Hi! I'm new here... not much of a car person, but looking for some opinions/answers please.

I have a 2008 Mazda 5 with 37000 miles. I get the oil changed regularly and I've replaced the tires once. Last time I had the oil changed the dealer recommended the following:

AIR FILTER IS STILL ORIGINAL 42.95 OR INCLUDED IN 30,000 SERVICE AS LISTED MENU GIVEN TO CUSTOMER 189.95. WIPER BLADES 18.00 INDUCTION THROTTLE BODY SERVICE WITH KAM STAY ALIVE MEMORY RESET, PCM UPDATE 179.95

Is all that necessary? I've seen many people say the 30k service is a waste of money. Should I just get an air filter and change the wiper blades?

I appreciate any and all help. Thanks!

 

I'm thinking the wiper blades for sure. FWIW, my 2009 Mazda3 has nearly 58,000 miles on it and it is still running the factory air filter; unless you live in a very dusty environment, the benefit of replacing the filter element every 30,000 miles is nil.

 

If you have an automatic transmission you "should flush it every twenty-four to thirty thousand miles. And make sure the shop that does it uses the appropriate fluid for your car". Quote from: Flush it or Forget it |*MotorWeek
Get it done at a transmission shop.
More info: How often should the automatic transmission fluid... — Yahoo! Autos
After reading that link, you should consider an external tranny cooler.
PCM updates don't worry about too much --- inquire what they are first. If he can't give you an answer, forget it.

 

To the best of my knowledge, the flushing of automatic transmissions is NOT recommended by any manufacturer in the world. Why? Many reasons including (but not limited to):

• Introducing foreign contaminates
• Introducing incorrect fluid
• Pushing the flush fluid in the opposite direction of what the transmission was designed for
• Potential damage to seals and valves

What manufacturers, Mazda included, do recommend by way of automatic transmission maintenance is to drop the pan, replace the filter, and top the transmission off with the correct ATF type.

 

You'll only get 1/2 the fluid out that way. So let's mix our new stuff with old crud.

 

More than enough; that's exactly how the designers of the transmission intended for it to be used and serviced. If you're really worried about it, drive it for a few days, use an extractor and pull out as much as you can and refill. This is a far healthier method of servicing an automatic transmission than a flush, a process which is frequently the kiss of death for an otherwise healthy transmission.

 

Well I've had mine flushed and filled with synthetic fluid as well as an external cooler. It's the lack of an external coller that is the "Kiss of Death". The place that flushed mine gave me a free lifetime tranny warranty for up to $2,000 at no extra cost. Next flush and fill at 100,000 km.!
Below is from: Flush it or Forget it |*MotorWeek
You see, back in the day what you used to do was you would drop the transmission pan, you'd replace the transmission filter, put a new gasket in it, and replace oh, maybe a quarter or a third of the total fluid in the transmission. Didn't really do anything and it didn't clean anything, and cleaning is really important. You see, here we have a torque converter. We know the term, it bolts to the back of the engine, and it uses hydraulic pressure to connect the engine to the automatic transmission. See this portion of the torque converter spins at the same speed as your engine, so if your engine is turning three thousand RPM, so's the torque converter. And it's filled with fluid, and the fluid is circulating as well.
Now, what that means is that this acts like a centrifuge. And any dirt particles that are in the fluid get flung out until they collect around this outside area of the torque converter. Now unless you flush, there's no way to ever clean that away. And if it isn't cleaned away, eventually it will build up to a point where it begins to flake off, those flakes can travel through the transmission, block fluid passages, cause slippage, slippage causes heat, heat kills transmissions. It's just that simple. Cleanliness is the key.
See we never want to have our fluid looking like this if we can avoid it. What we want our fluid to look like always is brand new, and that means we have to flush it. We should flush it every twenty-four to thirty thousand miles. And make sure the shop that does it uses the appropriate fluid for your car.

I also just had my Fan Belt replaced after 60,000 km. Transmission and pre-cat replaced after 40,000 km.

 

Your idea of a flush is different than my idea of a flush. In a nutshell, I would disconnect the tube going from the radiator to the transmission, put a five foot (or so) long, and clear, tube on the nub on the radiator going into a milk jug on the driver's side. I would have a transmission funnel in the dipstick tube. Start the car and as fluid comes out, be adding fresh fluid through the dipstick tube (quart for quart). When clear, new fluid starts coming out, stop. Switch out milk jugs as they fill up of course.

I've done this on an older Volvo and Toyota of mine, works great. My Mazda5 has a manual transmission so the fluid change will be a little different when I get around to it (I only have 29,000 miles on my '09 5).

Back to the original question - what the heck is "INDUCTION THROTTLE BODY SERVICE WITH KAM STAY ALIVE MEMORY RESET, PCM UPDATE 179.95"? Never heard of it.

 

Many folks perform that kind of a fluid change on their automatics, and if done carefully, it is probably the best method, assuming of course you also drop the pan and replace the filter.

As for your Mazda5 with a manual transmission, then you're pretty much good to go for the life of the car; the only reason to change the fluid is if you don't like the shift characteristics and want to make shifting smoother. I've found that Red Line gear lube transforms the shift feel of my cars into the slickest thing this side of a hot knife going through butter.

As for the throttle body service, don't worry about it, it is a fairly typical ploy dealerships use to service your wallet; a process which will always make it lighter for no benefit to your car. If you're still on the fence about this, demand the service squeech show you the official Mazda service schedule which recommends such a procedure. Here's a hint; it doesn't exist.

 

Do you even have a single thought of your own or are you going to continue subjecting us to references to the site de-jour which happens to agree with you?