I purchased a 2020 cx5 in sport trim a couple months back for my daughter. 95,000 miles and in decent shape. I liked the fact the Mazda had a 6 speed auto transmission instead of the CVT trans found in many other vehicles in my price range. It was even the color she wanted.
I had not read up on the transmission issues in the CX5, ie. the chirp when hitting the 3rd to 4th gear. I was of course concerned when I heard it and over the course of a couple thousand miles it had gotten worse. (or I was able to hear it more because I knew what to listen for) I have been quoted quite a bit for the cure, a new torque converter and flush. I had even been told it might need a trans rebuild. I was kinda sick to my stomach about the trans situation and started reading up on the issue. I did the trans relearn/reboot and it helped for a little while.

Black Friday rolls around and I decided I'm going to do a filter and fluid change to see if it has any effect on the chirp issue. I wound up getting a Ravenol FZ fluid kit and enough to do the filter swap and follow up with an addition fluid change. I can recommend that you do the filter and fluid swap asap to fix your problem. I know fluid doesn't fix hardware problems, but this was enough to remedy my trans issue. No more chirp, crisp shift points and clean fluid. The fluid out was factory fill and it was near black. I had debated using either the Castrol or Valvoline universal equivalent fluids because of the price but went instead with an actual FZ fluid and a heck of a deal on Ravenol from Blauparts. First time using Blauparts and I have to say, I like the service and I am very happy with Ravenol trans fluid. (German overengineered)

The job wasn't difficult and can be done in the driveway with ramps and about 3-4 hours for a DIY job and you can watch a couple youtube videos for clarity. I had roughly $160.00 in parts/fluids and free labor from me. Very pleased with the outcome. Time will tell if I caught the problem before too much wear on the torque converter and the clutches but for now it is doing fine. I will update later after a few thousand miles to let you know the condition and if my correction actually solved the issue or if it is just masked for now with fresh fluid.

About 20 miles between the first fluid drop and the second, about 120 miles since service completed and no issues in shifting or leaks. My question is could I have gone with a universal fluid and done the job for about half the cost of parts? Maybe, probably, however with my results I am glad to have blue FZ fluid in the box and happy its done.

 

This is a great example of why "lifetime fill" fluids are a joke. I changed my ATF at 30k and planned to do it every 50k or so after but recently traded mine in.

 

Your transmission service was likely the first time it was ever done. Sadly, Mazda service on these states lifetime no service needed. My recommendation is at 30k miles and every 30k or sooner after that for the life you own the vehcle.
Mazda ATF is already a dark color, so it is difficult and not always the best indicator of the condition of the transmission. Careful inspection of what was on the pan magnet, the varnish on the valve body and the collected sediment at the bottom of the pan is a better indicator as to what was and has been going on in the transmission.

As for servicing if you type in search feature service transmission there are dozen on this forum Here in my http to several done by me NOT in my service shop but in the home garage. As well details of what things should look like along with oil analysis from Blackstone Lab.
Oil Analysis | Blackstone Laboratories
You may consider to get your sample of ATF analyzed. Its cheaper then service shops guessing at things.
I use and highly recommend Castol ATF

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I use and highly recommend Castrol ATF

 

Welcome to the forum

 

I've seen several CX-5s with the chirp, each one had the transmission replaced by Mazda.

 

Yup. I have a coworker that had the same symptom before major problems luckily under warranty at 24,000 miles. Nothing to do with fluid. There is a bulletin for it but I'm not sure which years it covers.

 

. If varnish has built up in and around the valvebody survos it can cause delays in full gear engagement which can cause sounds like chirping. As for the bulletin TSB better read exactly what it says again. You seem are only reading and assuming what you want from it instead of reading the information clearly.

Just curious when you disassembled a Mazda Skyactiv transmission with low miles (20-35k miles 40k at the most ) what did you find and learn about it ?
Now I only 3 , one I have already made some one upgraded parts and other modification. But found the valve body to be pretty flawless.
I even like the Turbo model torque converter that will be going in my Mazda after I band it to prevent ballooning .

 

^---- more giant fart sounds

I didn't really need an uninformed callisto ramble I was just agreeing with what grimreaper had seen when encountering that chirp.

 

I've seen it a few times in the facebook groups and each person needed transmission replacement. One guy took it in and they couldn't reproduce it and it kept happening for about 8000 miles until it was out of warranty then hit him with $8,000 for a new transmission. The others all happened under warranty. Any transmission can develop problems but do you know if this concern has been eliminated on the 2025? I see the bulletin relates to 2017-2024 but I'm betting it hasn't been updated to include the 2025.

 

To fully understand that service bulletin you need to read...

Some vehicles may exhibit a chirp noise (stick-slip noise) from the automatic transaxle (AT) when shifting from 3 to 4 while driving. This may be caused by the automatic transaxle fluid (ATF) being contaminated by iron powder due to excessive wearing of the lock up clutch in the torque converter.


This was a BAND_AID theory based on bean counters determine that it was necessary to do the least costly service. If you read and understood this TSB/Bulletin it was written first and foremost directly for a Mazda mechanic. That is important because so many of these are often as in this case misinterpreted, understood or simply thinking that it fits anyone describing the sound they hear that has a psychological effect of reading one descriptive word like chirp.

See video below

The reality is that NOT doing very early fluid pan and filter service is likely the cause of ALL transmission issues and when you are out of warranty you are out of any recourse to go back to the dealership to have Mazda cover the issue cost.

ALL Skyactiv transmission like engine have a break in period and will shed various material that will not always be caught in the transmission filter which even in a 2026 transmission they are still antiquated in the concept for filtering and are great for stopping very large pieces of material from being pulled from the fluid that held them in suspension before going through the transmission.

The next time a transmission pan is dropped take notice to the material that is always present on the pan magnet ( provided a few pictures ) and then think of going years or tens of thousands of miles or even only a few thousand miles on a new transmission what is mostly, but not all collected on that magnet.

Mazda has by the numbers researching in a great deal of time-consuming depth on the internet can find that the numbers of warranty transmission with this issue is so low it is not even worth the time to find the factual numbers.

So my advise has always been keep up on basic transmission pan and filter fluid changes at least every 10k miles and you will be less likely to ever have transmission issues under normal daily driving usage.


Not even a Mazda transmission but a Chrysler Automatic transmission chirk........ but guess what.....??

COD 0002

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1oCJulb-5w4


Tire breaking traction during shift.