Engine Coolant Odor Present

[tomiller97]

Are there many others with this issue on an 08? I have an 08 FWD Sport and can smell the anti-freeze almost reguarly when I park it in the garage. I get out and walk past the hood and can easily smell it! I haven't seen a leak yet but it's interesting to hear that others do have this issue with 08s.

I as well have my first LOF appointment coming up and have started a list of questions to ask them. This will be one of them.

Thanks for keeping us updated D.

 

[SeCX-9]

Are there many others with this issue on an 08? I have an 08 FWD Sport and can smell the anti-freeze almost reguarly when I park it in the garage. I get out and walk past the hood and can easily smell it! I haven't seen a leak yet but it's interesting to hear that others do have this issue with 08s.

I as well have my first LOF appointment coming up and have started a list of questions to ask them. This will be one of them.

Thanks for keeping us updated D.

I have always parked in a garage every night and I have never had this smell problem with my 08 GT.

 

[Force-1]

Are there many others with this issue on an 08? I have an 08 FWD Sport and can smell the anti-freeze almost reguarly when I park it in the garage. I get out and walk past the hood and can easily smell it! I haven't seen a leak yet but it's interesting to hear that others do have this issue with 08s.

I as well have my first LOF appointment coming up and have started a list of questions to ask them. This will be one of them.

Thanks for keeping us updated D.

Yes on my 08. Same garage smell issue as you. I had it checked out almost a year ago, and was told it was due to "all of the plastic parts under the hood." I am not going to worry about it, as there are no leak spots on my garage floor, and no indications od coolant loss in overflow tank.

 

[DSherwood]

back from dealer

The dealer had the car for 12 days, tested everything, found nothing. Technical department has not an answer. It is very cold here in Minnesota, the "issue" does not rear it self as much when cold. I drove it twice in the past few days, no odor. Frustrated and not sure what to do at this point. I will talk with the dealer next week. I do believe that they have done work towards fixing the problem, good communication / service. Just wish they would find the culprit, any consumer shouldn't have to deal with this. The car is wonderful to drive, especially with the winter tires/awd.

This a great car, minus the "odor issue". which makes it not acceptable.

I will post when I get anything worthy to share on this issue,

D.

 

[nomadlee]

I'm new here...this is my first ever post...I had that coolant smell on my 08 CX-9 AWD GT. I first noticed puddles on my driveway, in my garage, in-laws house...then I realized it was me leaving all those puddles.

Brought it in, it was diagnosed to have a leaking water pump. No problem, just replace it. It had 11,000 kms on it and it was covered under warranty. I spoke to one of the mechanics who was working on my car for over 6 days!!! That's right 6 days!!! Turns out they had to drop the engine to get to the pump. A master Mazda mechanic was called in to over see project. Worst thing was they wouldn't give me a loaner car (because I didn't purchase the extended warranty; is the BS?) and the dealership was very reluctant to tell me what was really happening.

The dealership said they've never done this repair ever before. The engine works fine but the alignment is bugging the crap out of me....I brought it back 3 times and they just can't get her straight.

Long story short, the smell is now gone.

 

[cccx9]

Drop the engine to replace the water pump? Wow.

Loaner car policies vary from dealer to dealer. That being said, most of the dealers in my area offer a loaner car for any warranty work.

 

[not_too_shabby]

Drop the engine to replace the water pump? Wow.

Loaner car policies vary from dealer to dealer. That being said, most of the dealers in my area offer a loaner car for any warranty work.

That makes me nervous for the future when the water pump goes out. Hopefully they didn't use the cheap ones with plastic impellers that only last 50-60K miles. Imagine how much that would cost out of warranty to get fixed. You might as well just hand the dealer the keys.

 

[benben01]

just curious.. what are the manf dates on the 08's with the coolant odor issue?

 

[DSherwood]

Back on this thread with no good news, the odor is still present and getting more frequent as the Minnesota weather warms up.

