When to have transmission fluid flushed
 

My mom has a 2010 Mazda 3 with about 88000 miles on it and the dealership is trying to tell us that its necessary to have the transmission fluid flushed. Also told her if the fluid is red its over due to have it flushed. Now I have been doing automechanics since I was 15 so on and off for the past 25 years and never have I heard of "if the fluid is red its over time to have it changed". Can anyone confirm this? With it being a newer vehicle and a foriegn one at that I am unsure about majority of things on this car however it is common sense that if the fluid is red that it is ok unless something has changed with it being a Mazda. Also why have they gone to just flushing the transmission instead of changing the filter and gasket? Any imput given is appreciated. I believe these mechanics and dealerships out here in Az are out of there freaking minds with what they tell people and what they charge!

The fluid should be red or a light pink in the first place. the problem comes when it turns brown and starts to smell burnt. Regular maintenance is a good thing, however cars have changed over the years. Instead of a regular filter change which took all of 20 minutes, they changed the way filters work. Gone are the days of normal filters, now if you open a filter all you'll see is a bunch of plates meant to catch any metal or lose friction material. Also, just dropping the pan only got you a percentage of what was in the tranny.

The new method is a machine that hooks up to your tranny cooler lines at the radiator, and circulates new fluid through the tranny and the torque converter. The result? Nearly every single drop of old fluid is replaced and the inside is clean again. Tranny fluid loses lubricity after awhile too. Kind of like having to flush your brake lines every few years to get the water out that the brake fluid absorbed from the atmosphere...


-Chaz

I do mine every 30k 2012 3 I sport 110k now no issues