I'm not understanding why there was still a burning smell (from your initial post #20) after the initial repair was made by Mazda. An axle would not normally leak onto an extremely hot surface, so a continued burning smell would imply that Mazda somehow messed up the initial repair and gave the vehicle back to you with some type of engine leak still happening. Of course it's also possible that they were just a bit sloppy on the initial engine repair job, and left some residual oil on the engine, which continued to drip on the exhaust manifold.
Also, a leaking axle tends to suggest that Mazda replaced (or just removed) the engine, which would be an unusual step to take for a cracked head repair.
So you might be able to clear up some (or all) of these questions by posting both sets of paperwork that the Mazda service department gave you. It's not uncommon for the paperwork to have notes from the SA or tech, which can be very helpful in trying to determine what the actual problem with the vehicle was, and also the repairs that Mazda made to correct them. Just cover your personal information (including the VIN), before taking pictures of the pages and posting them.
