JT and I are I guess only being cautious.. If I was going to spend 2200+ shipping on a new tranny, i don't mind spending extra 30 bucks + labor time to change out my tranny fluid.. Why take a chance??..

I'm already changing my oil every 1-1.5k and sparks every 3k.. I rather be cautious then simple things costing me more money later on..

 

herblenny--right there with ya..... I would like to keep my investments.

 

Engine oil is under a much harsher set of conditions. There are combustion by-products, it runs at a much higher temperature, and is sheared a lot more. You change the engine oil because it degrades, not because of little pieces of metal. That is what the oil filter is for. This is why synthetic oil has longer changing intervals than dino oil; it doesn't degrade as quickly.

If it makes you feel good to change your tranny fluid every few months, then go right ahead. But you are wasting your time and money. Go look in any owners manual for any manual transmission car. I bet the changing intervals are somewhere between 50K and 100K.

 

I agree w/ JT-Imports and Herblenny.

While I'm not in the financial position to purchase a new tranny, I will offer my views on the situation.

In drifting, one of the main killers of LSDs is fluid contamination. I have friends who regularly change out their differential fluid before and after every competition.

That being said, I would generally apply the same logic to trannys. Not that I would change out the fluid every single competition, but for a normal street car, I would recommend flushing out the fluid for the first time at roughly 1 month or so....just to see what the fluid looks like, the amount of metal particles, etc. Similar to how you would check the oil (and filter) after 1,000+ miles of a freshly built motor.

Then, check the fluid again at 3 months. If things seem good, you should determine when you should regularly change out the fluid.

Keep in mind that this is based on your personal driving habits and mileage. I will admit, I drive a lot! I drive darn near twice the national average....roughly 23,000 miles every year.

My own opinion/preference would be to change out the tranny fluid every 6 months (based on my personal driving habits). I think the "normal" recommendation from most dealerships and places like Jiffy Lube or EZ Lube will tell you one year.

 

Changing the tranny fluid every 6 mo is just silly on a street driven car. Even if you do drive 23K/yr. The factory recommends 30K service intervals and most FDs (even most manual trans cars) would be lucky if they get that.

The tranny does not need that kind of servicing. The FD isn't some super exotic, the trans is effectively the same thing in the TII and some earlier rotary applications.

For some reason many people that "love" thier car end up being the ones who kill it. They tend to do maintenance in some ritualistic methods that are excessive and ridiculous.

The "normal" recommendation from most dealerships and Jiffy Lube reflects their bottom line. Jiffy Lube recommends 3K mile oil changes, but my wife's old 95 Maxima (now has 150K miles) is living fine on 5K mile oil changes and my 92 F-150 is doing fine also w/135K miles, and at least 30K of those miles are towing miles.

Dealerships recommend service based on what $$ they can get out of you. A local dealership here recommends a fresh alignment every 5K miles on 4x4 trucks. A friend of mine's girlfriend had $750 worth of "maintenance" done to her NEW truck in the first 12,000 miles, which included 3 alignments...

 

I'd side with Jeff cause he knows what he's talking about.

 

Hmm.. Maybe I should follow the owners manual and change my oil every 5k miles or every 5 months..

I think I fit into your description of "excessive and ridiculous".

 

I completely dis-agree. My 1994 had 174k miles and was never rebuilt. I have more than 80 runs at the drag strip all taken to redline and launched fairly hard, including one time when I broke my differential. I missed 3rd several times and still never broke my syncro's. Considering it can hold 600 RWHP I would say its about the only bullet-proof part of the car (with the re-enforced 5th gear syncros).

Is it hard to shift? yes. Is the shift **** too high? yes, does it suck? hell no. I wish my rx-8 had a tranny as tough..but then again I wish the FD's was as nice.

they give 1 year 12k MILES.

 

slightly off topic, the owners manual recommends every 7500 miles to change the oil for the rx-8, ROTFLMFAO.

 

I think I'm in the same category. Then again, my wife calls me insane some times so maybe they see something in me that I don't.

 

hard to shift-yes
shift **** tooo HIgh has nuttin to do with it.
does it SUCKS- YES
MAZDA does not have a good design on the tranny
the gate for each gear does NOT go in smooth.
FORK breaks 3rd&5th GEAR forks shears off
5th gear is the worst, PROBLEMS during normal driving
the throw is too FAR apart.
if youre a true RACER youll notice it!
and as for 600RWHP, its ONLY a claim!
JUST LIKE RX-8 puts out 250RWHP.

 

okay...the 600RWHP mark is true....id like to see you show me a list of FD's that have a different tranny in them because they broke the stock one. The throw is insignificant because any 'true RACER" will get a short shifter...my dad's BMW 540i 6spd had a long throw stock, so does that automatically mean the ZF tranny in the 540i and the M5 suck? NO. The only flaw in the FD's transmission is the 5th gear synchro and some spring/retainer whose name i cant remember. If you fix that no more 3rd/5th gear problems. The FD tranny is damn bulletproof IMO

 

The turbo rotary engine is a different animal when it comes to oil changes. Fuel is forced into the oil under boost significantly changing the servicable life of the engine oil.

What unfortunately happens is that "people" think that just because the FD's engine is different they think everything else on it is also. The diff is a diff, the trans is a trans (pretty stout at that). The brakes are brakes. Do you flush the brake fluid on a "normal street driven car" every few months also? I've had 16 FDs, only 1 had a 5th gear syncro problem and the brake system as a whole (not counting pads) was in excellent working condition.

The trans is just a trans. It does NOT suck but it could be better. The WRX has a POS trans.

 

Team,

his name is "goofy rotor" and he capitizes like every 5th word. Nuff said.

 

haha prolley shouldnt have wasted bandwidth with my reply...but it felt good! LOL

 

Yowza! How did you go through that many FDs? I'm curious.

 

DOM,

Jeff finds messed up FD's and re-conditions and sells them for a very fair price. Atleast thats what I gathered.

 

Im just saying a tranny change of oil would be good after a "breakin period" if the parts are IN FACT New, do what you want of course its just what I would do. Its your car bro.

TRANNIES!*

I disagree also Mazda has pretty good trannys.
NISSAN trannys have more snycho problems then us.

 

haha jt i like how u corrected everyone else...then used the "wrong" one in the next sentence!

 

I was thinking the same thing.

Im pretty sure its bad for a tranny to change the oil in it often.

 

you like the spelling huh? My brain is fluttering LOL

 

HAHAHAHAHAHA...... im glad that all u guys r gettin to know mY NaMe!!!
LIKE IT when i write like this eh.

 

thats funny, mine is too

 

i noticed u write a lot here. the problem is, yourE scared to race and met your confrontations when u get challenged here.
u can zero out your cant loose bang **** outta here.
(damn i like that)


im sayin it again, RX-7 TRANSMISSIONS R JUNK

my name is "GOOFYROTOR" get it right

 

OMG dude you are too much. Nobody has challenged me to a race here. Hell Im at sac raceway just about every saturday morning, just show up. LOL.

OMG, Im arguing with you.