CX-9 2.5T Engine Coolant Leaking TSB

[kbegley14]

I'm trying to understand if my vehicle is experiencing problems associated with this potential defect. I checked my VIN and model and it does seem to be one of the impacted models 2019 CX 9 PY Turbo.

My car has just 61k miles on it and is newly out of warranty (less than 2 months). A few things have happened over the last month. My car randomly died while on vacation. Context I drove it turned it off for 5 min and went to turn it back on and it wouldn't start and almost all of the lights were on. We had it jumped and were told we were OK.

From there I started to hear a loud noise when accelerating. My oil change light came on early (I assumed it was set incorrectly based on the mile count) and my coolant light has come on and off a few times.

Took it in and I am told my transmission needs to be replaced. The technician said that it is heavily whining when accelerating at around 40 MPH from the differential backside of the transmission most likely a bearing noise. No further explanation just that it is non-servicable and would need to be replaced.

Additionally, they heard the rear differential 'heavily screaming'. And recommend replacing the front coupler half, the secondary and the main differential half. They suggested that something happened to the vehicle in bad weather or that it somehow lost traction. It is September and we have had no significant traction issues that I can recall.

They told me they would reach out to Mazda to see what they could do to help which is giving me pause. In total the work is estimated at over $11k.

I'd like to know if all of this could be caused by this defect and if anyone has experience with how Mazda will handle it so I can be prepared. For context, I'm not overly interested in the class action I just want my car fixed without incurring these outrageous costs.

 

[Tchman2016]

I'm trying to understand if my vehicle is experiencing problems associated with this potential defect. I checked my VIN and model and it does seem to be one of the impacted models 2019 CX 9 PY Turbo.

My car has just 61k miles on it and is newly out of warranty (less than 2 months). A few things have happened over the last month. My car randomly died while on vacation. Context I drove it turned it off for 5 min and went to turn it back on and it wouldn't start and almost all of the lights were on. We had it jumped and were told we were OK.

From there I started to hear a loud noise when accelerating. My oil change light came on early (I assumed it was set incorrectly based on the mile count) and my coolant light has come on and off a few times.

Took it in and I am told my transmission needs to be replaced. The technician said that it is heavily whining when accelerating at around 40 MPH from the differential backside of the transmission most likely a bearing noise. No further explanation just that it is non-servicable and would need to be replaced.

Additionally, they heard the rear differential 'heavily screaming'. And recommend replacing the front coupler half, the secondary and the main differential half. They suggested that something happened to the vehicle in bad weather or that it somehow lost traction. It is September and we have had no significant traction issues that I can recall.

They told me they would reach out to Mazda to see what they could do to help which is giving me pause. In total the work is estimated at over $11k.

I'd like to know if all of this could be caused by this defect and if anyone has experience with how Mazda will handle it so I can be prepared. For context, I'm not overly interested in the class action I just want my car fixed without incurring these outrageous costs.

There is no way your vehicle needs those things. They also have nothing to do with the cracked head issue. Scam dealer, run away.

 

[sm1ke]

Sounds like multiple problems creeping up at the same time.

Coolant light could be related to the 2.5T coolant leak described in this thread. Check for dried green residue on the back of the engine, visible if you jack up the car and remove the plastic guard for the oil pan. You may also be able to smell the coolant (I'm told it's a "sickly sweet" smell), and you should fill the coolant in your coolant reservoir to halfway full if it appears low (use only Mazda OEM coolant).

Loud noise while accelerating could be the transmission, depending on where the noise is coming from.

If the noise coming from the rear is constant, the rear differential could be toast.

All of these issues are drivetrain issues, but only the coolant is related to the TSB in this thread. Hopefully Mazda helps you out given you're just out of the powertrain warranty period. Your chances will be a bit better at getting assistance from them if they see that you've always had your car serviced at one of their dealers, but it's never a guarantee. Good luck with the fixes!

 

[ds67695600]

Why isn’t Mazda doing a recall? They have already admitted it’s a design defect so the problem revealing itself will depend on how the vehicle is used but given long enough every vehicle in the VIN group will be affected. Toyota just recalled one of their engines. I like manufacturers who stand behind their products.

 

[Mazdiod2]

Why isn’t Mazda doing a recall? They have already admitted it’s a design defect so the problem revealing itself will depend on how the vehicle is used but given long enough every vehicle in the VIN group will be affected. Toyota just recalled one of their engines. I like manufacturers who stand behind their products.

