2022 Mazda CX5 2.5L with Cylinder Deactivation

[Dharshan R]

Hello All
I am new to this forum.
Bought a new CX5 premium plus naturally aspirated 2.5L.
I have been reading stuff regarding the Cylinder Deactivation (CD) and its side affects towards the long term durability of the engine. So I am hoping to get few clarifications from experienced users, using these engines.

1. Does cylinder deactivation really affect the long term reliability of the engine?
2. Any user seeing failure of the Hydraulic Lash Adjusters caused by CD from 2018 to 2022?
3. How different is Mazda CD compared to GM's AFM and Honda's VCM?
4. What precautions do you recommend for a mazda engine with CD?
5. Should I take the extended warranty which is costing around $3000 for 7 year/100000 miles?

Appreciate your responses.

 

[CarpeDiem]

My recommendation - don’t buy a warranty that overlaps the factory 36 month warranty. You are paying for no advantage. Once you are near the 36 month expiration, then buy an aftermarket warranty. There are many options, some far better than the Mazda warranty. Why pay for something you are already getting for free?

 

[GAXIBM]

There were a few problems early on but it seems to have been corrected. I am not sure it has been long enough with covid etc. to determine the long term/high mileage effects. I have a 2020 CD that works fine but only have 20,000 miles. I think there are a lot of folks needlessly concerned. I enjoy over 30 mpg average mileage which is about what I got with a 2013 2.0 engine.

 

[cz5gt]

change your oil frequently with the recommended one and it would be ok

 

[Dharshan R]

My recommendation - don’t buy a warranty that overlaps the factory 36 month warranty. You are paying for no advantage. Once you are near the 36 month expiration, then buy an aftermarket warranty. There are many options, some far better than the Mazda warranty. Why pay for something you are already getting for free?

Thank you. I just traded a 2018 Honda CRV for a new Mazda CX5. Whenever I removed the dipstick of the CRV, all I smelled was gas. I had it for 4 years with 45,000 miles on it, and being out of warranty, I was dead scared to continue with it. I called a company called "Endurance" for extended warranty and seems like they offer pretty decent deals (not sure how they handle a repair though). The only problem with Endurance is that you need to purchase coverage as separate packages (example : "Engine and Transmission" is a package, "Car Electronics and Battery" is a package and so on).

 

[Dharshan R]

There were a few problems early on but it seems to have been corrected. I am not sure it has been long enough with covid etc. to determine the long term/high mileage effects. I have a 2020 CD that works fine but only have 20,000 miles. I think there are a lot of folks needlessly concerned. I enjoy over 30 mpg average mileage which is about what I got with a 2013 2.0 engine.

Thanks for the reply. Yes, I stopped pondering over the CD issues on the internet. I just wish that Mazda never gave that "Fuel Efficiency Monitor" option on the screen at all.

 

[sm1ke]

There was a TSB (and I think a recall?) issued for the CD/HLA issue. Post-recall, I don't think anyone has reported any issues yet. It's been maybe 2 years since the recall?

Regarding the extended warranty, one of the benefits of buying it at the time of vehicle purchase is that it is usually easier to negotiate the price of the warranty at that time. This is because they can justify a hit on the warranty to close a big sale. Generally, if having a warranty provides peace of mind, buy it. Whether it's worth it or not depends on how much you value peace of mind, and nobody else can determine that but you.

It is also important to figure out who is providing the extended warranty, and to read all the fine print of the warranty to see what it covers and how it could be voided. If it is backed by Mazda, it's usually a good idea. An extended warranty from any third party company is usually a big risk because if that company goes under, your warranty isn't worth the paper it's written on.

 

[yrwei52]

Hello All
I am new to this forum.
Bought a new CX5 premium plus naturally aspirated 2.5L.
I have been reading stuff regarding the Cylinder Deactivation (CD) and its side affects towards the long term durability of the engine. So I am hoping to get few clarifications from experienced users, using these engines.

1. Does cylinder deactivation really affect the long term reliability of the engine?
2. Any user seeing failure of the Hydraulic Lash Adjusters caused by CD from 2018 to 2022?
3. How different is Mazda CD compared to GM's AFM and Honda's VCM?
4. What precautions do you recommend for a mazda engine with CD?
5. Should I take the extended warranty which is costing around $3000 for 7 year/100000 miles?

Appreciate your responses.

