1. How often does the transmission oil from a car need to be changed?

2. How many quarts does the avarage 4-cylinder need?
(Its a 97' Mazda Protegé 323 1.8 L/1840cc/5-speed)

3. Whats the deal with changing gears too soon
(i.e. I rarely go over 3500RPM, is this bad?)

does this somehow damage the car, or motorcycle,
or does it actually help save gas?

My car needs service soon, so gotta get informed, thanks

Just don't lug the engine,You will get better mileage.

My ford van has not had the engine oil or tranny oil changed in 4 years, and it has not had a problem.

Phelonius
BTW Moss grows on the north side of a Ford van.

The older auto trans had a filter in them you had to drop the trans pan to change filters I notice a lot of places just siphon it  out maybe they don't have filters anymore.

I know it was standard shift I was just making a statement.

Thanks for your 2 cents mick, and yes mazdas drive reaaal nice
and are seriously bulletproof, I love the mx5 (miata) model, yup,
rear wheel drive baby!


Soooo, here is what I found:

- really?!  
'If you only see one dipstick it generally means that your system
is sealed and the transmission fluid is meant to last the lifetime
of the car according to Mazda maintenance manual (crazy japs) but
many people wisely choose replace transmission fluid around every
100k miles' (i.e. up to $1000+ for new tranny vs. $40 for fluid change)

- No dipstick, no problem.
'speedometer driven gear works as dipstick. Disconnect the
speedometer cable and remove the speedometer driven gear.
Lower level is at center of gear and "full" at top of the gear.'
* Pictured below mazda 323 BG standard.

---

HOW TO...


Step 1
Park the vehicle on a level surface.
 
Step 2
Disconnect the ground cable from the negative battery terminal.
 
Step 3
Raise the vehicle according to the instructions listed in the owner's
manual and support it with jack stands.

Step 4
Disconnect the speedometer cable and remove the drive gear from
the manual transaxle. There will be a knurled fitting on the end of the
cable. Loosen this fitting to remove the assembly.

Step 5
Place a large waste oil catch pan underneath the manual transaxle
drain plug. The drain plug is located on the bottom of the transmission.

Step 6
Remove the manual transaxle drain plug.

Step 7
Allow all of the fluid to drain out of the transaxle.

Step 8
Reinstall the drain plug into the transaxle.
   
= Refill the Fluid =

Step 1
Place a funnel in the speedometer drive gear hole.

Step 2
Add between 3 and 5 qts. of API specification GL-4 or GL-5 manual
transmission fluid depending in the year of your vehicle and how
many gears it has, (usually gl5 80w90).

Step 3
Clean the speedometer gear with a rag and place it back into the hole.

Step 4
Remove the speedometer gear. Fluid should cover the drive gear
completely but not rise above the shoulder just above the top of the
gear.
     
Step 5
Add fluid as needed to achieve optimal level.

Step 6
Reinstall the speedometer drive gear.

Step 7
Lower the vehicle and reconnect the ground cable to the negative
battery terminal.


YAY, new weekend project!