition for lifetime. I asked them very directly...is it the Powertrain warranty? Can you give me a mileage or years for what is considered "lifetime". They were non-committal. Best I could determine from their non-committal speak is that the fluid is "good" until your transmission breaks, has to be rebuilt/replaced and filled with new fluid. They always said "good for lifetime of transmission, and only needs to be replaced if major transmission work is done". I can read between the lines of that statement lol.
 
Maybe a better avenue would be to go to whoever makes Mazda's (is it Mazda?) trans oil and maybe get some specs from them. It's not the oil that wears out, it's the additives.
 
Lifetime for my 05 Ford Focus air filter was 120k lol. Listed as Lifetime* in the owners manual with the asterisk. 6 pt font at the bottom of the page:120k miles. Front bumper needed to be removed to replace the thing.
 
Part of the lifetime nonsense is due to the EPA and petroleum based fluids. The manufacturer tells the EPA, look we have a trans that the fluid never needs replacing so we are green and environmentally friendly. Yet, the stupidity is, would you rather replace the fluid every 50k miles or replace a transmission every 100k miles? Which has the greater environmental impact. The latter of course.

Fluid engineering basically states that ALL fluids will eventually break down due to heat, time and contamination. THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS FOREVER LIFETIME FLUID. That is a scientific and engineering fact.
 
Part of the lifetime nonsense is due to the EPA and petroleum based fluids. The manufacturer tells the EPA, look we have a trans that the fluid never needs replacing so we are green and environmentally friendly. Yet, the stupidity is, would you rather replace the fluid every 50k miles or replace a transmission every 100k miles? Which has the greater environmental impact. The latter of course.

Fluid engineering basically states that ALL fluids will eventually break down due to heat, time and contamination. THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS FOREVER LIFETIME FLUID. That is a scientific and engineering fact.

There is no such thing as a lifetime transmission, engine, or differential, either, but I'm going to do my best to see how long the OEM transmission fluid lasts. 100,8XX miles and doing fine, currently.
 
Maybe a better avenue would be to go to whoever makes Mazda's (is it Mazda?) trans oil and maybe get some specs from them. It's not the oil that wears out, it's the additives.

Good point. The additives have a lower lifespan than the oil itself. That said I'm pretty sure term "lifetime" in car manuals = manufacturer's powertrain warranty period. From a lawsuit perspective at least.

The closes to lifetime we get is the emissions equipment. That stuff has a longer warranty period.
 
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Good point. The additives have a lower lifespan than the oil itself. That said I'm pretty sure term "lifetime" in car manuals = manufacturer's powertrain warranty period. From a lawsuit perspective at least.

The closes to lifetime we get is the emissions equipment. That stuff has a longer warranty period.

If "lifetime" means "warranty period"...then what does the "lifetime warranty" mean?
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