Cracked cylinder head - 2019 Mazda CX5 GT

Noticed a burning smell one morning after having parked the car. Seemed to be coming from the front left. I was thinking maybe some fluid of sorts on the brakes. The next day driving to my sons house my wife made mention of the same smell. I pulled over and checked around the car. Smell dissipated quickly. Finished the drive and parked the car. This time I noticed oil leaking from below front of the car. Checked the oil and found it down a little so immediately took it to nearest oil lube shop to check if loose oil filter or improperly set sump plug. The lube shop said both were ok but suspected the oil pressure sending unit was at fault. Went straight to the Mazda dealership who diagnosed a cracked cylinder head. Left the vehicle with them. Being a busy place it took two days before i could get a diagnosis.
(For information I found dealerships do not need to provide a courtesy car or rental. I was informed of this from the service person I was dealing with.) So the vehicle is being repaired under warranty. There are a number of questions I would like answered. 1. How long before I get my car back? 2. Will the new cylinder head and associated parts be under a new warranty starting from completion of repair. 3. Will my existing factory warranty be extended by the time the vehicle is off the road. (I am beginning to suspect this may take a long time) 4. Most important is the new cylinder going to break down in another 2.5 years ? (Should I consider selling the car)
Does this repair come up in carfax?
I would like to hear from anyone who has knowledge or has been through this.
I will keep you posted as things progress.
I am finding this is not an isolated problem.
 
1. How long before I get my car back? 2. Will the new cylinder head and associated parts be under a new warranty starting from completion of repair. 3. Will my existing factory warranty be extended by the time the vehicle is off the road. (I am beginning to suspect this may take a long time) 4. Most important is the new cylinder going to break down in another 2.5 years ? (Should I consider selling the car)
Does this repair come up in carfax?
I would like to hear from anyone who has knowledge or has been through this.
I will keep you posted as things progress.
I am finding this is not an isolated problem.
Loaners are at the dealers discretion. Some dealers believe in good will for reputation and repeat sales. Others live month to month and don't want to add cost to a low profit warranty repair. Did they say they were out of loaners at the moment or did you just get a hard "no". If you're not sure you should revisit the matter. If you're stonewalled, you might want to escalate to a manager. If you bought the vehicle from this dealer that's some leverage if they are at all interested in having you come back for your next vehicle.

1) That's a question for the dealer shop. Parts availability could vary from week to week. Then once the parts are delivered how quickly will they hop to it? Ask when they expect the parts and then how long it will take once they have them.

2) & 3) Mazda USA warranties repairs at Mazda shops for 12 months / 12,000 miles for parts and labor.


I'm not immediately finding what Mazda Canada says. I imagine it's the same but you could poke around or ask the dealer or call Mazda CA.

You have 82,000 kms on a 2019. So if the CA repair warranty is for 20,000 km, you'd be extended to 102,000 which adds little if the warranty is 100,000. For a 2019, the 12 months from repair adds nothing. There might be an exception but I doubt it. See 4) below.

4) There is a new cylinder head assembly for 2018 - 2021 2.5L USA normally aspirated engines as described in the TSB below. It's something of a mystery why this is USA only. You could ask if you're getting the new assembly and if not why not. The fact it has been redesigned would suggest better longevity, but there's no guarantee. There's no indication of a warranty extension for this repair beyond the normal repair warranty but you never know if that will come later. For something like this it would take a voluntary non-safety recall, and maybe not even then, or a class action law suit settlement for a warranty extensioin.

The CarFax for my dealer loaner CPO shows when the selling dealer changed the oil, washed and detailed it in prepping it for sale. I would expect this repair to show up. The thing to do is pay a few bucks for the CarFax when you consider selling or trading to see what's what. I don't know the lag time between a repair and when it would show up in CarFax--maybe somebody else could chime in on that.
 

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My understanding is that, CarFax pays some shops (especially dealerships) to report data. Usually big ones do to make extra bucks. If you go to small indies shops, they might not report to CarFax.

