Lifetime Trans Fluid?

[Brigadier]

My wife drives a 13 Mazda3 2.0 Skyactiv with the 6 SP AT. She has 53k miles on it, and does a lot of short trips.

The transmission is a 'sealed' unit with no dipstick to check the fluid.

She was at the dealer yesterday for wheel bearing diagnosis[warranty] and a recall on the lift gate struts.

She asked them to check the trans fluid level or even quote a service. They refused to do both. They say it is a sealed unit with lifetime fluid. Well, the way I see it, it is fine until the warranty expires and they are off the hook, right?

My mechanic says they can and do change the fluid on these 'sealed' units regularly.

Anyone have any advice either way?

 

[opus1]

When I had my 1999 Malibu I was at the dealer's once for unrelated work and the adviser suggested changing the transmission fluid. I had around 50K on it at the time and I said "isn't it sealed for life?" His response was along the lines of yes, but you can get a longer life if you change the fluid every now and then.

Cheap insurance, IMHO. I'd get it done.

 

[E150GT]

I do believe there is a dip stick. There was one on my 2015 CX-5. I would at least do a drain and fill

 

[slacktide_bitog]

It would definitely be a good idea to change it, if you can figure out how

I know some newer Toyota transmissions are called "lifetime fluid never needs to be changed" but they do still have a drain plug (and also a dipstick tube, but no actual dipstick)

 

[6starprez]

My car doesn't have a dipstick for the transmission either but it has a pan with a drain plug. Yours probably does too along with a fill/check plug. Call around and take it somewhere else.

 

[FordBroncoVWJeta]

My pontiac has a lifetime fill too. I just purchased it like 9 months ago. It was slipping. Changed all the fluid, drives like new. I don't believe in lifetime fill on anything.

 

[bdcardinal]

We do the SkyActiv fluid changes fairly often. They just do a drain and fill and i bill out 4 quarts of the FZ fluid.

 

[Donald]

Sealed just means harder to check on.

Change the ATF at 50K to 60K. Use the proper ATF, does not need to be OEM, but OEM will certainly be excellent ATF. Sometimes they need to bring the transmission to a certain temp to properly check the ATF level. No conditioners should be needed. It may have a filter, you can wait on that until next ATF change.

Find a trusted indy mechanic and go with his advice.

 

[Chris Meutsch]

Take it to someone who knows what they are doing.

 

[PimTac]

First, it's a great transmission. One of the best out there. As for the fluid being "lifetime", it all depends on what the meaning of lifetime is. I would get it changed as a couple of posters have mentioned already.

It's my understanding that there is not a whole lot of fluid in those transmissions, relative to other transmissions. The small capacity means that fluid works hard. I would stick with the Mazda fluid in this case as well. From the way it has been described by Dave Coleman, it's a finely engineered unit, a hybrid type of transmission. It sounds like a blend of a dual clutch and a traditional automatic with the clutches built into the torque converter. I am just a driver but it sounded like a lot of engineering went into this transmission so it deserves to be maintained well.

 

[dubber09]

Lifetime in this case means - until the transmission dies, then you replace it along with ATF...

I got Kia '14 and did complete ATF change at 30K miles, it shifts better now esp in cold, original ATF was dark and dirty. Will be doing drain and fill on regular sched.
"Sealed' means there is no dipstick and one needs to open fill plug, level usually gets checked with level hole open. I measured volume when drained and filled same volume.

 

[Brigadier]

Wow. Even the local Greg's Japanese Auto shop, which is a well respected indie chain, is trying to talking me out of it. Good grief.

 

[901Memphis]

Originally Posted By: Brigadier
Wow. Even the local Greg's Japanese Auto shop, which is a well respected indie chain, is trying to talking me out of it. Good grief.


Keep looking, you'll find someone eventually

 

[i_hate_autofraud]

You have 53K on it, not enough to worry about now.

However, I'd call the parts dept of the dealer and ask about tranny pan gasket and filter ans
see what they say, if there's part numbers for these items you can bet they need to be changed!

In some cases, there's little or no clearance on the side of the tranny to pull the pan/cover off
completely, without removing a tranny/engine mount or torque link, examine overall clearance for service.
FWD body and 'packaging' make this an issue, smaller the car, the worse it is.

A lot of tranny covers are on the side of the tranny not the bottom, and are in fact functional oil pans,
there will be a small magnet in there too. To change requires releasing the pan and allowing oil
to dump out in a mess.

Fill procedures for 'sealed trannies' can be tricky,(too avoid over filing) so check it out.
Check Sonnex.com to see if they list better service parts for your tranny model number.
This'll be a clue on the long term service issues.

When a dealer refuses to service, I'd be suspicious! 90% of the time don't believe the dealer!

Some dealers refuse to diagnose tranny complaints using OBDII stored codes, just road tests,
since customer don't know any better. There's many OBDII codes that NEVER turn on the trouble light!

Check out:

" HOW GM DEALERS AVOID TRANSMISSION REPAIRS "
https://app.box.com/s/rjmdo7p32jtv630a5i7qzaozzr9o98oq

 

[Whitewolf]

Originally Posted By: E150GT
I do believe there is a dip stick.


Most of them appear to be in the driver's seat from my observation.

 

[Veilside]

I have yet to find a "sealed transmission" on any vehicle, they simply lack a dipstick tube/fill hole. IMHO "lifetime" fluids are good for the "lifetime" of the warranty, 60k in most cases.

This procedure is only slightly more complicated than changing your oil. Buy 4 qts of OE fluid, remove intake and make sure you can access the fill hole before you drain the fluid. Replace fluid when cold (after vehicle has sat overnight) and refill with exactly how much you drained out, and you won't have to worry about all the complicated temperature specific level check procedures.


http://mazda3revolution.com/forums/2010-...uid-change.html

 

[The Critic]

https://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubbthreads.php/topics/4085059/1

 

[2004tdigls]

vw/audi tried this and it was an epic fail, "lifetime" means the life of the warranty. Failure after the warranty is "normal wear" at a cost of 5-6 thousand dollars for replacement

Change the fluid

http://forums.vwvortex.com/showthread.php?1064342

 

[Brigadier]

Originally Posted By: 2004tdigls
vw/audi tried this and it was an epic fail, "lifetime" means the life of the warranty. Failure after the warranty is "normal wear" at a cost of 5-6 thousand dollars for replacement

Change the fluid

http://forums.vwvortex.com/showthread.php?1064342


My thoughts exactly.

 

[dubber09]

Originally Posted By: Brigadier
Wow. Even the local Greg's Japanese Auto shop, which is a well respected indie chain, is trying to talking me out of it. Good grief.


With your low-ish mileage there is very little to no risk of causing any issues with ATF change.
If shop is busy with big $$$ projects they may not have/want to 'waste' time.

EDIT:
Also, since you are to do this, change spark plugs too. I just did with 44K miles on the car with Laser Iridium NGK that car came from factory, to the same new plugs and there was very noticable difference in how engine starts and runs

Plugs were supposed to last 75K+ miles.