Tell me more about this CVI you speak of tracker. (smile). PM if you like.

fyi, my last car was a 14 year old eagle talon 5 speed. I got rid of it becasue it was due for a clutch. Apparently a mistake on my part.

Its to bad I got a bummer. I will be looking for a premium car next and unfortunately it won't be a mazda after this issue.

 

Compared to the cost of rebuilt/remanufactured automagic transmissions, a clutch job is quite inexpensive.

FWIW, even "Premium" brands have been having problems with their autoboxes these days, and that holds true from Acura to Mercedes to Lexus, and the cost of replacing some of these 6, 7, or even 8 speed automatics is, ummm, breath taking, and not in a good way. For my part they're going to have to pry the stick-shift from my cold-dead-hand as there ain't no way I'm ever going to willingly buy a car without three pedals under the dash.

 

http://www.mazda3forums.com/index.php?topic=164177.0

Above is a link that talks about the running temp of transmission fluid of some interest.

I am interested in more details of the possible savings of rebuilding my transmission before it has a chance to fail verses letting it.

 

I checked my fluid I believe around 20k and it was brown and had a odor to it. Not a burnt odor, but not the sweet red smell that new fluid has. So I took it to the dealership and they said it didn't need to be done this time, but next oil change. I asked another dealership and they told me the same thing. They said that Mazda tranny fluids run light so a little bit of contamination or dirt will make it that brownish color. I was told as long as it doesn't have a strong smell of smelling burnt and it isn't black you should be alright and just change it at every recommended interval which I believe is 30k. I just went outside and checked my fluid and I have put prob another 20k on it since I had it changed before and it was still red and smelt sweet. At the first 20k the fluid was brown. Maybe it was because it was dirty after manufacturing? Not sure, but I may even go past the 30k if it still looks this good. Not sure if this helps out at all, but this is what I heard and my experience.

 

I have a total of 42,200 miles roughly.

 

Where is this 30,000 mile maintenance interval coming from? Granted I'm no expert on automagic transmission maintenance (I'm allergic to driving them), but taking a look at the Owner's Manual for my 2009 Mazda3 I see absolutely zero maintenance called for on any transmission, manual and automatic alike.

 

It was in my 2008 owners manual.

 

Section and heading? I'd love to find this in my manual. FWIW, I looked again and see absolutely zero requirements for transmission service.