When I owned my problematic BMW, it had the cam pos sensors replaced TWICE (same bank in a V8). When I sold it (years later), the owner showed me the CarFax of it, on which it said "Engine Repair" twice. That made it so much harder to sell... some potential buyers might not even call you.
 
Back in 2017, when the 2018's were coming out. I read that Mazda was introducing a very complicated Cylinder Deactivation system that was involving the valvetrain & oil pressure to control valves from opening and closing. It was complicated and new and instead of buying a 2018, I opted for a new but 2017 CX5. I'm glad I did as the CD turned up to have tons of issues and now the cracked heads are showing up on 2018+ engines. I had a feeling that CD was going to be problematic as it was new and complicated tech.

Ask any engineer and they will tell you that a tried and true design is better than something new and overly complicated. The latter will usually always have teething problems until the kinks are worked out. Worse case scenario, like the Boeing Max8 design, planes crash and people die. Mazda also screwed up with the SkyActiv Diesel, horrible design that is now obsolete and costed Mazda millions of dollars.
 
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Everybody wants to blame everything that ails on cylinder deactivation. Well, there's a TSB for turbos with cracked manifolds at the cylinder head which may or may not involve cracked cylinder heads as well. Some turbo posters are reporting cracked cylinder heads as well. If one wants to go by post frequency alone, CX-9 turbos may have as many or more such complaints per sales unit.

This begs a question. If it is not unique to engines with cylinder deactivation might it not be some underlying problem common to both?
 
Thanks for the replies. Excellent information. In my case i was visiting family I am so away from my local dealer. I imagine though this dealer will want to deal with this as time and parts allow. With regards to carfax, thinking on this, full disclosure at sale would be needed hence i am still in the same boat. (This repair will effect any future sale.) Tending towards holding on to the car and ride it out. The main follow up as i see to check if the new assembly is to be used for the repair.
Will keep you informed on developments.
 
1st a dealer should provide loaner, even if it's the smallest used car on the lot. If they don't, negotiate this.

Others chimed in on the warranty extension.

Doesn't matter which manufacturer it is, Parts are very hard to come by right now whether it is body parts, mechanical, electrical, etc. You may be waiting a few months for parts before they can fix. Try to get an estimated timeline from them.

My car sat waiting for just a new hood and fender for 45 days.

Yes it will show up on Carfax. It would be bad and unethical to not disclose to new buyer. And for some buyers they might see it as a good thing. New engine means major problems have already been worked out. As one who runs my vehicles for 10 to 15 years.. I would hope my 2018 head cracks before the 7 year warranty ends and then keep the cx5 til it dies.

Ask yourself, why sell once it has a new engine which may go another 82000 km or possibly last for alot longer ? The replacement engine may even outlast the frame. You might as well keep and run it til it dies.

However if it worries you that much, why no it trade it in?
 
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Thanks for the replies. Excellent information. In my case i was visiting family I am so away from my local dealer. I imagine though this dealer will want to deal with this as time and parts allow. With regards to carfax, thinking on this, full disclosure at sale would be needed hence i am still in the same boat. (This repair will effect any future sale.) Tending towards holding on to the car and ride it out. The main follow up as i see to check if the new assembly is to be used for the repair.
Will keep you informed on developments.

Something to note. Since you are in Canada, you have the "Unlimited Mileage" warranty, meaning that any issues with your powertrain will be covered under the powertrain warranty for five years, starting from the in-service date. There is no limit on mileage. If you are seeking an extension of the Powertrain warranty, you only need to worry about extending the length of coverage time, not the mileage.
 
Ask yourself, why sell once it has a new engine which may go another 82000 km or possibly last for alot longer ? The replacement engine may even outlast the frame. You might as well keep and run it til it dies.

However if it worries you that much, why no it trade it in?
In this case it does not appear to be a new engine but a repair. On the plus side there has been a redesign of the cylinder assembly which may prevent the problem from recurring, though there is no guarantee.

Though an ethicist might disagree, I too would feel compelled to disclose to a private party but not a dealer. Dealers are pros, they will surely check the CarFax and give the vehicle a thorough inspection and test drive. If they fail to do that it is on them. What happens from there depends.

