Cost cutting by Mazda North America!
Which coolant
- Thread starter macandal
- Start date
Cost cutting by Mazda North America!
O'Reilly has Zerex (green) FL-22 equivalent. It's HOAT as well as silicate free and borate free.
Zerex 1 Gallon Green 50/50 Coolant/Antifreeze
Zerex 1 Gallon Green 50/50 Coolant/Antifreeze
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- 2016.5 CX-5 GT AWD titanium/black 2016 Miata Club ST MT white
New car owners get used to have all fluid levels in full for larger margin of safety. Mazda has defied convention and precisely meters many fluids so that their levels on its new vehicles from factory falls at lower than "Full" mark. From my many years of experience I've never seen a new vehicle having low oil and coolant levels in addition to 50% low on rear differential gear lub based on Mazda's factory service manual filling up the gear lub to the fill-hole. This Mazda's intentional cost-saving decision is at Mazda dealer's expense whenever a new car customer paying attention to those fluid levels, but who is going to check rear differential gear lub? My dealer is nice enough topped off my coolant 3 times with Mazda's FL-22 coolant. I'm not going to pay $24 per gallon on FL-22 coolant just for topping off.
"You don't need to top off a new vehicle and probably shouldn't."
Then why our owner's manual always says adding enough oil / coolant "to bring the level to Full"?
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My 2016 MX-5 that I bought used also had low fluid levels in the manual transmission and the rear diff. I bought the Miata with only 11.2k miles on the odo. I topped the trans off and it took almost 16oz of lube, the capacity is just over 2 quarts. 16oz low is ~25% low! I topped off the rear diff as well and it took ~12oz to fill, the EXACT same amount that my brand new CX-5 took to top off.
It also appears that the coolant was low and someone topped it off with something other than FL22. The green coolant is a bit murky and just doesn't look right when compared to the CX (which was also low from the factory). I plan on draining the coolant and putting the right stuff in.
Was going to call BS...but you're right LOLFL-22 AND green AND prediluted mix.
It does not say it meets FL-22.
Dammit...it could be compatible though? right?
It claims to be compatible, but I'd stick with the Mazda FL-22, don't make assumptions. Better safe than sorry.
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That thread should be deleted, burned and magnetized off the servers. About the only thing correct there is that you shouldn't run straight coolant.
ANY thread by that guy (GJ Molester) is completely whack. He joined up and went on a "start thread" spree. Spammed the crap out of this place with all kinds of false info, then most likely bought a different car and is ruining some other site.
I agree, get that crapola off of the search function.
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- Plano, Texas, USA
I couldnt find anything saying its FL-22 coolant either. It says Formula/Technology: HOAT in the spec.It does not say it meets FL-22.Was going to call BS...but you're right LOL
Also, OEM FL-22 is 55/45 pre-mixed, not 50/50.
For $17.99 per gallon on this questionable Zerex Green 50/50 coolant, I wouldnt use it.
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- Plano, Texas, USA
Im glad you went through all the trouble checking fluid levels in manual transmission and rear differential on your 11.2K-mile Miata and again verified Mazda under-filled most fluids from factory. While Mazda says we should fill every fluid to the Full mark or fill-hole when needed, they themselves failed to do so with precision-measured fluid volume in factory. We can only suspect Mazda intentionally does this way just for cost cutting purpose, and passes some top-off cost to Mazda dealers during new-vehicle inspection.
Based on the description of your coolant, yes you should flush your coolant as soon as possible with OEM FL-22 coolant, along with shorter coolant change interval - 60K miles / 5 years instead of initial 120K miles / 10 years based on Mazdas maintenance schedule.
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- 2016.5 CX-5 GT AWD titanium/black 2016 Miata Club ST MT white
That's the plan. I was going to drain the coolant while I was doing the other maintenance but draining the coolant wasn't going to be as easy as I thought that it would be. The radiator drain valve is only accessible by removing the air box (there's a rather large under car cover that would have to be removed, it's easier to remove the airbox) and I didn't have the time that day.
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- Denver, CO
Geeze, never thought that wack job would be brought up again. *shudder*
My reservoir was low last year or maybe it was 2 years ago. I kept researching different fluids and ultimately decided it was just easier to buy the Mazda FL-22 and sleep easy at night.
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- Plano, Texas, USA
Thiss why Ive been trying to get a new car instead of used, as well never know what has happened during the prior ownership, and why he / she wanted to get rid of car early.
Apparently theres no engine block coolant drain plug on SkyActiv-G, and the coolant flush can be more hassle to do making sure all the old coolant can be flushed out.
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- 2016.5 CX-5 GT AWD titanium/black 2016 Miata Club ST MT white
Yep, one never knows what was done prior to purchasing a used car. I did it anyway and considering that the Miata only had 11.2k miles on the odo, I figured that he (I know the previous owners name, even his address, because he left some docs in the car. CarMax went through great pains to keep that info from me.) couldn't have screwed things up too badly. I know that the car was well cared for and garage kept though and I believe that the wrong coolant was added by CarMax not the previous owner.
I'll do a coolant swap shorty and then do another next year.
