CX-9 2.5T Engine Coolant Leaking TSB

Peregrine7 said:
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.
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This is insane to have to deal with having only 30k on your car. I really agree with your sentiment of spreading the word and shaming Mazda. Your particular case is really egregious and honestly the perfect example to use. I would highly recommend you reach out to local news stations or maybe even national news outlets that have shows/segments for consumer watchdog type things. I could really see your case taking off with media attention.

EDIT: Just made a thread about a reddit post I just came across where Mazda is announcing an extended warranty for the cylinder head cracking TSB: Mazda Warranty Extensions for Cylinder Head Leaks for TSB01-002/23

Definitely contact your dealer about this! Let us know what happens!
 
Peregrine7 said:
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.
Click to expand...
I know this is the story of probably many like above, but is almost exactly what my wife and I experienced. Mazda will never get another dollar of my money...ever. I know I have posted our story here before, but I want people that may have not seen it, to read it.

Our CX9 had 61k and was 4-5 months out of warranty. Even at this mileage, an engine shouldn't do this. My experiene with Mazda was the same in terms of corporate, but our dealer was a bunch of literal idiots too. Which made this process very frustrating. Yes, our car was out of warranty technically. But when I worked in the industry we goodwilled alot of work that happened just outside of warranty expiration. It's just the right thing to do. Also, it tends to build trust between a customer base and manufaturer in my opinion.

But...like you describe, and was a worry of mine also having worked in the industry for 13-14 years in parts and service. After paying for this engine fix, we got the car back and it was missing clips and bolts, wiring harness clips that can't be replaced were broke. This was all over the place. I had one of the alternator bolts just sitting in the mounting hole and not torqued down at all. It was just rattling around when the car was started. Then 3-4 months into the fix, we noticed that oil was leaking out of the bottom of the car through the undertray. Took it back to the dealer many times and they acted like nothing was wrong. It was coming from between the engine and trans. Finally they recommended that we needed a new trans, which was another 6k. Even though there was dye in the engine oil....go figure. We went to an independant shop to get a second opinion, and they broke the trans and engine apart, and found that none of the flywheel bolts had been sealed with threadlocker. Oil was just seeping between them and down between the engine and trans. That cost us another 2k to have done. So something that should have been covered under the engine replacement warranty was not.

I know I am bitter but you just don't treat people like this and not have repercussions down the line somewhere.
 
@Favre95 I can feel your frustration thru the screen. To be fair, corporate level failed you by not standing by their product and the dealership failed you with crappy work. I hope once the link to submit claims is verified, you can submit your case for a full reimbursement.
 
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So. Our 2018 CX-5 with the same bloody issue would NOT have qualified? It looks like dumping it the day after the initial diagnosis was the right thing to do!
 
The crack on the naturally aspirated CX-5 are a different issue. This is only relevant to the turbo model
 
youri said:
The warranty was extended for 10 years (120,00 miles) and those that paid for the repairs out of pocket before will be reimbursed.

https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/tsbs/2024/MC-11011136-0001.pdf

Owner who want their previous repairs reimbursed will have 6 month after the letter mailing date to claim the repair. See the details here:

https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/tsbs/2024/MC-11009658-0001.pdf
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Thank you for reporting this..
This is the best news since I first heard the bad news about the cracked head issue.
 
Sorry if I'm asking what's stated in the tsb but is it clear that the 2021 do not show this issue? I own a 21 my CX9 2.5T and also a 19 CX5 Signature 2.5T (that I did get the warranty letter for yesterday).
 
For the moment, 2021s are not yet part of the extended warranty. See table below:

1735489055115.webp
 
kone said:
Sorry if I'm asking what's stated in the tsb but is it clear that the 2021 do not show this issue? I own a 21 my CX9 2.5T and also a 19 CX5 Signature 2.5T (that I did get the warranty letter for yesterday).
Click to expand...
Your 2021 does not have this issue. It has the other issue with defective exhaust valve seals causing excessive oil consumption. There is a special service campaign for that from Mazda as well as an extended warranty and you need to go get that fixed ASAP
 
Mazda has extended warranty on this issue to 10 years or 120,000 miles.

D

Thread 'Mazda 2.5T Engine Extended Warranty US-PS-11376'

Dear Mazda Owner:

You are receiving this notice because Mazda's records indicate that your 2019-2020 CX-5, 2016- 2020 CX-9, or 2018-2020 Mazda6 vehicle was equipped with a SKYACTIV-G 2.5T (Turbocharged) engine ("Covered Vehicle").

Mazda Motor Corporation has decided to conduct a Customer Service Program CSP (11) to inform you that Mazda is extending the limited powertrain warranty to provide necessary repairs free of charge if your Covered Vehicle has coolant leaks at the cylinder head around the exhaust manifold and to inform you that you may be eligible to receive reimbursement for...
 
Duke Yugo said:
Mazda has extended warranty on this issue to 10 years or 120,000 miles.

D

Thread 'Mazda 2.5T Engine Extended Warranty US-PS-11376'

Dear Mazda Owner:

You are receiving this notice because Mazda's records indicate that your 2019-2020 CX-5, 2016- 2020 CX-9, or 2018-2020 Mazda6 vehicle was equipped with a SKYACTIV-G 2.5T (Turbocharged) engine ("Covered Vehicle").

Mazda Motor Corporation has decided to conduct a Customer Service Program CSP (11) to inform you that Mazda is extending the limited powertrain warranty to provide necessary repairs free of charge if your Covered Vehicle has coolant leaks at the cylinder head around the exhaust manifold and to inform you that you may be eligible to receive reimbursement for...
Click to expand...
My CX-9 is headed to the dealer after overheated coolant leak cylinder damage that was already fixed and can’t be fixed again..?

How many times can this happen when mine has 71,723 miles and the dealer shop is telling me that it has been fixed before I bought it…Help please!
 
tcolon35 said:
My CX-9 is headed to the dealer after overheated coolant leak cylinder damage that was already fixed and can’t be fixed again..?

How many times can this happen when mine has 71,723 miles and the dealer shop is telling me that it has been fixed before I bought it…Help please!
Click to expand...
If you don't mind me asking, what model year is your CX-9?
 
All cars and makers have issues but this is a doozy. Love our Mazdas, and were looking at the CX30 turbo, but it does make me pause.
 
tcolon35 said:
76,103miles
Click to expand...
I apologize for the late reply, but thank you.
Please do keep us informed as to the outcome of this situation with your vehicle.
It sounds like if your 2017 has in fact been repaired of this previously, it must have been repaired using the same generation head as what came original. Now that Mazda has modified the casting, I can only assume that a repair today would have a better outcome.
 
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