1. Yes. It's been proven by the history. Just don't plan to keep the car with CD for 200K miles like the car without CD.

2. The special hydraulic lash adjusters themselves which can activate and deactivate the valves of cylinder #1 and #4 on Mazda's 2.5L with CD seem to be fine so far. The fallen rocker arm problem on 2018 CX-5 has been "fixed" by a recall with a software tweak which basically adjusted the oil pressure to the HLAs. The long-term effect is still too early to tell.

3. Not much. The same theory on variable displacement engines unless you're talking about Nissan's:

Infiniti Has Built A Variable Displacement Engine And It's Spectacularly Clever

4. Not much you can do, as the durability issue on CD is from its design.

5. I agree with others on extended warranty.

 

[yrwei52]

I have to mention that there're few reports here that some 2.5L's with CD are having cracked cylinder head issue at about 50K ~ 60k miles which we haven't seen it on non-CD 2.5L's. IMO this's due to the modification to the head to accommodate those special and bigger switchable HLA's used on cylinder #1 and #4. The change very likely has weakened certain areas from original head design, hence easier to crack.

 

[yrwei52]

...
2. The special hydraulic lash adjusters themselves which can activate and deactivate the valves of cylinder #1 and #4 on Mazda's 2.5L with CD seem to be fine so far. The fallen rocker arm problem on 2018 CX-5 has been "fixed" by a recall with a software tweak which basically adjusted the oil pressure to the HLAs. The long-term effect is still too early to tell.

Also there're a couple of TSBs related to these special "switchable" HLA's where they could get noisy after certain miles. The solution is to replace them with a new set of HLA's with revised version based on the TSB's. Not sure if the revised version has truly fixed the problem at this time as I suspect it could have something to do with the software tweak performed by the recall.

 

[181962]

1. Remains to be seen. Also depends on what you consider "long term". @yrwei52 pegs the outside at 200,000 miles. That's a lot of miles on average across the auto spectrum without a major repair. At my current rate of miles driven the actuarial tables say I'll be long dead by then. I'll see where I'm at in 2026 as my CPO warranty approaches expiration.

2. Personally, no. Mine was manufactured after the recall. There have been reports here of failure pre-recall but not many. I don't think I've seen one since. Then again, I'm only at 16,500 miles.

3. No idea.

4. Like anything else, change the oil on schedule. If there are lot of short trips or stop-and-go driving or towing use the 5,000 mile interval.

5. This is the nub of the matter I suppose. Personally I never buy extended warranties on anything. On average, the claim payout ratio on these products across the product spectrum is only about 50% of the "premiums" collected. Better to build an emergency fund and self-insure the risk. Money market funds will also pay some half decent interest for some time until the Fed takes their foot off the pedal. Forgoing the $3,000 (which seems high) is a good start for that fund. There is no guarantee you won't get smacked with a big bill sooner rather than later but over a lifetime you'd have be in the 95th or 99th percentile of unluckiness to not come out ahead.

 

[181962]

I'm not sure if the following link is readable without a Consumer Reports subscription so I'll summarize by saying their reader surveys to date have resulted in the highest rating for reliability in the engine-major category across all years except 2018 which is rated "average". That's a blended rating for turbos and non-turbos. Perhaps that 2018 rating is the result of the HLA recall. Even so, "average" means something like 0.50 - 1.49% of respondents gave a negative report.

2023 Mazda CX-5 Reliability - Consumer Reports

Get reliability information for the 2023 Mazda CX-5 from Consumer Reports, which combines extensive survey data and expert technical knowledge.

www.consumerreports.org

Somebody let me know if that's unreadable so I can skip it in the future.

Frankly, I'd be more concerned about a pandemic-assembled vehicle from anybody rather an any particular component, CD or otherwise. Sporadic parts supplies, not just chips, have interrupted and altered assembly work flows, the kind of cheese you would not to move. You also have to wonder about material substitutions which channels back to part suppliers. And you're not hearing about many layoffs while the production volumes remain low so you have to wonder about cost cuttings.

Only some years down the line will we know if those concerns are realized.

 

[yrwei52]

...
5. This is the nub of the matter I suppose. Personally I never buy extended warranties on anything. On average, the claim payout ratio on these products across the product spectrum is only about 50% of the "premiums" collected. Better to build an emergency fund and self-insure the risk. Money market funds will also pay some half decent interest for some time until the Fed takes their foot off the pedal. Forgoing the $3,000 (which seems high) is a good start for that fund. There is no guarantee you won't get smacked with a big bill sooner rather than later but over a lifetime you'd have be in the 95th or 99th percentile of unluckiness to not come out ahead.

Yes, exactly!

