Originally Posted By: Zako2
Originally Posted By: buster
I'm trying to avoid the dealer and want to take my wife's Mazda 3 somewhere I can trust to do a good complete flush/fill of the trans fluid.
It will be getting this:
http://www.valvoline.com/pdf/maxlife_atf.pdf
Either do it at the dealer or change the ATF fluid yourself. DO NOT trust the generic autoshops. A lot of them change ATF in a way that can damage the transmission, by using a powerflush machine for example. Another issue is that run out of the mill shop will not always use a manufacturer recommended ATF. Instead they can give you some kind of generic ATF with an friction modifying additive like Lubegard. The dealer will only do it the right way for your particular transmission, but they will also use the EXACT fluid the manufacturer recommends.
I would also highly recommend to avoid specialized transmission shops. Most of them do ATF changes only as a way to fish for customers for expensive transmission rebuilds. I have encountered shoddy and dishonest people in there.
Finally, avoid the "generic" atf like Maxlife. It almost certainly does not exactly meet the requirements for your particular transmission fluid. For example, their literature is inconsistent. The claims on the back of bottle are different from the claims on the web site (e.g. with regards to Mercon V) It's a compromise to make it works on many different transmission. Don't risk damaging your transmission just to save a few bucks. Most dealers have exactly what you need. Either get ATF from dealer OR find a 3rd party one that's supposed to be approved by the manufacturer. Try to avoid a generic ATF that's "recommended for.." as opposed to "approved for" your application. Just my 2c.
For some reason, some people on this web site obsess about the slight differences in motor oil grades (say 20 grade vs 30 grade, or say 10W30 vs 5W30), yet so many are willing to put some kind of run out of the mill universal ATF into a transmission.
Advice to avoid a "power flush" machine is not helpful on this forum as there is no such thing as a power flush machine. The flush machines only accept the old fluid and provide new fluid to the pan at the same rate its going out.
Even if you sat down to create a power flush machine I am not sure it could work. One cooler line goes to the pan and any fluid pushed in there stays in the pan. Trying to push ATF backwards through the transmission would not work either as you have a complex flow path and a pump pumping against you. If the engine is off its hard to push anything past a stopped pump.
