Jerky gears, transmission fluid change time?

Hi everybody,

I've been reading the forums and trying to find an answer to this. I also watched how to change transmission fluid online and on youtube. I am also a new car owner at 45. I've always thought it was better to live close to where I study, work and play as opposed to having to drive a car everywhere... But then a friend of mine gave me a Mazda 3 2005 Black :):):). (Co)Incidentally, if I ever bought a car it would be a Mazda 3 Black (Sedan, Hatchback or CX-3), only thing I forgot to mention to the universe when it gave me this great gift was the year: Mine is a 2005 Mazda 3 with around 360.000 KM and I love it very much, and call it Raven. Two mechanics have seen it and mentioned how well kept the engine is. However, after one year of ownership the gears are starting to ''clunk'' when they shift. I didn't notice this before when I got the car one year ago. Because this is my first car (I've ''had'' a porsche boxster before that I could use whenever I needed it, though I wasn't the owner, my friend, the real owner travelled a lot).
I've heard that the transmission fluid doesn't need to be changed - by 2 mechanics... I've seen videos online and one of the guys on youtube said: fu.k it! The fluid is still pink but I am going to change it anyway. (Ghostlyrich is his youtube name)
Question: Is it really necessary to change the fluid? What could be causing (if you can hazard a guess) the problem on my Mazda 3 2005? (I've recently changed the Spark plugs and by the looks of them, they were really on their last legs, bought recommended NGK laser iridiums, car trepidation is gone).
Thank you for all your answers and I have already learned a lot from lurking in here.

Valter.

I meant to say: Because this is my first car I don't have a lot of experience with them though I am ok at fixing electronics.

''If you've waited too long changing the fluid could lead to your transmission dying on yah. How long has it been?''

''Do not do a flush, with your tranny situation, it's already too late. If you do a flush it will just destroy your engine, and yes the movement of debris around your tranny is not a good thing.
You're already too late. Does your tranny fluid smell burnt?
That's not good if it is then. If you do anything at this point, your tranny will go in a few thousand Km.''

''Find a shop that can pressure test the transmission before flushing. If it can hold pressure then the transmission won't go to crap when the flush is performed. Transmission rebuilds can be a headache. It's almost a 50/50 draw to find a shop that can rebuild it right the first time. Also it is typically cheaper to just buy a used transmission and install it.''

I forgot to mention that my M3 is an Automatic Transmission one. These are comments from other users at other forums but this is basically what the 2 mechanics have told me. I don't know when the fluid was changed, if it was ever BUT it is extremely black. Mr. Lube wanted to change it last time but my mechanic said: Say no thanks to everything and ask them to change the oil only.

No replies yet? Only thing i can say is try one more mechanic here:
7605 Woodbine Ave, Markham, ON L3R 5V3 416-450-6161 his name jimmy

He works on Mazdas everyday and his highly recommend by mostly everyone on this fourm for his great service, im sure he can find your problem call him. He helped me and many others

Thank you Canadianbacon! I was trying to find a solution to the problem myself. I've been told by people who have or have had cars that it is not worth it to spend a lot of money in my car. Even though it was free I already changed the battery and the alternator. Had to replace the windshield and due to Toronto's potholes had to replace something on the front right wheel which wasn't cheap. I was driving around Scarborough and the car fell in a hole, then I was told the whole back assembly on the car had dislodged and that was another 1000,00 dollars. All in all I've spent around 3,000.00 dollars on this car already. I think it is exactly how much it is worth, if I had purchased it. I live in a building with a washing bay but we can't change oil or do any kind of maintenance in the building. I was hoping I could get tips from people here on how to make this car ownership more bearable.

Well Raven has already 360k, and more than 11 years old, at this point I see no reason to put money in it, drive it till it dies. My old 1997 automatic civic tranny had the same issue and I changed the tranny fluid and nothing changed.
That didn't stop me from doing long distance (500 Km) every month with it and the tranny never went down. instead of investing money in a probably rusted 11 year old mazda 3, just buy a membership with CAA or something, just incase it breaks down while your driving

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Ps3alltheway

Well Raven has already 360k, and more than 11 years old, at this point I see no reason to put money in it, drive it till it dies. My old 1997 automatic civic tranny had the same issue and I changed the tranny fluid and nothing changed.
That didn't stop me from doing long distance (500 Km) every month with it and the tranny never went down. instead of investing money in a probably rusted 11 year old mazda 3, just buy a membership with CAA or something, just incase it breaks down while your driving

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Agreed on ''dot not put any more money in it'. The tranny fluid's reservoir is going to burst any time now due to rust. The underneath is all rusted though my mechanic said it looks worse than it really is... It is a shame, I love the looks of this 2005 Mazda 3 and it drives really, really well. It is fun to drive, unlike my friend's Honda Civic... My dad's old VW Golf (it wasn't called a Golf back then) lasted 32 years. It went all they through 1,000,000 KM and more. At some point it was a 0Km car, again... LOL!