I've heard that recalls are more about a defect that could cause a crash rather than drivability issues.

 

[austinsho]

Well, I would have to consider cracked heads a bit more than a "drivability issue".

 

[JPL]

Why isn’t Mazda doing a recall? They have already admitted it’s a design defect so the problem revealing itself will depend on how the vehicle is used but given long enough every vehicle in the VIN group will be affected. Toyota just recalled one of their engines. I like manufacturers who stand behind their products.

This issue doesn't create a sudden dangerous situation. When it happens, the engine will start to show overheating warnings and a slow loss of power if you don't just pull over. Recalls are typically safety related. Other issues are either handled under warranty or a case by case basis. It would be extremely difficult for Mazda to recall and replace all these in a short period of time.

It's also not guaranteed to fail. I've looked at service records of ones with 200,000 miles, No mention of engine replacement. I can't see them willing to replace engines that may never crack.

The best we could ask for is that they'd replace failed ones free of charge.

 

[Silly Wabbit]

I think you can argue that this can be similar to the Corvette cracked wheel lawsuit. GM deny responsibility because the cracked wheels were due to design defect and not manufacturing defect.

 

[Peregrine7]

2019 CX-9, 30K miles, in August found coolant leaking under the car. This was 5 months past the warranty (but only 30K miles!).

I called Mazda corporate, they said they can try to assist, but first I have to take the car to the dealer for diagnosis of the problem. Had to wait 2 weeks, then leave the car, they did a full inspection and confirmed cracked cylinder head. They also found the belt tensioner is leaking. Funny, here's another part that notoriously fails in all Mazda cars, all tensioners with sn ending .10, and there's a TSB requiring replacement of this part with new one, with sn ending .13. But they don't see this as a design fault they should be responsible for? How is this not a recall?!

Still, belt tensioner is tiny potatoes comparing to the cracked cylinder head.

Dealer opened up claim with Mazda (which apparently is separate from the case I made when I called the corporate). I had to go back because Mazda warranty dept was asking the dealer to prove the engine was overheating, which is BS, because I kept adding coolant, so the engine never overheated. But the dealer lowered the coolant and had the engine overheat a little bit just to generate the code the warranty dept was requiring.

After all this, they lowered their original quote from 10K to 6K and expect me to pay this to replace the engine. I called the corporate many times, but they said if the warranty dept. decided this, they cannot change it. And there's no way to talk to warranty dept. directly (not customer facing). The service manager at the dealership is a nice guy, but his hands are tight, supposedly, he did the best he could. Mazda simply doesn't give a f*ck about their customers and the design/manufacturing problems they should be responsible for.

So basically, you buy a $40-50K car, 30K miles later it turns out the heart of the car, its engine, needs replacement because of a manufacturing defect, and you are expected to put out additional $6K+ for this??!!! This is BS. Not only Mazda should fully cover this repair and parts, but they should also recompensate for the collateral loss. We bought a brand new car. This repair requires taking out everything underneath the car just to drop the engine. Being done by mechanics, it will NEVER be the same as factory. We're talking about lost washers, incorrect bolt torques, changed screws, broken clips, incidental scratches in and out of the car, etc. This is NOT what we paid for, and once this happens, the owner value (not market) of our car goes down significantly. A car being taken apart to this degree is never the same as factory assembled.

My family and I are livid and we will dedicate a lot of our time to spread our story and experience across all media, so that people don't fall into the same bad Mazda product trap we did. I think that goes without saying, but we will NEVER buy another Mazda.

 

[Mazdiod2]

I think the cracked cylinder head issue is due to excessive weight of the exhaust manifold on certain models. If that's your problem it does seem surprising they won't stand behind it.

Did they try to steer you into a trade or anything? Of course they would still need to fix that one but if they want to move inventory maybe they could give you a good price for yours on a trade as sort of "compensation'.

 

[Tchman2016]

What is your "in service" date? Factory warranty is 5 years 60k miles. If you bought new in October through December 31st then you still have warranty.

 

[Peregrine7]

I think the cracked cylinder head issue is due to excessive weight of the exhaust manifold on certain models. If that's your problem it does seem surprising they won't stand behind it.

