Drove the car and noticed the heat blowing cold air and the temp gauge was hot so pulled over it shut off and towed it home. All the coolant was out of it. Put water in the coolant tank and checked the dipstick and the dipstick had oil and water halfway up it. Took the intake off and found my throttle body was covered. Would I be able to keep using this engine or is it shot? The oil and water that in the engine now has me worried. Would I be able to get a Ford motor or would I have to use the Mazda? Would anybody know what happened?
2007~2015 CX-9 Engine shot?
- Thread starter Steve84
- Start date
Water pump failure. Search the forum for "water pump" - there are a bunch of threads. The pump is driven by the timing chain. Over time, the bearing and seal on the pump shaft eventually fail and water leaks into the area behind the timing cover which drains into the oil sump.
As for your engine, most mechanics will recommend replacing it. Once that much water gets into the oil, you can't be certain how much damage was done to the bearings and it is difficult to effectively clean out all that sludge. You can replace the water pump and try to clean out the oil passages but there's no guarantee you haven't scored the bearings.
As for your engine, most mechanics will recommend replacing it. Once that much water gets into the oil, you can't be certain how much damage was done to the bearings and it is difficult to effectively clean out all that sludge. You can replace the water pump and try to clean out the oil passages but there's no guarantee you haven't scored the bearings.
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- 2009 Mazda CX-9 GT
Clean it and fix it. Sounds like you caught before any damage was done.
Is there a way to confirm if the water pump is going bad? I am looking to purchase a 2012 with 78k, FWD Touring. It is very clean and has solid carfax maintenance records (1 owner, most done at dealership). I see the brake booster was replaced, but don't see water pump listed. Anything I can do or have a mechanic do during a pre-purchase inspection to try and confirm if it is going bad or was replaced? I am guessing if not replaced it will go bad, but not sure when. The car won't have lots of miles put on it yearly at this point so if I can get it to last a few years without that cost that would be great. Thanks!
Is it correct that the engine needs to be removed from the car to change the water pump?
If the engine can be saved, it'll take several oil & filter changes with very short mileage, some with just a few minutes of running time. The oil filter will trap some of the water, and some water will be mixed into the oil you drain out. After the several changes and the oil appears to be clean, I'd do a cleaning routine with Auto-Rx It is an ester based cleaner, not a solvent, and I've had good results using it on high mileage engines with ordinary deposits. It should work well here.
If there is oil in the cooling system you'll need a heavy duty cooling system cleaner. Use one that lists oil removal on the label, or try using dishwash machine detergent. I first saw this done when we had a new Cat diesel generator with a leaking oil cooler (water-cooled oil cooler). The Cat warranty mechanic changed the cooler, then asked us for some dishwash machine detergent (non-sudsing). It worked fine, then the system was flushed clean and antifreeze added.
If the engine can be saved, it'll take several oil & filter changes with very short mileage, some with just a few minutes of running time. The oil filter will trap some of the water, and some water will be mixed into the oil you drain out. After the several changes and the oil appears to be clean, I'd do a cleaning routine with Auto-Rx It is an ester based cleaner, not a solvent, and I've had good results using it on high mileage engines with ordinary deposits. It should work well here.
If there is oil in the cooling system you'll need a heavy duty cooling system cleaner. Use one that lists oil removal on the label, or try using dishwash machine detergent. I first saw this done when we had a new Cat diesel generator with a leaking oil cooler (water-cooled oil cooler). The Cat warranty mechanic changed the cooler, then asked us for some dishwash machine detergent (non-sudsing). It worked fine, then the system was flushed clean and antifreeze added.
I personally wouldn't buy one, knowing that there's a time bomb under the hood.
Same with a Ford Explorer of that vintage.
I'd be a nervous wreck driving that thing.
The only thing I could add is maybe you can negotiate a lower price for the vehicle, buy it, and then get proactive and replace the water pump, or get them to do it.
I did more research and wanted to confirm if the 2012 truly had the water pump issue. When I look at this site, https://www.carcomplaints.com/Mazda/CX-9/2012/, the 2012 only shows the brake booster as the big issue. Other years (earlier ones) show the water pump as being an issue so just wanted to confirm.
Water pump is a $2000+ repair, if it isn't listed it probably wasn't replaced. There is no way to even see the pump without removing the front timing cover. Getting that cover off is a huge pain and at that point you might as well just replace it.
The pumps don't fail at a predictable mileage or age. Some of these have lasted over 200,000 miles in Ford vehicles while others have not been so lucky. All you can do is regularly inspect the condition of the oil and the coolant level in the overflow tank. There is really no other diagnostic that can be done.
There was a design change in 2011 or 12 where the timing chain and the sprockets were changed to a double row design. Some people think this makes the pump more robust. However, this didn't fix the underlying issue that should the pump fail, it can still cause water to mix with the engine oil.
In addition to checking the condition of the oil and the coolant you can have a lab analysis of the oil done. Blackstone labs is one of the outfits and a buddy of mine had his oil analysis done on his 2011 at 110K miles and all was good.
I know oil analysis is not practical for a used car purchase given the time it takes, but for long term owners it can give peace of mind I suppose. My 2012 only has about 70K miles but I'll likely be getting the analysis done next spring when I do the annual oil change.
I know oil analysis is not practical for a used car purchase given the time it takes, but for long term owners it can give peace of mind I suppose. My 2012 only has about 70K miles but I'll likely be getting the analysis done next spring when I do the annual oil change.
