Hello all,

I bought my 2001 Protege ES a week ago and a few days ago was looking at the engine and decided to check the transmission fluid. I found that it was a brownish color instead of the rosey red it is supposed to be. Is it normal to have to change the transmission fluid at 30,000 miles, or do you think there is a bigger problem with my transmission?

Too bad the bastards at the dealership wont change it for free

Thanks,

Pat

 

I have a 2002 Protege LX Sedan & had it in to my mechanic (I gave up on Mazda's 'well-trained' idiots) on Monday. I've got 32K mileage, and had the same brownish colored tranny fluid. Needless to say, it got replaced. Granted, I'm not a slow or easy driver, but that may be the price we pay for having an automatic in a sporty car...

 

Look in the users manual (in the back). I believe the tranny fluid is supposed to be changed at 30k miles. If it's a manual, I reccomend redline synthetic transmission fluid.