Did they try to steer you into a trade or anything? Of course they would still need to fix that one but if they want to move inventory maybe they could give you a good price for yours on a trade as sort of "compensation'.

I had 1 sales guy call from another Mazda dealer. I explained to him my situation, he never called back. And the local dealer never offered this as an option.
Also, we usually keep the cars about 10 years, because of the lifestyle and job types, and having 2 cars, we don't drive a lot each of them. So trading it in now even if it were in pristine condition, we'd loose about 20K, while the car is literally like new with only 30K miles, completely not making sense to make any trades. But with the engine problem, it complicates everything.

 

[Peregrine7]

What is your "in service" date? Factory warranty is 5 years 60k miles.

Yes, and the 5 years expired in February. We don't drive the car a lot, and always took good care of it, and well maintained (just not by the dealer). Apparently, all for nothing. My first and LAST Mazda.

 

[Tchman2016]

Yes, and the 5 years expired in February. We don't drive the car a lot, and always took good care of it, and well maintained (just not by the dealer). Apparently, all for nothing.

I see. So you are saying that Mazda corporate is not providing any monetary assistance? Also, I highly doubt the engine has sustained any damage and needs to be replaced. Have you checked the dipstick to see what the oil looks like? If it is NOT milky then you DO NOT need to replace the engine, only the head and exhaust manifold gasket kits and fluids. The new oem redesigned part is less than $1k. That job can be done for $2500 from a good independent mechanic. Do not replace the engine if coolant has not mixed with the oil. The engine does not need to come out to do that job. That dealership sounds like they are either lying, ignorant, don't give a $hit or any combination. Sounds like they told you BS about the engine needing to overheat to throw a code to tell Mazda. Not true. Likely they wanted a bigger job and bigger pay to have the engine replaced rather than just the head. Fishy and full of it. Their hands are also not tied. They can do much more to go to bat for you to have it covered but they don't care.

 

[Peregrine7]

I see. So you are saying that Mazda corporate is not providing any monetary assistance?

$1000 from Mazda corp. and they told the dealer to remove markup charges, so the end result is $6K they want me to pay.
They mixed some things up, because initially they quoted me over $10K. Then when the decision came back from the corporate, they said $1K covered by them, $2K covered by dealer removing markup, remainder $6K covered by customer. That's $9K, not 10, so I don't know how they're doing their math there, but obviously it's all a sham.

 

[Tchman2016]

$1000 from Mazda corp. and they told the dealer to remove markup charges, so the end result is $6K they want me to pay.
They mixed some things up, because initially they quoted me over $10K. Then when the decision came back from the corporate, they said $1K covered by them, $2K covered by dealer removing markup, remainder $6K covered by customer. That's $9K, not 10, so I don't know how they're doing their math there, but obviously it's all a sham.

I just updated my post. See above. That dealership is crooked. Also, there are other options if you don't want to keep the car.

 

[Peregrine7]

I see. So you are saying that Mazda corporate is not providing any monetary assistance? Also, I highly doubt the engine has sustained any damage and needs to be replaced. Have you checked the dipstick to see what the oil looks like? If it is NOT milky then you DO NOT need to replace the engine, only the head and exhaust manifold. Those new oem redesigned parts are $1k. That job can be done for $2500 from a good independent mechanic. Do not replace the engine if coolant has not mixed with the oil. The engine does not need to come out to do that job. That dealership sounds like they are either lying, ignorant,. don't give a $hit or any combination. Sounds like they told you BS about the engine needing to overheat to throw a code to tell Mazda. Not true. Likely they wanted a bigger job and bigger pay to have the engine replaced rather than just the head. Fishy and full of it. Their hands are also not tied. They can do much more to go to bat for you to have it covered but they don't care.

Thanks, yeah, I was leaning the same way, already visited 2 mechanics and got quotes, but I thought only the cylinder head needs replacement (oil is not milky, crack is only to outside). Why do you say I'd need to replace the manifold, too? Is that part of the problem causality? My understanding is the cylinder heads were designed to thin, and they later redesigned them to be thicker, no?
Either, way, it's still about $3K+ I should not be paying for.
As for the dealership... I'm not surprised at all. I'm quite used to extremely bad experience at any dealerships. This is why I never do anything there, unless absolutely necessary.

