Mazda dealership overfilled my transmission (with pictures)

Joined
Mar 3, 2012
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117
Location
new brunswick canada
Good day folks,

I recently posted about by Mazda 3 transmission shifting not as smooth as it used too, so I did bring my car at the dealership and found no codes when they plugged the computer on. I asked for a drain and refill, and they did.

The problem, my car had a hard down shift from 2nd to 1st while stopping.

I then checked the fluid and to my surprise, when COLD, the oil was over the full mark (hot) by a lot, around a quart and a half.

I attached some pictures and the oil doesnt seem to have been changed, maybe he just dumped an extra quart of new oil in the old one?

I know drain and fill will not replace totally the oil, but I would think it would look better than this.

I am waiting to hear your inputs and opinions.
 

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Does the fluid smell burnt ? Pour some through a coffee filter and look for evidence of clutch material. We have seen some overfill conditions where old clutch material is washed loose and ends up in the fluid.
 
You need about three drain & fills to replace most of it so do another one and put in the correct amount. Are you able to do it yourself ?
 
That loks like its the "sealed" oned with the little dipstick Its possible they didn't even change it. I'd change it yourself if possible or take it somewhere they'll do a full fluid exchange where u can observe. I think the oem fluid is green.
 
I know drain and fill will not replace totally the oil, but I would think it would look better than this.
Its possible they didn't even change it.
That definitely doesn't look like any was changed 😳

I'd change it yourself if possible
I vaguely recall the OP's other posts about this and I looked at YT videos on doing a drain and refill on his/her model and it's a pretty basic/simple process. It has a drain plug and a dipstick to refill it through.
 
Did you check the fluid level with the engine running?

That fluid looks normal for FZ after it has aged. A drain and refill will usually leave the color similar to newish engine oil.
 
Did you check the fluid level with the engine running?

That fluid looks normal for FZ after it has aged. A drain and refill will usually leave the color similar to newish engine oil.
no, that measurement on the dip stick was with a cold engine and cold tranny, I can't imagine how high it would be at operating temperature.
 
That definitely doesn't look like any was changed 😳


I vaguely recall the OP's other posts about this and I looked at YT videos on doing a drain and refill on his/her model and it's a pretty basic/simple process. It has a drain plug and a dipstick to refill it through.
No I dont think it was changed. I actually have a metal suction gun that I used to pull out the excess fluid, it worked really well. I may suck out all the old stuff and dump new fluid in, repeat it 2-3 times.
 
That loks like its the "sealed" oned with the little dipstick Its possible they didn't even change it. I'd change it yourself if possible or take it somewhere they'll do a full fluid exchange where u can observe. I think the oem fluid is green.
its usually blue for the FZ oem mazda fluid. I dont think they changed it by the looks of it.
 
Does the fluid smell burnt ? Pour some through a coffee filter and look for evidence of clutch material. We have seen some overfill conditions where old clutch material is washed loose and ends up in the fluid.
No I didnt smell it really, it didnt smell burned, I didnt noticed anyway. I was so in shocked about the amount of fluid in that tranny, it got upset and didnt think about it.
 
I believe having the car in park while running is fine. This measurement on the picture was with a cold engine, so imagine while its hot, total non sense.
I believe the level may be lower while running. That's why I asked. So it might not be overfilled. I have seen this in other cars.

Either way, the fluid doesn't have a good appearance. I would think it would look a little better with at least one drain and fill.
 
Either way, the fluid doesn't have a good appearance. I would think it would look a little better with at least one drain and fill.
There is nothing wrong with that fluid condition. On a FZ transmission, the fluid does not stay blue for very long.
 
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