Thanks for everything. I might as well go to dealer and have it flushed - I found a former mechanic working as an adviser at the dealership - gained some confidence in dealership - private shops are either vague or telling me that they specialize on Hondas & Toyotas. After the flush, I will drain and fill myself every 2 yrs as I have been doing on my Integras.
The Mazda people are doing all kind of stuff - eg adding a cooler, ext filter, Magnetic filter etc and then go long time between changes.
Here is the update - bought the car and took it to the dealer - It worked out better for me but not without ā¦as @Tester said
Dealer m/c, who was being instructed by the neighbor mechanic in Spanish, removed the coolant hose instead as I was just standing outside and watching it. Another guy from the office came along to tell me that I can not stand there due to liability!
So I went to the office and told them that I do not want this m/c to work on my car - service advisor complied.
Adviser later came along to tell me that they will have to flush the 2nd time to get the color right - no extra.
In the end it worked out better for me because their fluid is cheap for them (listed at $4.41, retail at $9.60) and they flushed it twice for no extra cost. Also knocked 10% off on the bill for the mishap.
Looking back, I now feel comfortable using Valvoline full syn that @thegreendrag0n recommended - this carās tranny shares stuff & other parts with Ford - Vaolvoline is about $20 for gallon. Even their OEM fluid came to that price (list price) but the markup is 100% for retail customers making it expensive than Honda ATF!
Good summary there OP, thanks for the update. In my area there are often significant reductions in prices for oils and transmission fluids at auto parts stores, approaching 50% discount compared to the normal price, during sales. The best prices at PepBoys tend to be during their yearly Founderās Week sale.
@George_San_Jose1 - youāre welcome and thanks for your ongoing contributions. It was good to see many viewpoints in this forum to get the perspective.
The dealership I went to is just around the corner from where you are - Stevens creek
According to this utube vdo itās this upcoming week; in 2014 anyway, watching the vdo, it was around the middle of Feb.
You can always surf to the pepboys website and ask a question to their customer service department, they should know. I seem to remember it being warmer than February when they had that sale, but I might not be remembering correctly.
