zillah

Oh man, i just had this all typed out and then accidentally closed the window after selecting to "edit thread". it's a drag. gotta start all over again....

I just took my 03 LX 2.0 Auto in for its 30k mile check up and to have its trans fluid changed. tony salazar (mechanic from Salazar's Ind. Mazda in LA) said that it was extremely dirty and that it is common in mazdas for some reason.

But i want to know why. Why and how is so much dirt gettting ninto the trans fluid. Is the automatic trans gradually just desintegrating away? Is there not a tight seal?

Also, I like to use the "overdrive" on/off button to go from 4th down to 3rd for some engine braking. Is this a bad ? is it OK? I'm really light on the pedal, on the whole card in general.

I'm not looking to use this as, or turn it into a race car. I just want to take as good care of it as i can, to keep it alive and trouble free for as long as possible. i was looking at civics and corollas of the same year, and i liked how the protege handled. i thought it was heads and shoulders above those othere two in that dept, and others. So i opted for the protege.

I'm stoked that i found this great user's group. I've read a few threads already. there are some crazy people out there driving these cars (ex. dude who's gonna do a TT convert), but that's cool. i like that.

I'd totally appreciate any replies, and any other helpful info that i should know about this car - things to look out for, special quirks, etc.

Thanks a bunch,

Z

Omron

Feel free to toggle the overdrive on and off, the ECU is smart enough to dis allow any shifting that is potentially harmful, lol just do the accidental "from Drive to reverse" test lol hahha drive at 60kmph and slam it in to reverse, lol

in theory the transmission should not engage into that gear unless the car is running within the right parameters lol, hahah.

Joking, but seriously , if you drive and even shift to gear 2 or 1, you will notice that the transmission will not shift unless your below the proper speed limits for those gear shifts.

give it a try. and you will see

P.S. dont do that reverse thing.

Mazdacub

Downshift all you want. The car only going to shift down when its ready like the dude mentioned above. Use redline tranny fluid and you will feel a difference in the shifting. It grabs better and the tranny shifts smooth and fast. I have a complete tranny flush done every year because of my racing. I am also installing a secondary tranny cooler inline after the stock one. I’m doing this to help prolong the life of the tranny because racing in plus 20 or near 30 deg weather has got to be hard on it.

ShogunProtege

i prolly need to get mine flushed i have 45k.. how dirty was it exactly..

macdaddyslomo

Mechanics will tell you just about anything to get you to spend more money on maintenence...probably wanted you to do a fluch along with the fluid change...Just change the tranny fluid at the recommended intervals and you'll be fine

ShogunProtege

what u sayin about mechanics.... that we are bad or somthing... its the service writers that are the mean ones.. we do what they ring up on the tickets..

ShogunProtege

edit, when it comes to maintance..

diagnosing a problem is what we put on the ticket.. and fixin it is what we put on the ticket

tonkabui

when i had my car, it was rule of thumb to change the fluid (or drain the pan instead of a full on flush) every year, or roughly every 10K miles. i changed the filter at 20K miles. i also noticed a nice difference when i made the switch at 10K to go from the mercon V formula to redline dt4. of course, i did a whole flush. it's expensive the first time, but every summer after was only $27. can't remember how much the filter was though. the filter definitely needed changing, especially since the tranny was broken in on the original filter. i was gonna run a tranny cooler this summer, but alas, no more coche.

Roddimus Prime

As a former dealer tech I can tell you that YES the techs out to make money will exaggerate and lie about work needed to tack on small "quick fixes" that pay them for doing almost nothing.

p.s. I'm actually in the process of interveiwing with 2 more dealers about going back to turning wrenches full time again. I'm tired of sitting behind a desk all day.

Omron

, I have 150,000 on my Tranny, and have changed the fluid twice, and its due once again, every 50,000 do the flush,

Two things in your car you dont want to miss with, Your Engine (the heart), Transmission (the *****)

Keep those going and your car will live for ever

Omron

or maybe the transmission is the heart, and the engine is the *****, hmmm good debate lol

zillah

Mine? - Hella dirty. Dirtier than it should have been, says Tony Salazar (Mech.) it was burnt and blackish. That's why i' was trying to figure out what i could do to help out. Perhaps change it every 15k miles, instead of every 30K as per manual recommendations. Not, flush, mind you, just drain, and replace, as per macdaddyslomo, or tonkabui recommendations.

If it's been 45k for you w/out a tf change, then, you better get it flushed, ASAP, to avoid any potential tranny probs. Do it NOW! haha. I would, though.

zillah

Yeah, macdaddyslomo, you're prolly right. I'm sure i shouldn't be sweatin' it. especially if i ain't racin' the bucket. thanks, dough.