 

[yrwei52]

I'm not sure if the following link is readable without a Consumer Reports subscription so I'll summarize by saying their reader surveys to date have resulted in the highest rating for reliability in the engine-major category across all years except 2018 which is rated "average". That's a blended rating for turbos and non-turbos. Perhaps that 2018 rating is the result of the HLA recall. Even so, "average" means something like 0.50 - 1.49% of respondents gave a negative report.

2023 Mazda CX-5 Reliability - Consumer Reports

Get reliability information for the 2023 Mazda CX-5 from Consumer Reports, which combines extensive survey data and expert technical knowledge.

www.consumerreports.org

Somebody let me know if that's unreadable so I can skip it in the future.

No, I can't read it.

Frankly, I'd be more concerned about a pandemic-assembled vehicle from anybody rather an any particular component, CD or otherwise. Sporadic parts supplies, not just chips, have interrupted and altered assembly work flows, the kind of cheese you would not to move. You also have to wonder about material substitutions which channels back to part suppliers. And you're not hearing about many layoffs while the production volumes remain low so you have to wonder about cost cuttings.

Only some years down the line will we know if those concerns are realized.

Agreed.

My concern on CD reliability mainly is for someone who plan to keep the car forever like me. If one plan to get a new car every so often like most do, don't worry too much about it. Only few unlucky ones may encounter CD related problems including those mentioned in the TSBs.

However, if a car expects to last over 200K miles comparing to a car that could have potential problems due to concept flaws near 200K miles, I'd believe chances are the later could have unexpected problems happening sooner and more often than the former.

 

[181962]

No, I can't read it.

Thanks.

 

[190683]

I’m not a fan of CD especially if it’s the same two cylinders loosing fuel for a bit. GM and Chrysler had that problem and it was damaging the same cylinders, so hey had to reprogram their systems so that it wold randomly shut fuel off to any two cylinders.
if Mazda sticks to the same two cylinders getting no fuel, I would stick to the 2017 and older models.

 

[yrwei52]

I’m not a fan of CD especially if it’s the same two cylinders loosing fuel for a bit. GM and Chrysler had that problem and it was damaging the same cylinders, so hey had to reprogram their systems so that it wold randomly shut fuel off to any two cylinders.
if Mazda sticks to the same two cylinders getting no fuel, I would stick to the 2017 and older models.

I didn’t know GM and Chrysler are doing that alternating deactivated cylinders. That should help for the longevity of the engine, although I still don’t like the idea of cylinder deactivation (variable displacement) except Nissan’s new variable compression ratio / variable displacement engine.

 

[190683]

I didn’t know GM and Chrysler are doing that alternating deactivated cylinders. That should help for the longevity of the engine, although I still don’t like the idea of cylinder deactivation (variable displacement) except Nissan’s new variable compression ratio / variable displacement engine.

Both GM and Chrysler introduced their Displacement on Demand or Multi Displacement System when they brought out the early 2000s V8s.
Initially the same cylinders were being scored and damaged as were the cylinder linings so both companies were doing massive repairs out of pocket, so they reprogrammed the systems to make it random.
The impala SS, Grand Prix GTP, Charger, Challenger, I believe the NorthStar V8 as well as the 5.3 in the Tahoe/Yukon/Silverado/Sierra and possibly the 6.0 and I think the Corvettes also got that system.
Chrysler still has a problem with their MDS where it’s called the Hemi tick and flat spotting the cam shaft lobes and destroying the roller bearings.
Hopefully Mazda doesn’t get that bad, but I already asked a salesman at my local Mazda dealership I deal with if they have had any problems with the cylinder deactivation and what type of mileage customers are getting with it.
If there are no real problems than I would be ok with getting a CX5 with CD, but if Mazda has not randomized CD than I will stick with a CX5 2017 and older.

 

[312capri]

I’m not a fan of CD especially if it’s the same two cylinders loosing fuel for a bit. GM and Chrysler had that problem and it was damaging the same cylinders, so hey had to reprogram their systems so that it wold randomly shut fuel off to any two cylinders.
if Mazda sticks to the same two cylinders getting no fuel, I would stick to the 2017 and older models.

A CDS shuts down half of the engine's cylinders when only a small amount of the engine's power is needed, such as when the vehicle is moving at a constant speed on a level road, decelerating or going downhill. A CDS can reduce fuel consumption by 4 to 10%, saving you money and reducing your impact on the environment.

 

[312capri]

Deactivated cylinders switch frequently so parts stay at operating temperature. There is no effect on cooling, starting, or charging systems. The only effect is slightly improved fuel economy.