Hello fellow Mazda 6 owners,
I'm the original owner of my 2005 Mazda 6, and am concerned about the Mazda dealer wanting to do unnecessary preventive maintenance on my vehical. The business of needing, say, a "30,000 mile scheduled maintenance" has me worried because the recommended maintenance varies from Mazda dealer to dealer. I don't want to do any extra maintenance if I don't have to. The owner's manual that came with my car has"some" preventive maintenance items listed in it where Mazda recommends the milage when you should either replace, or do maintenance to a component, but it doesn't have everything. One thing I was looking for in particular is the place where Mazda recommends when to change the transmission fluid. To me this is important because with the new synthetic oils being used for Transmission fluid, they are not good for as many miles as the older non-synthetic types were. For instance, my old 1969 Chrysler Newport only needed the transmission fluid changed after 60,000 mikes, but my newer 1996 Ford Probe needs its transmission fluid changed every 30,000 miles. Does Mazda, or anyone eles for that matter, have a more detailed maintenance schedule I could use? I usually get the "Hanes" repair manuals for my cars, but they don't publish one for our Mazda 6. If any of you purchased the Service manual for the Mazda 6, would you let me know what that book says about changing transmission fluid? If it's not too much trouble, maybe we can post a list for items that need maintenance, and intervals when that maintenance needs to be performed.

Thanks!
From Mike D'Amico
Palm Bay, Florida

 

I was comfortable with "every 60k miles", but still do it every 30k miles myself. But you know, this past week I was speaking to a car-dealer-friend, who said that Mercedes-Benz actually recommends only 1 transmission fluid change EVER, at 80k miles. He says their reasoning is that more frequent changes than that can actually cause the transmission to start slipping prematurely. So hell....I don't know!!

David

 

Regarding your statement: "the new synthetic oils being used for Transmission fluid, they are not good for as many miles as the older non-synthetic types were."

The service intervals you're seeing are related to the type of transmissions involved, not the fluids used. Don't compare an antique RWD transmission to a more modern FWD.

Concerning your service intervals, the best advice I can give you is to register yourself at mazdausa.com in the 'owner's section. You'll input which car you own and it will give you all the maintenance resources you'd ever need for your specific car. I'd do it for you, but #1) you have to be logged in to access the information, and 2) when I log in, it gives me the information specific to my car, which is a Mazdaspeed 6...so I can't be of much help. I searched online for this info to no avail.

I can tell you that 30K miles is pretty much an industry standard for automatic transmission fluid and filter changes. Your owner's manual SHOULD give you this information, butif not, Mazdausa.com will. If I had an automatic, I would most definitely have it serviced at 30K, if not sooner. My 05 Sport Trac is going in next month for it's 30K and the transmission is on the list.

 

As long as were talking about tranny's. What kind of ATF fluid can we use? Should we use what Mazda uses, or a aftermarket.? AMS makes ATF fluid. I use their motor oil. I would like to do what is best for the car!

 

Factory Service Manual states:
For Manual transaxle - Replace fluid at 62,500 miles
For Auto transaxle - Inspect at 25, 50, 75 & 100K miles (Does not state replace fluid.)

I change my auto trans fluid every 50K.

One thing that caught my eye when looking at the chart was a recommendation to change out the brake fluid every 25,000 miles. I know I haven't done this, and I'd be willing to bet there are few who have.

 

sstlaure,

There's justification for changing brake fluid annually, but every two years OR every 25k miles certainly sounds reasonable. I bought my 6 used, so I had the dealership power-flush/refill my brake fluid at ~35k miles. Man, what a difference! Good, hard pedal...and no more "spongy, squeaky noise" when pressing the pedal. Money well spent, in my case. Cheers,

David

 

'04 Mazda6 S Wagon V6 Automatic and just did a flush at 32K only because it was looking a little discolored (hope its not a sign). if not for that i would treat it like any other car i had and do it between 50-60k. My suggestion is go by the color. there is no need to flush if it looks brand new.

 

sloppyface,

It's not the color that you go by. It's the fluid's natural hygroscopic nature that you have to worry about. It is always absorbing water molecules, thus lowering it's boiling point. That's why a once-every-year-or-two flush/refill is advised.

David