Transmission Dead wth

i changed my 12 mazda 5 just couple weeks ago at dealer for 100 bucks. 80k km and it made a noticeable difference on how much smoother it shifted.

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Seems awful cheap for a dealer flush. How'd you swing that?

thats their standard price at the dealership near where i live. their oil changes are only 55 whereas most places charge 70 to 90

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if it's like my dealer, that price is for a simple drain/fill and not a flush. the flush is more likely about $150 to $200. cdnballer, they just did the drain/fill, correct?
 
it was a drain and fill, not a flush. i personally think drain and fill is sufficient ince every 50k or so. it depends on vehicle is driven. this is mostly highway so no point changing it often



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I am sitting right around 160,000 miles on my 2010, never changed tranny fluid.
 
I am sitting right around 160,000 miles on my 2010, never changed tranny fluid.
Wow, what does your dipstick look like? I'd be scared to look. I wonder what the magnet on the drain plug looks like :). Probably good preventive measure would be to drain and fill 3x.
 
I was told by a independent mechanic and by an older Mazda mechanic that if the fluid wasn't changed at 30k, and again at 60k not to touch it because the fluid is rated as lifetime fluid, and that more times than not they've seen it do more harm than good to transmissions to change fluid for first time 60k plus into life of transmission. I am second owner, bought it around 55k, previous owner didn't flush, and at 160K and never having one single issue with the transmission, I personally can't argue with their advice.
 
I was told by a independent mechanic and by an older Mazda mechanic that if the fluid wasn't changed at 30k, and again at 60k not to touch it because the fluid is rated as lifetime fluid, and that more times than not they've seen it do more harm than good to transmissions to change fluid for first time 60k plus into life of transmission. I am second owner, bought it around 55k, previous owner didn't flush, and at 160K and never having one single issue with the transmission, I personally can't argue with their advice.
Obviously your mileage may vary, but our transmission failed at 20k miles. I've been changing the fluid every 15k or so, up to 110k miles now and no problems so far. I think when auto manufacturers say "lifetime", I think they mean "out of warranty period" :). I figure it doesn't hurt to change it and it's relatively cheap. I guess you could experience problems if you changed it now, since you might move stuff that had settled out to places where it could cause problems.
 
Obviously your mileage may vary, but our transmission failed at 20k miles. I've been changing the fluid every 15k or so, up to 110k miles now and no problems so far. I think when auto manufacturers say "lifetime", I think they mean "out of warranty period" :). I figure it doesn't hurt to change it and it's relatively cheap. I guess you could experience problems if you changed it now, since you might move stuff that had settled out to places where it could cause problems.
So looks like two tranny failures so far reported here ...

I changed my fluid at 35 and now at 65
So far so good
Knock on wood
 
Did you ever have the shifting from reverse to drive surge problem? Or did it work well until it broke? I live this car, but the transmission has been the only legitimate gripe I have. Shifting is poorly timed at times, and sometimes rough. Since new.

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We have had the surging problem. I posted about it last summer. Is this something others have had? Seemed to be tied to the load the AC was putting in it. We did often gave the surging making when going from reverse or into reverse. Ironically reverses was about the only thing that worked still

Sorry I didn't reply to the person earlier about the dealer. This was South Bay Mazda.
 
Thanks for the info on the dealer

What is the surging ?

I am turning 70k miles this week
It runs same as day one
 
Kind of a dead thread, but in case anyone else happens upon it: Mazda had no service interval listed for the 08 Mazda 5 for the ATF. I figured it was a good idea to do so at 30k. I kick myself for not really paying attention to it more. Long story short, when I checked the fluid, it was brown. Good ATF should look like cherry cough syrup, or if slightly worn, dark cough syrup. This is at 30k miles. If you don't check the fluid (or whoever services your vehicle) doesn't, at 60k, your transmission could die. This "sealed unit" and "lifetime" fluid stuff is a bit odd and I swear they do it to keep costs arbitrarily low for service and projected costs for comparison shopping sake!

I live in Western PA, where there's a lot of hills and stop and go. Since the 5 is, uh, adequately powered, it must work hard to keep up, especially in the hills. This is hard on the transmission and the fluid.
 
So, car has been very reliable and I would have said that we love it a week ago.

It's a 2012 gt bought new on Jan 1 2012. Started having a Wierd feeling on Thursday, scheduled an appointment and then Yesterday the transmission had complete failure at 67000 miles when I got to to the dealer. Dealer is saying out of warrantee and they want 4400 and two months to wait for a replacement transmission. Waiting to see if Mazda will make this right, waiting now Until Monday because they are closed at corporate office. Honestly at this point they have a long way to go to make me trust them again. Well maybe not just do the right thing and fix the car I don't think that's that much. Can't imagine if this happened on a trip. When off warantee I don't expect complete catastrophic failure. Sure some things here and there.

question. how did you drive the car when new?

aggressively or careful?
 
This "sealed unit" and "lifetime" fluid stuff is a bit odd and I swear they do it to keep costs arbitrarily low for service and projected costs for comparison shopping sake!

This is actually becoming more of the norm, rather than the exception, in vehicles these days. Part of my researching in next vehicle I buy, is how easy is it to check and change the ATF myself, even if the manufacturer says it is "sealed." Thankfully even though the 5 doesn't specify a service interval, it is not sealed and changing the fluid is easier than a regular oil change.
 
