2012 Mazda 3 with the electro-hydraulic power steering system.
Looking for fluid recommendations. Manual recommends M5 or M3 fluid. Being a 2012, which might it have come with originally? I want as close to what is in there as is humanly possible.
I see Idemitsu sells a "type M- M3/M5" universal type fluid. I had horrible luck using their "PSF Universal Aisin" fluid in my '00 Toyota with all new OEM steering parts, so I am pretty reluctant to ever use that brand again. The same vehicle also rejected the "Lucas Power steering fluid with conditioners." At the end of the day, Genuine Toyota non-synthetic Dexron from the dealer worked perfectly. Since then, the whole "any ATF for the p/s in a non-Honda Japanese car" myth is pretty much a non-starter for me and I don't believe anything but the dealer stuff works as intended. Issue here is both M3 and M5 are listed in the manual, and I don't want to use the non-original type. Dealer stocks both M3 for $7 and M5 for $9. Is one synthetic and one non? I'd prefer non-synthetic as I'm confident it will cause leaks.
In the past, I prefer to replace ALL p/s hoses whenever changing fluid, as when any new fluid was added the original hoses would begin to "sweat" fluid within a few weeks. In this case I am only changing the high pressure line, so want something that is compatible enough that it will not cause return hoses to sweat fluid as happened in the past.
Last resort is try to save as much as the original fluid as possible, and then go to the junkyard to salvage as much original fluid as possible from as similar year Mazda.
I've just had terrible luck in the past when changing p/s fluid, I don't want any issues, cost is not an issue.
Looking for fluid recommendations. Manual recommends M5 or M3 fluid. Being a 2012, which might it have come with originally? I want as close to what is in there as is humanly possible.
I see Idemitsu sells a "type M- M3/M5" universal type fluid. I had horrible luck using their "PSF Universal Aisin" fluid in my '00 Toyota with all new OEM steering parts, so I am pretty reluctant to ever use that brand again. The same vehicle also rejected the "Lucas Power steering fluid with conditioners." At the end of the day, Genuine Toyota non-synthetic Dexron from the dealer worked perfectly. Since then, the whole "any ATF for the p/s in a non-Honda Japanese car" myth is pretty much a non-starter for me and I don't believe anything but the dealer stuff works as intended. Issue here is both M3 and M5 are listed in the manual, and I don't want to use the non-original type. Dealer stocks both M3 for $7 and M5 for $9. Is one synthetic and one non? I'd prefer non-synthetic as I'm confident it will cause leaks.
In the past, I prefer to replace ALL p/s hoses whenever changing fluid, as when any new fluid was added the original hoses would begin to "sweat" fluid within a few weeks. In this case I am only changing the high pressure line, so want something that is compatible enough that it will not cause return hoses to sweat fluid as happened in the past.
Last resort is try to save as much as the original fluid as possible, and then go to the junkyard to salvage as much original fluid as possible from as similar year Mazda.
I've just had terrible luck in the past when changing p/s fluid, I don't want any issues, cost is not an issue.