ATF Mazda 626 2001 2.0L 29,487mi

[White Fang]

These cars are notorious for tranny problems. The transmission seems to be working fine, but this analysis is horrible. The ATF is the original OEM factory fill, which I believe is Mercon. I will be changing the fluid quickly. I would appreciate any comments and/or sympathy regarding this analysis.

Iron 300 (This is not a typo.)
Chromium 1
Lead 92
Copper 153
Tin 4
Al 20
Ni 12
Silver 0
Silicon 19
Boron 27
Sodium 21
Magnesium 5
Calcium 287
Barium 0
Phosphorous 272
Zinc 48
Moly 1
Titanium 0
Vanadium 0
Potassium 0
Vis at 100C 5.47
Water 0
Soot TR
TAN .77
Oxid 31
Nitr 4.0

 

[Al]

I agree. Do the search and you will see some other UOA's for ATF fluid. These numbers are through the roof. Again one analysis doesn't tell the whole story. I would change fluid immediately and contact Terry Dyson . He does an excellent job and for $10 - he'll interpret your results.

 

[White Fang]

Thanks Al. I sent the analysis to Terry via e mail.

 

[Al]

Good show-your welcome.

 

[Robbie Alexander]

quote:

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Originally posted by White Fang:
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Iron 300 (This is not a typo.)
*-*-*-

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Good.
Dump it Today.
It's almost SeVeRe to
Worry about for sure, IMO.

 

[unDummy]

Don't worry.
Just about everyone else's auto trannies that haven't been flushed or changed regularly looks this bad

I would change this fluid, using the drain/refill method(if equipped with drainplug), at every oil change after you flush this stuff out. Even though you have only 30k miles, I'd also pull the pan for inspection, magnet cleaning/replacement, and filter inspection/replacement if equipped.
Please use a synthetic if you want to avoid the future rebuild.

 

[White Fang]

This car has 10 months and 20,000 mi left on its warranty. The dealer wants $119 for a ATF change which includes a backflush and complete fluid change. I can do it myself for a lot less. But I am wondering if I should spend the money and have the dealer do it so there are no arguments if and when it fails. What do you experts advise?

 

[White Fang]

Thanks for the hopeful words undummy. This tranny has no filter. It does have a screen which the dealer tells me can only be cleaned by backflushing. I can easily drain and fill the tranny with Amsoil ATF for free since I already have the fluid. Therefore,it is very easy to change the fluid, but it is not a complete change. Mainly I don't want the transmission to fail and be denied on warranty because the fluid was not changed completely and flushed by the dealer.
BTW the owners manual is completely silent on ATF changes. I asked the dealer about this and they said, "it an inspect service, but it always needs changing at 30,000 mi. no matter how it looks."

 

[Jay]

My factory-fill Honda ATF looked like this at 29,500 miles. On the plus side, your fluid doesn't appear to be stressed. The TAN is very low and so is oxidation.

 

[Sin City]

I have a 2001 Mazda 626 with the Ford CD4E automatic transmission. It was very easy to change fluid with this car. Drive the car up on ramps. Drain the old fluid out when it is at or near normal operating temperature. Put the drain plug back in and add about 3 1/2 quarts of transmission fluid (don't overfill). This is a really easy job. The last time I serviced the transmission I did the above service and then drove the car one day and repeated this again. So I replaced about 7 quarts by doing the routine twice. I believe the trans holds about 8 or 9 quarts of fluid so you will need to drain and refill three times to get all of the old fluid out. I thought it would be a good idea to drive the car for a while before again draining and refilling with new fluid.

I have had the transmission service performed twice. Once I paid a transmission shop about $75.00 to have the system flushed and the old Mercon fluid replaced with new Mercon V fluid and I was amazed at the huge improvement in the quality of the shifts. My car was shifting very harshly by the time it had 20,000 miles (before I had the trans service for the first time). I just recently serviced the transmission myself because I decided I wanted a 100% synthetic fluid. I used Mobil 1 Synthetic Mercon/ Dexron III fluid.

I think if you drain and refill three times to get all of the old fluid out and use a fluid that is Mercon or Mercon/Mercon V rated than there is no way that Mazda can possibly deny you warranty coverage. You can use 100% synthetic fluid for less money than you would pay a dealer to use the cheapest Mercon fluid available. You also won't have to worry about the service tech forgetting to put the drain plug on after performing the service and then driving you car to the parking area or having a minor accident with your car like my Mazda dealer in Henderson, NV did.

[ October 06, 2003, 11:58 PM: Message edited by: Sin City ]

 

[zoomzoom]

you can acctualy change whole ATF by yourself...disconect two hoses that go from AT to your radiator. get an empty gallon jug and after figuring which hose is out of transmition put in the jug. start the engine and shut it off after the jug if full. add one gallon of new fluid. then repeat and you will have all of your fluid changed.

 

[Ken4]

quote:

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Originally posted by White Fang:
Iron 300 (This is not a typo.)

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I think this is normal if your tranny and diff are sharing the same fluid. Most of the Fe deposits come from the diff and are collected by the magnets. On vehicles with separate tranny and diff, UOAs would invariable show better results.

 

[ExDelayed]

I had high lead count in my CD4E as well. Though I am only sitting on about 1/3 the lead you are, but I have 100K more miles. See?