Replace your coolant: CX-5 CX-3 Mazda3 Mazda6

I'd try to clean up the inside of coolant reservoir with a long brush.

And is there a coolant drain on engine block?
 
Would you guys recommend flushing with distilled water between draining the old coolant and adding the new coolant? And if I remember right, the CX5 still holds old fluid in the block like yrwei is alluding to, correct?
 
Would you guys recommend flushing with distilled water between draining the old coolant and adding the new coolant? And if I remember right, the CX5 still holds old fluid in the block like yrwei is alluding to, correct?
My 2000 BMW 528i and 1998 Honda CR-V both offer a coolant drain plug on cylinder block. There's no issue to do more complete drain on old coolant. Heater core is another place to hold some old coolant which can't be drained unless you disconnect heater core hoses.

With engine coolant used to cool down ATF for our SkyActiv-Drive transmission, there'll be more old coolant stuck in the transmission cooler.

Yes, I did fill distilled water at least once just try to dilute those old coolant inside of heater core.
 
Regarding flusihing with distilled water-
You can just fill it up with distilled water and drain rinse repeat several times to get the block and various trapped coolers cleaned out. In order to get the correct ratio of full strength coolant to water we would need to know the TOTAL system capacity AND what you can drain out by simply removing the drain plug. from there it is simply a math problem.
 
Regarding flusihing with distilled water-
You can just fill it up with distilled water and drain rinse repeat several times to get the block and various trapped coolers cleaned out. In order to get the correct ratio of full strength coolant to water we would need to know the TOTAL system capacity AND what you can drain out by simply removing the drain plug. from there it is simply a math problem.
This's exactly what I did when I replace the radiator on my 2000 BMW 528i few weeks ago. But I was lazy and I only fill-and-drained distilled water once. ;)

BMW has a drain hole on engine block, so as my 1998 Honda CR-V. Not sure if our Mazda CX-5 2.5L has one as that would help to drain the old coolant a lot more completely from engine block.

The problem to me is every fluid capacity specified by Mazda is approximate. And from real-world experience true fluid capacities can vary a lot from specified capacities. Should I trust 8.1 US quarts of total capacity on engine coolant for US 2.5L?
 
Understood, doing the math would require we know the total capacity, I can measure what comes out. I suspect it would be close enoiugh. If I wound up at 0.40 or 0.60 concentration level you could just drain X out and add straight AF or Water to get there.
 
This's exactly what I did when I replace the radiator on my 2000 BMW 528i few weeks ago. But I was lazy and I only fill-and-drained distilled water once. ;)

BMW has a drain hole on engine block, so as my 1998 Honda CR-V. Not sure if our Mazda CX-5 2.5L has one as that would help to drain the old coolant a lot more completely from engine block.

The problem to me is every fluid capacity specified by Mazda is approximate. And from real-world experience true fluid capacities can vary a lot from specified capacities. Should I trust 8.1 US quarts of total capacity on engine coolant for US 2.5L?

Does Mazda sell full strength coolant?
 
This information may be elsewhere in this forum. But, since I recently replaced a CX-9 water pump I was forced to become more knowledgeable about the FL22 coolant and options.
For future readers here are the options that are currently available for FL22 coolant:
OEM diluted Mazda part#: 0000-77-508E-20
Mazda has a concentrate formula OEM: 0000-77-501E-02 but this can be tougher to find and appears on some sites to be discontinued.
Ford (Motorcraft)diluted version: VC-10-A
Ford (Motorcraft) concentrate: VC-10-A2 (specialty green)
There are aftermarket options from Ravenol and Pentosin (and Zerex if you don*t care about the resulting color of the mix):
Ravenol is available in both diluted and concentrate:
Diluted: Ravenol J4D2091-1-10 HJC FL22
Concentrate: Ravenol J4D2091-10 HJC FL22
Pentosin Pentofrost A2 is a dark green concentrate that must be mixed with water. The nice thing about Pentofrost A2 is that it is available at some auto part stores and Rockauto for a much better price compared to most of the options above.
The Zerex Asian formulas are also compatible and likely the same chemistry * but the color can be a challenge (blue or pink) unless you do a complete change. And, as far as I am aware, the Zerex Asian vehicle formulas are only available as diluted.
 
This information may be elsewhere in this forum. But, since I recently replaced a CX-9 water pump I was forced to become more knowledgeable about the FL22 coolant and options.
For future readers here are the options that are currently available for FL22 coolant:
OEM diluted Mazda part#: 0000-77-508E-20
Mazda has a concentrate formula OEM: 0000-77-501E-02 but this can be tougher to find and appears on some sites to be discontinued.
Ford (Motorcraft)diluted version: VC-10-A
Ford (Motorcraft) concentrate: VC-10-A2 (specialty green)
There are aftermarket options from Ravenol and Pentosin (and Zerex if you don*t care about the resulting color of the mix):
Ravenol is available in both diluted and concentrate:
Diluted: Ravenol J4D2091-1-10 HJC FL22
Concentrate: Ravenol J4D2091-10 HJC FL22
Pentosin Pentofrost A2 is a dark green concentrate that must be mixed with water. The nice thing about Pentofrost A2 is that it is available at some auto part stores and Rockauto for a much better price compared to most of the options above.
The Zerex Asian formulas are also compatible and likely the same chemistry * but the color can be a challenge (blue or pink) unless you do a complete change. And, as far as I am aware, the Zerex Asian vehicle formulas are only available as diluted.

Good info.
 
This information may be elsewhere in this forum. But, since I recently replaced a CX-9 water pump I was forced to become more knowledgeable about the FL22 coolant and options.
For future readers here are the options that are currently available for FL22 coolant:
OEM diluted Mazda part#: 0000-77-508E-20
Mazda has a concentrate formula OEM: 0000-77-501E-02 but this can be tougher to find and appears on some sites to be discontinued.
Ford (Motorcraft)diluted version: VC-10-A
Ford (Motorcraft) concentrate: VC-10-A2 (specialty green)
There are aftermarket options from Ravenol and Pentosin (and Zerex if you don*t care about the resulting color of the mix):
Ravenol is available in both diluted and concentrate:
Diluted: Ravenol J4D2091-1-10 HJC FL22
Concentrate: Ravenol J4D2091-10 HJC FL22
Pentosin Pentofrost A2 is a dark green concentrate that must be mixed with water. The nice thing about Pentofrost A2 is that it is available at some auto part stores and Rockauto for a much better price compared to most of the options above.
The Zerex Asian formulas are also compatible and likely the same chemistry * but the color can be a challenge (blue or pink) unless you do a complete change. And, as far as I am aware, the Zerex Asian vehicle formulas are only available as diluted.
Might I ask, are all these alternatives the same chemistry as FL22 or are they more "safe to mix" with FL22?

Leaning towards Pentofrost A2 as it's $18 for full concentrate so basically 1 gallon should make 2 which should be enough for my 2.0L Skyactiv water pump swap coming soon.
 
FWIW all the options listed are HOAT coolants that meet the Mazda spec. The Ford options are guaranteed the same as Mazda branded with different labels. I used the Pentofrost A2 diluted 40% with distilled water when I did a water pump on a first gen CX-9. Bottom line: I believe these are all equals, not just compatible for mixing, but can’t prove it with a chemical analysis.
 

Latest posts

Back