I picked up a 2015 Mazda6 for my kid a couple years ago but I have since taken a liking to it so he got the old Highlander instead. Car is at 82k miles and it's got the touring trim, Skyactiv engine - 6 speed auto transaxle. About a month ago it developed a slight "slip" in the 1-2 shift - but only as soon as I leave my house when it is cold. Once warm it never exhibits the issue anymore.
My plan is to drain and fill with some OEM trans fluid - I found a DIY video and Tony's Kia ForteGT posts inspired me.
Has anyone had this issue and did a fluid fill help?
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editing to add the DIY that I saved is no longer online but found at internet archive.. sans images :(
Bought five quarts of the blue Mazda ZF fluid. Owner's manual says the gearbox holds 7 quarts but online DIY tutorials said it would probably only take ~four (since a lot is held in the torque converter). I purchased five quarts just in case.
Removed the air box to access the dipstick. Drained the pan and measured only 3.5 quarts in my bucket, so I put that much new fluid back in and then ran the car for ten minutes and shifted through the gears to get it up to temp.. then realized I had mistakenly over-filled it by a little.
So I bought a fluid pump (been wanting to have one anyway) and took some fluid back out. Since I still had 1.5 more quarts of new fluid I extracted and replaced another quart to increase my new/old fluid ratio. Checked the level and re-assembled everything. First drive didn't notice any slippage. Win.
Given Mazda calls this "lifetime fluid" (which I think means life of warranty) I have to believe a LOT of owners never would do this. But to me it was fun to do and worth the effort.
It's a ZF thing. The fluid is "lifetime" because you're supposed to buy a new car before the fluid wears out.
Pete. (l33t FS) said:
It's a ZF thing. The fluid is "lifetime" because you're supposed to buy a new car before the fluid wears out.
Yep. But I'm gonna be stubborn and hang onto it for a while.
The ZF fluid was surprisingly not viscous.
In reply to OHSCrifle :
My experience with ATF fluid is that its usually quite "watery".
On my wife's Acura, I would usually do 3 fluid changes in succession (with a short drive in between) to try and get all new fluid in there. It would cure any problems it had for another 50k miles. That would mean 12 bottles of Honda ATF.
I have always used a good Dex VI in everything except old Fords that required Type F. Works just fine.
I had a customer with an A8 that required a trans rebuild at 80k or so. The rebuilt trans went in with Dex VI instead of that funny yellow ZF stuff. It lasted at least until 350k, when he moved out of the area and I stopped servicing it.
Slippery said:
In reply to OHSCrifle :
My experience with ATF fluid is that its usually quite "watery".
On my wife's Acura, I would usually do 3 fluid changes in succession (with a short drive in between) to try and get all new fluid in there. It would cure any problems it had for another 50k miles. That would mean 12 bottles of Honda ATF.
This Mazda stuff was super watery.
I'm going to evaluate how feels. If it feels good over the next week or so I will probably wait a few months and then do the same drain and fill routine again.
Related. I've been thinking.. All the people I know fall into two categories with respect to maintaining cars:
- do every service the dealer recommends
- do nothing but oil changes unless it's absolutely freaking out with noises or warning lights
I have to believe at lot of cars barely even get the oil changed - making used car buying without records a bit like Russian roulette.
