Hello all,
Long time lurker on the forum and just signed up to share my automatic transmission fluid analysis for my 2013 CX-5 Sport. Least I could do to return the favor for the wealth of knowledge you all have built up!
Thank you all for the endless tips and tricks that have been posted. Doing a drain and fill of the ATF was relatively painless after removing the airbox, dropping the shroud under the engine compartment, popping out the drain plug, and emptying about 3.5 to 3.75 quarts of fluid. Holy cow it was dark! I double checked my manual just to make sure it really was ATF FZ. 3.5 quarts came out with the front on ramps, 3.75 came out with the car flat. There was just enough room under the car to do this comfortably without any ramps (making my wife infinitely more happy with me, lol). I put the plug back in with a new OEM Mazda crush washer (it is indeed the same part as the oil drain plug), put in new ATF fluid in the amount that I drained using an 18" funnel, and tightened the dipstick after cleaning off any debris. I ended up doing a 3x refill as practice for my 2017 Odyssey, driving about 10 miles through all of the gears between each drain and fill. If you do any research on that van, it seems thats what others over at OdyClub are recommending for the Honda Odyssey ATF. Cost of ATF FZ fluid wasn't bad locally. Local Mazda dealer sold them to me for ~$11 a quart and I ended up needing about 10.5 quarts for 3x drain and fills.
Anyway, on to the good stuff! See the attached pdf for a copy of my Blackstone oil analysis. I'm the only owner of the car, bought it new on the lot back in October 2012. The first 2-3 years of its life was 90% highway, 10% city driving for a 50 mile round trip commute. The next two years were frequent short trips, nearly 100% city. Really short trips, like 4 trips a day with each one being less than 2 miles a piece. The last year and a half, it was right back to thh 90% highway, 10% city driving schedule on that 50 mile round trip commute. Area driven on the 50 mile commute extremely flat (Central Florida). Area driven on the short trips has very mild hills.
ATF analysis looks extremely similar to the other user that posted his ~67k mile analysis, with comments on mine stating that it was about on par for average wear seen at ~26k miles. Only note that seemed off on mine was the viscosity being very slightly below the expected range, but they didn't think that was anything to worry about.
Going forward, I'll likely do another 3x drain and fill at 100k. For one of those fills (last one?) I'll also drop the pan, clean out any shavings, replace the ATF "strainer", and do a silicone/RTV gasket to get the pan back on. I've done it before on my old 2005 Ford Focus and it wasn't hard. My plan is likely overkill based on my Blackstone analysis and the other posted on the forum, but I don't mind doing the work. Its only slightly more work than an oil change and it honestly will help me sleep better at night (thank you OCD!). Love this car and I'm going to keep using it for my commute for as long as she'll move me!
View attachment 51k ATF Blackstone Analysis.pdf
Long time lurker on the forum and just signed up to share my automatic transmission fluid analysis for my 2013 CX-5 Sport. Least I could do to return the favor for the wealth of knowledge you all have built up!
Thank you all for the endless tips and tricks that have been posted. Doing a drain and fill of the ATF was relatively painless after removing the airbox, dropping the shroud under the engine compartment, popping out the drain plug, and emptying about 3.5 to 3.75 quarts of fluid. Holy cow it was dark! I double checked my manual just to make sure it really was ATF FZ. 3.5 quarts came out with the front on ramps, 3.75 came out with the car flat. There was just enough room under the car to do this comfortably without any ramps (making my wife infinitely more happy with me, lol). I put the plug back in with a new OEM Mazda crush washer (it is indeed the same part as the oil drain plug), put in new ATF fluid in the amount that I drained using an 18" funnel, and tightened the dipstick after cleaning off any debris. I ended up doing a 3x refill as practice for my 2017 Odyssey, driving about 10 miles through all of the gears between each drain and fill. If you do any research on that van, it seems thats what others over at OdyClub are recommending for the Honda Odyssey ATF. Cost of ATF FZ fluid wasn't bad locally. Local Mazda dealer sold them to me for ~$11 a quart and I ended up needing about 10.5 quarts for 3x drain and fills.
Anyway, on to the good stuff! See the attached pdf for a copy of my Blackstone oil analysis. I'm the only owner of the car, bought it new on the lot back in October 2012. The first 2-3 years of its life was 90% highway, 10% city driving for a 50 mile round trip commute. The next two years were frequent short trips, nearly 100% city. Really short trips, like 4 trips a day with each one being less than 2 miles a piece. The last year and a half, it was right back to thh 90% highway, 10% city driving schedule on that 50 mile round trip commute. Area driven on the 50 mile commute extremely flat (Central Florida). Area driven on the short trips has very mild hills.
ATF analysis looks extremely similar to the other user that posted his ~67k mile analysis, with comments on mine stating that it was about on par for average wear seen at ~26k miles. Only note that seemed off on mine was the viscosity being very slightly below the expected range, but they didn't think that was anything to worry about.
Going forward, I'll likely do another 3x drain and fill at 100k. For one of those fills (last one?) I'll also drop the pan, clean out any shavings, replace the ATF "strainer", and do a silicone/RTV gasket to get the pan back on. I've done it before on my old 2005 Ford Focus and it wasn't hard. My plan is likely overkill based on my Blackstone analysis and the other posted on the forum, but I don't mind doing the work. Its only slightly more work than an oil change and it honestly will help me sleep better at night (thank you OCD!). Love this car and I'm going to keep using it for my commute for as long as she'll move me!
View attachment 51k ATF Blackstone Analysis.pdf