What have you done to your CX-9 today?

[sm1ke]

Well, my 4 year old got a little too excited playing with sidewalk chalk and a rock she had picked up off the ground a few days ago. She scratched up a small area just below the front passenger door handle.

I pulled out the polisher and an aggressive foam pad, along with Meguiar's Ultimate Polish. Followed with my usual Blackfire OneStep polish wax. It hid the scratches fairly well, but they're still visible, which is to be expected with how deep the scratches are. Oh well. The polish hides them well enough that most people wouldn't notice them unless I pointed them out. Here's a before and after:

Also, my microSD card stopped working last week, so I ordered a replacement. The previous card was a Samsung EVO Plus 256gb ordered in 2018, it's been running every day since then. The new card is a Sandisk High Endurance 256gb, which comes highly recommended in the Dashcam forums. Let's hope I get just as many years out of this one.

 

[GFrosty]

I pulled out the polisher and an aggressive foam pad, along with Meguiar's Ultimate Polish. Followed with my usual Blackfire OneStep polish wax. It hid the scratches fairly well, but they're still visible ...

View attachment 342883
View attachment 342884

Nicely done.

Had an early-'80s car that had never been polished. Gloss black paint, hard to hide defects. Nearly all of the basic imperfections cleaned up nicely, though some deeper scratches and "dings" remained. Did the whole vehicle (paint, trim, wheels, windows), over the course of a day, using a 6" polisher, various pads and chemicals, plus elbow grease of course. A lot of work, but the results were pretty good overall. Helped get the car sold quickly.

Before:

After:

 

[sm1ke]

So, it turns out that my current dashcam (Viofo A129 Duo) is on it's last legs. The camera does not want to stay on when plugged into it's base. It'll start up, but as soon as it's done the boot sequence it'll power down slowly. Then it'll try to restart itself and the same thing will keep happening. I think this may have been what killed my previous microSD card.

Anyway, I'll be testing and reviewing one of our forum sponsor's dashcams (the newly announced Redtiger VC70) in a couple of weeks. The test cam couldn't come any sooner lol. If anyone is interested in reviewing the camera (and has some experience doing product reviews), check out their Test the F17Elite Dash Cam thread and post your application.

 

[Silly Wabbit]

I think that's a good reminder to periodically check your cam. My Viofo will corrupt the file if power is off before the 3 min loop is complete.

 

[sm1ke]

Currently working through an overheating issue. Here's the original post from my "build" thread:

Post in thread 'Mike's 2018 CX-9 Signature'

Aug 5, 2025

It was quiet for a while, but I've got a new issue. Hopefully I'm on the right track to get it resolved though.

Over the weekend, the car's engine temp readout was showing higher than usual. Normally its right at 90 degrees and stays there when the engine is at normal operating temp, but it started climbing higher and higher. I noticed that at one point, if I had been driving the car for about 10 mins or so, and came to a stop in traffic, the temp readout would climb high enough (over 120 degrees) that the red engine temp warning light would start to flash on and off. It never went into...

• sm1ke

Essentially I'm planning to replace the thermostat and engine coolant temperature sensor (though I may just test the existing sensor, and if it's okay, I'll try to return the new one). Yesterday I started taking stuff apart to access the thermostat.

I got the air intake out, removed the battery and battery tray, then loosened the turbo intake pipe and the turbocharger air outlet pipe so that I could move them out of the way. The engine coolant temperature sensor and the thermostat housing are now accessible. I decided to stop here as it started getting dark, but all of this didn't take me as long as I expected it to - only took me about 35 mins. Based on our weather forecast, I don't think I'll be able to complete the job until this weekend. At least all that's left is to drain the coolant, replace the thermostat, test/replace the ECT sensor, then put everything back together, refill the coolant, and bleed the system.

Here's how the car's sitting now.

 

[sm1ke]

Also, a note - the turbo intake pipe (hard plastic piece connected to the "ribbed" OEM intake pipe) was not securely clamped to the turbo housing. After removing the two screws, I just pulled the pipe towards the fender and it popped right off.

Just something for others to be aware of. I wasn't having any performance issues before this.

 

[hw4ng3r]

Also, a note - the turbo intake pipe (hard plastic piece connected to the "ribbed" OEM intake pipe) was not securely clamped to the turbo housing. After removing the two screws, I just pulled the pipe towards the fender and it popped right off.

View attachment 343455

Just something for others to be aware of. I wasn't having any performance issues before this.

Didn't want to upgrade to the Corksport Turbo Inlet piping while it's apart? LOL

 

[sm1ke]

Didn't want to upgrade to the Corksport Turbo Inlet piping while it's apart? LOL

Lol, I didn't have the foresight to order it ahead of time, and shipping up to Canada would have been too expensive anyway. Oh well!

 

[sm1ke]

I had some downtime today so I cleaned the battery tray a little, then trimmed out a couple of the plastic tabs. Hopefully this will accommodate the Group 24 battery I'm using a little bit better.

I also want to clean up the battery tie down a bit, it's getting rusty.

 

[TheMAN]

The older CX-9 uses a group 24F battery...Not sure if the tray will fit in your newer one.

 

[sm1ke]

Update: Car is back to normal. Replaced the thermostat and the engine coolant temperature sensor. Kind of dumb that the ECT sensor is a bit buried - on most other cars, its much more easily accessible, but I think the real problem was the thermostat anyway. I replaced both parts just in case.

Car's running great again.

 

[sm1ke]

Did this transmission relearn process, provided by @sinistriel@. For the past few years, I've had a really minor hesitation from 1-2 when the car is cold. It's barely noticeable, but doing the relearn completely removed the hesitation. It's like the car is brand new! Huge thank you to @sinistriel@ for proving the info!

 

[sinistriel@]

I'm glad it cleared that up for you!

 

[shawnee]

Did this transmission relearn process, provided by @sinistriel@. For the past few years, I've had a really minor hesitation from 1-2 when the car is cold. It's barely noticeable, but doing the relearn completely removed the hesitation. It's like the car is brand new! Huge thank you to @sinistriel@ for proving the info!

My CX-9 jerks going from 1-2 and 4-5. Do you think this transmission relearn process will help with this issue?

 

[Silly Wabbit]

My CX-9 jerks going from 1-2 and 4-5. Do you think this transmission relearn process will help with this issue?

Wouldn't hurt to try. My personal experience with this relearn was also a night and day diff.

 

[sm1ke]

My CX-9 jerks going from 1-2 and 4-5. Do you think this transmission relearn process will help with this issue?

I think it'll help. Can't hurt to try, like @Silly Wabbit said. There's really no downside outside of the short period of relearning right after the process - for me it I could barely tell the difference aside from the improved shifting.