Is there a how to ?

I have changed all oil and filter on my 5 last 6 years

If tranny is easy I would like to attempt it

Appreciate the help

Just watch the first 2 minutes of this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yNjuAGLZmDs It's literally a simple drain bolt, drains 3 to 3.5 qts of ATF, then refill with same amount of new ATF. If it comes out really dark, do again after 200+ miles of driving. Repeat up to 3X. Once every 10k to 20k after that. I did not add the tranny filter like this guy did nor do I plan to since I do such frequent drain/fills.

I'm one to recommend NOT using the mazda branded ATF. Lots of documented cases of it going bad much faster than any ATF ever should. I've had good luck with Valvoline MaxLife ATF. I wouldn't hesitate to use Castrol Transmax Import Multi-Vehicle either, based on others experiences with it.
 
Just watch the first 2 minutes of this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yNjuAGLZmDs It's literally a simple drain bolt, drains 3 to 3.5 qts of ATF, then refill with same amount of new ATF. If it comes out really dark, do again after 200+ miles of driving. Repeat up to 3X. Once every 10k to 20k after that. I did not add the tranny filter like this guy did nor do I plan to since I do such frequent drain/fills.

I'm one to recommend NOT using the mazda branded ATF. Lots of documented cases of it going bad much faster than any ATF ever should. I've had good luck with Valvoline MaxLife ATF. I wouldn't hesitate to use Castrol Transmax Import Multi-Vehicle either, based on others experiences with it.

No, use a good quality ATF like redline or pentasonin then.

If you arent changing your transmission filter along with the fluid, may as well throw your money and time into the garbage. Its the same story as changing your engine oil without replacing the filter, or like taking a shower and then putting your dirty clothes back on. The new fluid shouldnt just go through the old dirty filter...
 
No, use a good quality ATF like redline or pentasonin then.

If you aren’t changing your transmission filter along with the fluid, may as well throw your money and time into the garbage. It’s the same story as changing your engine oil without replacing the filter, or like taking a shower and then putting your dirty clothes back on. The new fluid shouldn’t just go through the old dirty filter...

How accessible is the ATF filter in a Mazda5? I thought it was near impossible to get to and was replaced when the transmission is rebuilt...
 
If you arent changing your transmission filter along with the fluid, may as well throw your money and time into the garbage. Its the same story as changing your engine oil without replacing the filter, or like taking a shower and then putting your dirty clothes back on. The new fluid shouldnt just go through the old dirty filter...

I'll agree with the argument that changing the filter is BETTER. So is going to the extra lengths to remove all the fluid in the torque converter at the same time. But I don't go as far as comparing it to changing the engine oil without changing the filter. Engine oil is constantly bombarded by contaminants from the combustion of fuel trying to get their way past the piston and valves. That's why you MUST change an oil filter every time engine oil is changed. Trannies aren't subjected to the same contaminant bombardment.

My methodology for changing ATF without doing the pan filter is that it is far better than doing nothing, like Mazda recommends. I've seen many transmissions go from black ATF to having clean and red ATF after only 3X drain/fills. Then after that staying very clen after much longer intervals. If the old filter was so bad for the new fluid, it would continue to blacken it. One thing I would not do, is do all this to a tranny that has gone waaay past getting its first service, like 150k miles. Too much risk in breaking free old build-up with new fluid.

You'll never hear me say this is the best way to do it. But for me it works as a cost and time efficient manner of extending the life of my auto trannies.
 
Read the quoted text in post 87, then search the SAE papers if you are interested.
https://www.mazdas247.com/forum/sho...-on-the-Mz5!&p=6461738&viewfull=1#post6461738

It is contamination that has been (and continues to) destroy automatics (not limited to Mazda's). That OE filter is not for the purpose of fine particle filtering, only to filter larger catastrophic particles. It is due to very fine ferrous metal particles that over time build up and wrecks havoc. Folks may have a different definition of "flush". Dealers/Shops use a machine to sucks out old fluid and, using pressure, fills that case back up exactly what was extracted. This pressure moves these ferrous metal. Automatics shift by itself using solenoids, which are essentially electromagnetic activated switches: magnet + tiny metal particles + build-up = see where this is going? Not only does it jam things, it also retains heat. The transmission pan has a magnetic at the very bottom of the pan. These particles still have weight so it will settle to the bottom of the pan.


The transmission cooler is NOT only for cooling (heating too). It employs liquid to liquid cooling (and heating) using coolant. Ensure coolant is working effectively or can optionally upgrade to a more effective aftermarket radiator and keep the whole car running cooler. Heat destroys all yet ironically, those in hot climates (not saying extreme heat) are likely to use their AC all the time. AC turns on fan, which pulls air through the radiator, which cools the coolant, which is use to cool the transmission fluid.


Regardless if you car is new or old, you need to take out these contaminants which mostly occur during break-in. IMO, if your fluid is new, the best and easier thing to do is simply add an in-line filter (like the Magnefine filter b/c it has magnet, which will work better than traditional filtering media alone). They have a 30K life span, where at the end just remove it and you are back to stock with cleaner fluid. The idea is to clean/capture the contaminants before doing drain/fill or flush (by flush, I mean the drop a hose 'transfusion' method, not the dealer machine flush).
 
Easy permanent solution- replace ATF with MTF, then throw away the filter. Because you've replaced the automatic transmission with a manual one. Win.
 
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