Just picked the car up, only a short 5 min drive home but changed like butter, need to wait for a cold start but still, just as smooth as before.
If you drove it away just after it was done, the gearbox oil itself will be cold, if you now what you mean. Outside temps typically 20 degrees too etc, but still, that’s a great start 
Is this the one you got in it?
Only reason I mention as they took it out for a road test after to check wheelbearings/dif & rear knocking (after having bushes changed 
) so may of still had some warmth in it.
And no not that one I went for this one.
Great. Yes, I’m sure it’ll be fine. Try it tomorrow or something after it sitting all night. Thanks for getting back as getting a first hand account of a 75w-80 grade gear oil, which isn’t the OEM oil, is a real public service for ND owners!
No problem, I need it to shift nice from cold for the time being while it’s our main car, once it’s not the main car and I start tracking it I’ll likely put something thicker in, but for now as a daily this should do the job.
I’ll report back with the cold performance!
Righto lads, final follow up.
Mrs has taken the car this morning, no issue with shifting, she says she can’t tell a difference to the stock stuff, RESULT!
Good news. Great as your experience will also help in cases where person X gets their gear oil changed at a dealership, and even they don’t use the OEM stuff, and finds the change isn’t as good. At least now there’s another route even in those cases.
Reading with interest. Booked car on with main dealer for standard service at £206. They want an additional £156 EACH to do gearbox oil and diff oil at the same time. Promptly cancelled the appointment and will speak to my local guy.
Total cost for me was 60 on oil for the box, 30 on dif oil, 80 quid to “fit”.
I bought my own SG1 Mazda diff oil from MX-5 Parts. Goes up so often but it was ~ £37 with postage. I got charged 0.3 hours labour (£37.50) in a Mazda dealership, and of course VAT on that bit too. So £45. So about £82 all in.
The gearbox oil got done as part of the 5th service, in 2023.
A bit OTT for the price of the oil me thinks, £60 for the 3 litres would sound better.
I will have to finalise my research and buy whatever is needed for my guy to put in. Blown away by the Mazda workshop price.
You have to allow for anyone making a profit these days for goods supplied but whoever put those prices on oil change are taking the whatsits knowing some may pay it.
I’m waiting for my daughter to spill the beans or more like tell me the final bill for changing the timing chain on her diesel Toyota. The parts alone could be £1500, they’ve had the car 4 weeks, apparently the dealer said they are making the parts. The gold engraving must be taking the time😆
Oil is cheaper than gearboxes.
Dealer labour charges, only just so.
Very much so but £500 for engine oil, gearbox oil and diff oil seems wild. I have ordered up the Mazda diff oil and my mechanic says he has quality 75w80 for the gearbox.
Total cost should be half of what Mazda want.
It’s a pity this gearbox oil and availability of the OEM juice is such a headache.
Yes, users have reported good results with other, non-OEM gear oils, but if you read around it on here, another user then follows the advice/recommendation and reports back with a more negative slant after trying it.
I commented before that in '23 I had mine done (Newport Mazda) and I KNOW they used the proper juice as the then service manager who I got on well with, showed me it/the drum they are using. I thought all my Xmases come at once, given the service manger was a local, and thought he’d be there years (he hadn’t been there long). But he left a year so after.
The other day in Cardiff (nearer to me than Newport, and as all of the techs I used to se in Newport have also gone (hope it’s not me lol), I raised this gearbox oil thing with three mechanics, one of whom I really like and ask for. In all honesty I didn’t get that confident feeling when I asked if the proper Mazda juice goes in there If I was here on gearbox oil day. It may well do, but you know when you get that feeling they don’t know either etc
I was then in the parts dept afterwards and both of the guys in there are nice. One of them nailed the 20L drum part number (sad, but I recognised it immediately when he got it on the computer) on his system, and it was, off the top of my head £214 before VAT (so £257 ish with).
When the time rolls around again I’m going to go to Newport on a recce mission to see whoever the service manger is then, and see if I can be convinced they will still use the OEM juice I had last time (I mean, high probability they will if they did before etc). If not- or I aren’t convinced- I’m going to suck it up and be a loon and get that 20L drum and get them to use that. Granted I’ll ‘waste’ 18L as gearbox oil, as once opened, isn’t going to keep well, but I’ll look at it that I’ll pay £250 once in 5 years for oil if it keeps my gearbox being as delightful as it is.
I have had fairly good experience with mine, when gearbox is cold its probably ever so slightly more notchy than before but mines always like that.
My only thing I think I might do next gearbox service is change onto a 75/90, just because I’ve noticed when pushing the car and driving it really hard, there seems to be a bit more warmth coming through the tunnel than with the stock stuff, it could just be me as I had heater on both times I noticed it was slightly warmer than before, but no harm going to thicker stuff I don’t think.
I’ve done some more reading and some people are saying redline 75/90 shifts nice and smooth, so I might try that soon.
I’m planning on swapping it out every year anyway as I have an early car & the boxes do get quite hot.
For normal driving and occasional spirited drives though, the 75/80 millers works great, with standard shift feel.
I bought Red Line MTL 75W-80 GL4 oil for last years service and got my local Mazda dealership to do the change. Very happy with gear change, so would recommend.
Nice.
I wonder if that could go 5 year intervals though (if that’s what you intended to do), as it isn’t ‘long life’ like the OEM one?
The one you used was/is my potential reserve one. Thing is 3 ‘quarts’ of that is about £90, comparing of course to the £250ish for 20L of the OEM oil. Big saving of course but not cheap. I’m ok with spending on cars (withing reason if course), as I always consider the builder who lives in the neighbourhood, who does 30 cigarettes a day and has 2 pints every night (5 on the weekend). I asked him. So he spends on cigs and beer in 5 days what I’d spend on Mazda’s OEM juice in 5 years.