They may try to sell you that the repair history makes it a wholesale vehicle. That's questionable. Given the age and miles there's a good chance it will end up on the lot. If it's been trouble free for some time after the repair then it becomes a push-back negotiating point.
 
Something to note. Since you are in Canada, you have the "Unlimited Mileage" warranty, meaning that any issues with your powertrain will be covered under the powertrain warranty for five years, starting from the in-service date. There is no limit on mileage. If you are seeking an extension of the Powertrain warranty, you only need to worry about extending the length of coverage time, not the mileage.
Correct, time is the main issue. I have 5 years with extended warranty. The longer it goes the better i'll feel. Thanks

In this case it does not appear to be a new engine but a repair. On the plus side there has been a redesign of the cylinder assembly which may prevent the problem from recurring, though there is no guarantee.

Though an ethicist might disagree, I too would feel compelled to disclose to a private party but not a dealer. Dealers are pros, they will surely check the CarFax and give the vehicle a thorough inspection and test drive. If they fail to do that it is on them. What happens from there depends.

They may try to sell you that the repair history makes it a wholesale vehicle. That's questionable. Given the age and miles there's a good chance it will end up on the lot. If it's been trouble free for some time after the repair then it becomes a push-back negotiating point.
Agreed, with all you say.
 
Update :
- Its been just over 2 weeks. I contacted the service rep. who told me it will take at least another 2 weeks before they could possibly tell me when the parts will be available. This is getting scary !!
- Asked if I can expect a loaner. It is out with another customer so no loaner. I wish i could find something good to report.
- Contacted Mazda Canada direct. No reply yet.
Ball is out of my court. Hopefully they will get some sort of answers for me soon.
 
As a mechanic I have serviced our CX5 since new, why pay the dealer $125+ an hour…last fall I did the 36K service and noticed the oil was down a litre and made a note to watch weekly.
Well we noticed a smell of burning oil at traffic lights so I took a look under the hood with my remote camera, noticing a trail of oil running down the exhaust manifold under the shrouding onto the crossmember. I cleaned up what I could see to monitor. A week later the oil was back, so off to the dealer.
The dealer did exactly what I did a month earlier and ask us to drive it for a week. When they got it back it was determined that it had a blown head gasket and they would keep it. Well after a month of not being able to supply a service loaner they rented us a Toyota Camry hybrid, which we drove for 2 more months while the CX5 sat and waited for parts.
Supposedly this is the first cracked head in Western Canada…I doubt it.
We kept it for a week after it was returned to us and it is now sitting on the local Toyota lot after we traded it for a Camry hybrid.
Here is the laundry list of problems we had in 3 and a half years of ownership:
1- crappy infotainment system, come on Mazda it’s not 2005 anymore, Applecarplay is a thing and all manufacturers include Sirius capability on all their products.
2- driveability issues, no acceleration after maneuvering thru a parking lot or a highway accident zero acceleration! Really nothing is more panic inducing than trying to enter a freeway on ramp and putting the pedal on the floor and nothing, zero, could walk faster...
3- Questionable engine durability issues.
4- a sunroof that when open at speed over 30 KMS, requires ear plugs.
 
Thanks Emby, It seems i am walking your path. Like you I carry out the services on time. For us though the only other issue has been the brakes. Nothing serious though. I will continue asking for a loaner. ( I wonder if their loaner is out due to another cx5 with a cracked head ?)
2019
GT - no turbo
 
2018 non-turbo, probably had cylinder deactivation, so the engine performance issues may have been related to the rocker arm recall.
All (2015+?) Mazdas can be retrofitted with AA/ACP if the owner wants it, they just have to buy the kit and install it or have someone install it for them, then update the firmware.
 
Thanks Emby, It seems i am walking your path. Like you I carry out the services on time. For us though the only other issue has been the brakes. Nothing serious though. I will continue asking for a loaner. ( I wonder if their loaner is out due to another cx5 with a cracked head ?)
2019
GT - no turbo
We went for a month without a loaner as the dealers inventory was vandalized and couldn’t get replacement windows due to shortages.
Mazda Canada did pay $35/day for a rental for the last two months to their credit.
 
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