Santa brought me 5 qts of Red Line trans and diff. fluid. (It appears he does read those letters. . .) So, I called my mechanic at the dealership to schedule an oil change and asked if he would change it out for me while doing the oil and filter. He tells me that he "could", but he would then be required to document that "customer requested replacement of factory fluids with another brand", or words to that effect. This statement would, in essence, void my warranty should I have any issues with the transmission in the future. His recommendation was to leave it alone until the warranty period was up (2 yrs or 29K miles from now) and change it out then. I'm inclined to follow that recommendation. Any other thoughts??

 

try another dealer...see what they say.

 

I would not switch brands until my warranty was up if I were you.

 

If I were you, I would just stick with the stock fluids until your warranty expires. But if you're confident you can handle any problems you may face in the future then just go for it.

 

Red Line has a long standing reputation of making great products!
I would try another dealer or go to a local mechanic you trust who could do the change for you.

Void the warranty?! doubt it... Even Mazda isn't that crazy...

 

I would change it myself ! I changed my oil for the first time Sunday night , took all of 15 minutes and was a breeze ! Do my tranny and dif next week , there is a thread with pics , looks simple to me .

 

That's just crazy. Find another dealership! My dealership changed my tranny and differential fluid to Redline for me, all I had to do was provide it and pay.

 

Bullshit. Pure crap. Laughable ignorance or deplorable deceptiveness . First, look up your fluid requirements in your owners manual - It will specify GL-4 75W90 for the gearbox, and GL-5 75W90 for the differential, IIRC (verify the actual specs yourself) - THOSE are the ONLY warranty requirements. Notice that aside from the specs, your owners manual does NOT specify any brand or "factory fluids". Now, call your mechanic and ask him to point out Mazda's warranty requirements for "factory fluids", refer him to the exact page number in the owners manual where the actual gearbox and diff fluids are specified, and ask him to point out exactly where it says anything about "factory fluids"... in other words, challenge him to prove his statement. Challenge him to show you ANYWHERE in writing where Mazda says you can't use any fluid that meets the stated warranty requirements (GL-4 75W90 and GL-5 75W90).

Simply put - as long as your chosen replacement fluid meets the specifications in your owners manual, it is fully and completely warranty compliant. Redline gear oils do meet the specs. Use with confidence, and with absolutely no implications on your warranty, you are completely safe.

PS - for what it's worth, I changed my gearbox and diff fluids with ~6K miles on my RX-8, and I used Redline MT90 for the trans and Redline 75W90 for the diff. There's no way I'd leave the initial fluids in there for 3 or 4 years - the initial break-in of those components leaves significant metal shavings etc. in suspension in the fluid. I highly recommend changing the fluids once your car is broken in to get that crap out of circulation in your gear units.

Regards,
Gordon

 

Gordon,

I love you man! Red Line it will be! :D

Dave

 

man that is crazy

 

Gord is correct.

Not only does Mazda's warranty not require Mazda brand fluids, such a requirement would be in violation of the Robinson-Patman act (restraint of trade). Mazda would be in a legal black hole if they even hinted at such a requirement, which of course they don't.

 

The Robinson-Patman act is a great piece of legislation

 

galleychief, just for laughs, ask the dealership knucklehead to document what brand of fluid came from the factory in Japan. Then ask him to show you what brand he would be using from the dealer's bulk supply. Guarantee they're different brands.

BTW, by the same logic, you would never be allowed to change the brand of engine oil? How about the brand of oil filter?

I wish it were legal to hit dealer personnel in the head everytime they said something stupid or just plain wrong. It wouldn't make them any smarter but it would really help my blood pressure.

 

LOL the beachdog/dealer person act :p :D

 

As did I!

 

I changed to Redline this week. I have 10k miles on the car.

2 quarts of MT90 in the trans. It filled exactly to the top. A third quart was not required. I used a small hand pump. I had to transfer the oil to a standard quart bottle for the pump, as the redline bottles are not standard. 1.5 quarts of 75W90 filled the differential. I put new crush washers on all the plugs, which I bought from the dealer. The car was level, when I drained the trans and diff. I used a torque wrench to tighten the plugs properly.

There was evidence of some metal on both drain plug magnets. You could also see the shimmer of metal fines (super fine) in the drained oil. It looks like a oil slick on top surface of the oil. There is no way that anyone should go 30K before they change the fluids.

Its probably just in my head, but I swear the car shifts smoother after the change. For that reason alone, I would recommend that you use Redline.

 

I switched to Redline for the trans and diff today. I would say that the metallic sludge on the plugs was fairly significant at 9500 miles. Each of the drains had a raised "dome" caked to it. The trans fluid was very tainted - silvery/brown. The diff fluid was visually fine, typical goldish brown.

Funny thing is that even raising the front and right of the car a bit, I only drained about 1 1/2 qts from the trans. I re-leveled the car and it took almost the whole two quarts. Only part that didn't fit was what was left in the 4' of hose that I was using.

Haven't driven it too much yet. I want to think that it will improve matters. Input shaft noise is still there but it is different. Don't know that it is necessarily quieter but it is less "jiggly".

 

I was about to ask, does Redline make things better? I'm no were near the time to change that out but if it's better I would.

Diff oil? What's that? I know a good amount about cars and while I have heard of that before I never asked what it was. Teach me fellow rx8ers....teach me...LOL

Diff, as in where the axel connects to the rear diff by the rear wheels...that needs oil? LOL, sorry for my ignorance here...

 

The "diff" is rear most component of your powertrain and yes it needs oil..

And after reading this thread I must say it is most embarrassing...

 

No kidding... that dealer is on crack. I've been using Redline in my cars for years and it makes a big difference over the crap the factory puts in. I would never wait to do the initial replacement that long with all the metal shavings in there.

 

OK, so mine is new...when would you change it? I'm thinking 5,000 miles...

 

That'll work... if you can do it when you do your first oil change (3-5k), all the better. Once you see the crap on your magnetic drain plugs, you'll understand.

 

Who handles Redline products? ie: local parts shops ?