 

[sm1ke]

Thanks, yeah, I was leaning the same way, already visited 2 mechanics and got quotes, but I thought only the cylinder head needs replacement (oil is not milky, crack is only to outside). Why do you say I'd need to replace the manifold, too? Is that part of the problem causality? My understanding is the cylinder heads were designed to thin, and they later redesigned them to be thicker, no?
Either, way, it's still about $3K+ I should not be paying for.
As for the dealership... I'm not surprised at all. I'm quite used to extremely bad experience at any dealerships. This is why I never do anything there, unless absolutely necessary.

I think he meant the exhaust manifold gasket, not the manifold itself. As far as I know the manifold doesn't need to be replaced, but I could be wrong.

 

[Tchman2016]

I think he meant the exhaust manifold gasket, not the manifold itself. As far as I know the manifold doesn't need to be replaced, but I could be wrong.

Yes thanks for the correction. I meant the head and manifold gasket kits and necessary fluids. The manifold doesn't need replacement, only the head.

 

[sm1ke]

2019 CX-9, 30K miles, in August found coolant leaking under the car. This was 5 months past the warranty (but only 30K miles!).

I called Mazda corporate, they said they can try to assist, but first I have to take the car to the dealer for diagnosis of the problem. Had to wait 2 weeks, then leave the car, they did a full inspection and confirmed cracked cylinder head. They also found the belt tensioner is leaking. Funny, here's another part that notoriously fails in all Mazda cars, all tensioners with sn ending .10, and there's a TSB requiring replacement of this part with new one, with sn ending .13. But they don't see this as a design fault they should be responsible for? How is this not a recall?!

Still, belt tensioner is tiny potatoes comparing to the cracked cylinder head.

Dealer opened up claim with Mazda (which apparently is separate from the case I made when I called the corporate). I had to go back because Mazda warranty dept was asking the dealer to prove the engine was overheating, which is BS, because I kept adding coolant, so the engine never overheated. But the dealer lowered the coolant and had the engine overheat a little bit just to generate the code the warranty dept was requiring.

After all this, they lowered their original quote from 10K to 6K and expect me to pay this to replace the engine. I called the corporate many times, but they said if the warranty dept. decided this, they cannot change it. And there's no way to talk to warranty dept. directly (not customer facing). The service manager at the dealership is a nice guy, but his hands are tight, supposedly, he did the best he could. Mazda simply doesn't give a f*ck about their customers and the design/manufacturing problems they should be responsible for.

So basically, you buy a $40-50K car, 30K miles later it turns out the heart of the car, its engine, needs replacement because of a manufacturing defect, and you are expected to put out additional $6K+ for this??!!! This is BS. Not only Mazda should fully cover this repair and parts, but they should also recompensate for the collateral loss. We bought a brand new car. This repair requires taking out everything underneath the car just to drop the engine. Being done by mechanics, it will NEVER be the same as factory. We're talking about lost washers, incorrect bolt torques, changed screws, broken clips, incidental scratches in and out of the car, etc. This is NOT what we paid for, and once this happens, the owner value (not market) of our car goes down significantly. A car being taken apart to this degree is never the same as factory assembled.

My family and I are livid and we will dedicate a lot of our time to spread our story and experience across all media, so that people don't fall into the same bad Mazda product trap we did. I think that goes without saying, but we will NEVER buy another Mazda.

I saw your thread on Reddit and figured it would pop up here as well. It truly sucks that they aren't doing more for you, and I totally understand your frustration. A lot of the users on Reddit kept saying that you didn't do enough research and that you should have bought an extended warranty, but all of that is besides the point.

Even at $6k the price is way too high for the work that would need to be done. You can get the updated cylinder head and exhaust manifold gasket directly from Mazda (try going through the Service Manager who seemed helpful, they may be able to price match or even beat the list price of an online dealer like mazdashop.ca, or they can work with Mazda Corporate to get you the parts at cost). After that, you can print off the TSB for the engine coolant leak which includes the R&R instructions, take it to a reputable independent shop or an engine overhaul shop, and they can do the required work at a reduced shop rate to help bring the overall cost down.

The good news is that after the cylinder head replacement, once the engine is back to normal, the car should be good to go for a good long while. There are plenty of high mileage CX-9s out there, we just don't really see or hear from their owners because they have nothing to complain about. Hopefully you can trust the car after it gets fixed.