Deal flushed my transmission

M

monster1

Joined
Jan 31, 2010
Messages
217
Location
ca
2016 Mazda CX-9 with 68k miles. I noticed the transmission started shifting a little hard into second lately. I always try to keep up on the fluid changes in all my vehicles. I hate working on this thing though but it's so low to the ground. I've been spoiled working on my Ram and Wrangler. Anyway, I wasn't in the mood to roll around under the car trying to do a transmission service on it so I took it to the dealer.

I told them I wanted a basic transmission fluid service. It was 220 bucks so I just had them do it. Going to iffy lube would only save 75 bucks and I'm always wary of those places doing quality work.

I got it back in about an hour, signed the ticket and paid the bill. I notice the hard shift is gone and it's shifting better than before. But when I got home and looked at the paperwork, it showed that they charged 35 bucks for a flush.

I don't care about the money. It was in the 220 they quoted me apparently. The transmission is shifting well and if that took care of the shift problem then fine. But I've "learned" here and elsewhere on more informed sites that flushes are a no no. I get why you shouldn't flush anything at say 150k miles, but what about at 68k?


Should I worry about slippage due to washing out all the friction material or should I rest easy that the dealership known what they are doing with these cars?

Thanks
 
I would imagine that the Mazda dealer knows what they're doing with a Mazda vehicle. At 68K I wouldn't worry too much about "washing out all the friction material" although I prefer just draining and refilling my A/T's. Looking at it from the bright side... you probably got rid of more old fluid via the 'flush' method.
 

Don't Worry - Be Happy​

Friction material that was in suspension was removed and replaced with fresh fluid. An ATF exchange doesn't "disturb" friction material. Think about how often you accelerate rapidly, or brake hard and imagine what happens to the ATF fluid in the pan. It will slosh around a lot. A fluid exchange is far less sloshing around than what you do when driving.
 
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Since it was a Mazda dealer a flush will be fine.

I use to do something similar to my old Chrysler minivan back in the day before hard lines to oil coolers. You could pull off the cooler hose and run it into a drain pan, start the engine and wait for the steady stream of fluid to stop. Fill the pan back up and do it again. This was the easiest way to do it! Every couple flushes I'd drop the pan and change the filter. I managed ~300K out of that 1998!!!

Just my $0.02
 
20210617_132414.jpg
 
As I read it, "ATF Flush" seems to be a chemical. It and the ATF add up to the total amount listed as "parts."

In all the years I've been on this site, I have read a lot of threads warning about the "flush vs exchange" method, but I can't recall any firsthand reports of actual harm done by a trans flush of whatever variety.
 
Timmastertech said:
It would piss me off that they used a generic universal transmission fluid. I dont do universal fluids. The only universal fluid in my shop is washer solvent. Service manual procedure for transmission fluid change on that vehicle is a drain and fill through a drain plug with Mazda ATF FZ.
Click to expand...
How do you know it was universal?
 
A word of advice when using ANY shop, no matter dealer, indy, ect..

ALWAYS get specifics about exactly what they are going to do BEFORE you authorize the work!
In this case the owner should have explained what he wanted (a fluid exchange ONLY, and genuine OEM Mazda ATF fluid.)
 
JustN89 said:
That's not a guarantee. MOC, whose machines they use, also makes a universal ATF that is blue. Link. At that price, I'd say the safer bet is that they used MOC fluid, not Mazda.
Click to expand...
makes sense

i stopped at a mercedes dealer to drop off car and they had a truckload of BG universal atf just sitting outside. i guess they’re getting a good discount with the purchase of a machine, and universal trans fluids are very universal these days
 
2EHA said:
makes sense

i stopped at a mercedes dealer to drop off car and they had a truckload of BG universal atf just sitting outside. i guess they’re getting a good discount with the purchase of a machine, and universal trans fluids are very universal these days
Click to expand...
Every Hyundai dealer that I've visited, along with the Honda dealership I worked at has used BG fluids. Not only do they get a pretty good price, but BG provides a warranty to the dealership on their fluid. Plus you add in the machines and I guess it makes sense. I dislike that they're not super forward about what they're using though, unless you ask. Then again, most people probably don't care or would even think to ask.
 
2EHA said:
makes sense

i stopped at a mercedes dealer to drop off car and they had a truckload of BG universal atf just sitting outside. i guess they’re getting a good discount with the purchase of a machine, and universal trans fluids are very universal these days
Click to expand...
This has been going on since about the early 90s or so with BG. I've worked at a number of dealerships and all of them used these products,
I understood the profit aspect, but felt that the customers were not getting what they believed they were paying for. Branded OEM fluids.
They don't care that BG warranties their fluids, they want factory branded fluids, if you ask customers most of them are under the impression that a factory authorized dealer shop uses factory fluids.
 
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