I contacted Mazda online and they said it's not part of maintenance to do EITHER a transmission fluid flush or replace the fluid.

Thoughts. Or should I do them anyway because I always see people saying they do a change or flush ever 60,000 and which would you do and WHY a flush or replace the fluid?

 

Never, and I do mean NEVER have a flush performed on any car with an automatic transmission, Mazda or otherwise.

As for performing a fluid replacement; most manufacturers add fully synthetic ATF to their transmissions these days and as such, no longer recommend ATF service. If you should opt for a fluid change, simply drain the transmission and replace the filter (if so equipped), and refill with Mazda ATF.

 

synthetic fluid or not still not meant to stay in any transmission forevever".
trans fluid breaks down over time no mater how good its made. Mazda likes
to think there fluid is Lifetime Fluid but its realy NOT.

if you want your
transmission to last change the fluid. i did 4 drain and fills myself on my
mazda 3 and i got better performance and crisper shifts afterword just
remember fluid is cheap compared to a new trany.

 

Playing Devil's advocate here; please enlighten us regarding the mechanism which causes synthetic ATF to break down over time.

 

do yourself and drain the fluid. I did my mazda 5 at 53k and it was dirty as H*ll. installed new filter and new fluid. did a couple drain and refill (3.5qts) using valvoline maxlife atf and the baby shifts like butta.U may smell the new fluid for about 1000miles but it goes away. Used the recirculation button when the vehicle is not moving n you won't smell it b/c the the tranny vents n it comes inside the cab when it is in fresh air mode. Mazda doesn't care b/c the warranty runs out at 50k i believe. also get some high quality brake fluid and flush out the brake system also and do the coolant too. If you plan on keeping it, you'll be glad you did!

 

I meant do yourself a favor n service the trans. don't have one of the flushes that places like jiffy lube does. just a regular fluid n filter change. At least pop the plug n drain it and refill it. if you just do that it's about 3.5 qts to refill. Valvoline Maxlife ATF works great.

 

Attention, for those of you with Mazda automatic transmissions in your cars ALWAYS USE THE MAZDA RECOMMENDED ATF, do not under any circumstances replace your ATF with MaxLife ATF. Why? Because transmission clutches are designed to be used with ATF which meets a very specific coefficient of friction (COF), and the odds are very good MaxLife ATF does NOT meet that specific COF.

To expound on the above further, if the COF is not slippery enough, the clutches will grab too quickly and internal damage to the transmission will result. If the COF is too slippery, the clutches will take too long to engage (making the shifts feel "buttery"), and accelerated clutch wear will be the result. Either way, a shortened life for your transmission will result.

To Shindaiwa, I strongly recommend you do three ATF changes over a period of a couple of weeks and get that new transmission fluid diluted as much as is possible; as thing stand now, your ATF has been contaminated.

 

I did exactly that. I have done 3 drain and refills. Valvoline maxlife ATF NOT Valvoline Import works great. Valvoline has confirmed this several times. After 50k miles of driving with Valvoline Maxlife ATF the trans works as good or better than it did when new. The factory mazda fluid is good but not great. The vehicle has close to 100k and the engine n trans both perform just like new. Just b/c it says mazda doesn't always mean its better. Look at Mazda batteries and the rear shocks, both of these factory items are nowhere near as good as what you can purchase from other sources. But i understand where you are coming from, but the fluid I'm using works awesome and valvoline has clearly stated that it meets and exceeds the factory fluid, I will continue to do a quick drain n refill every 10k or so. It's quick n easy. castrol also works well, I believe it's the castrol import atf. I have yet to here anyone have any issues with either of these. but the factory fluid is ok too but no better than maxlife atf.

 

https://sharena21.springcm.com/Publi...0-ac162d889bd3 this should be the link to the spec sheet showing it's compatible with mazda m-v

 

n yes you do need to do 2 or 3 drain n refills after replacing the strainer so that you get all the old fluid out. pop out the drain plug and refill it. It usually takes about 3.5 qts each time.