I found out that the car does have lines going to the rear heater, so it might be there, Mazda is sending their regional guy out at the end of the month to identify the odor problem and search for a solution.

Still unacceptable, let's hope that they can get it right.

D.

 

[sbmrinaldi]

I have the odor as well. Mine is an 07 and they have checked it and claim this is not an issue or recall on my vin. The odor is there and annoying to me since I can smell that a mile away. No leak whatsoever, but the smell is there and seems to become apparent after a 20-30 minute minimum drive.

 

[sbmrinaldi]

Never added any coolant and it's been there since new-almost 2.5 years.

 

[cx-7driver1]

CX-7 odor

I bought my CX-7 in October 2008 and immediately noticed an odor inside the car, especially when the weather was warm. I drive about 200 miles a day and the odor clings to my clothes. During the winter the problem went away, but now that the weather is warm again, it is happening again. I called the Mazda dealer Friday and they said they had never heard of this problem. Any ideas?

 

[badself]

You might get more information on the CX-7 thread, though there are also folks here in the CX-9 thread experiencing similar issues.

 

[DSherwood]

coolant odor present

I believe the culprit just might have been found, Mazda sent their regional guy out last tuesday, we all drove in it (3) around town for 10-15 minutes and stopped, I pulled the hood (outside temp was 60-65 degrees) and the smell was evident up by the radiator.

They kept the car for four days, replaced radiator and hoses, even pressure tested the rad, well I have had the car since then (6 days) and haven't noticed the odor. I sure hope sharing this doesn't jinx it!

Anyone who has read all the posts I have done-knows what a pain this has been. I think that the radiator core (aluminum) when glued to the plastic tanks, gets the right temp/pressure and lets just enough out to cause the odor in slow traffic/ in the garage overnight/ etc.

I talked with Griffin radiator years ago, they had a similar problem (racing radiators). I mentioned that at the beginning, but pressure testing didn't show anything, that is why I say the right temp/pressure causes a pin hole to open up, and that is possible with epoxy/aluminum/plastic bond. expansion/contraction.

I highly doubt anyone could challenge this result, and don't care as long as the problem stays away. it has been this way since new (18 months ago)

Kudo's for Mazda if this works, you have to get the service manager to witness it and forward the story, otherwise you'll just get the "could not duplicate symptoms" line, which is a cop out for lazy service team.

good luck,

D

 

[DSherwood]

odor still there

It's July, had the car since October 5, 2007. Coolant odor then and now. Mazda seems to think I am the only one with the issue, so its not important. They replaced the radiator, and hoses, to no avail.

Too bad, this is a cool car to drive, the dealer is empathetic, yet nobody wants to step up and be accountable. So, I just drive it and it acts up several times a week in traffic or slow commute, hit the recirculate button and the odor goes away.

Hey, what do you expect for 40k? If anything shows up as a fix, I'll report.

D.

 

[ceric]

As someone mentioned in previous post, to replace water pump of CX9's engine, it is required to raise the engine up. It is the procedure in the workshop manual. Apparently, there is not enough space w/o doing so. The labor cost could be very high (near $800+) if it fails out of warranty. Bad design if you ask me. Ford should pay more attention to small details like this.....

 

[badself]

As someone mentioned in previous post, to replace water pump of CX9's engine, it is required to raise the engine up. It is the procedure in the workshop manual. Apparently, there is not enough space w/o doing so. The labor cost could be very high (near $800+) if it fails out of warranty. Bad design if you ask me. Ford should pay more attention to small details like this.....

These are not "small" details. They are a nightmare just waiting to happen. What are the chances this pump will go 200K without a failure. The problem is right up there with the $5,400 transfer case and the trash throttle body. This car is not an exotic, but the cost of some components and the eccentricity of some repair operations are unheard of in all but the exotics.

Sometimes, I don't know what I was thinking when I bought the CX-9. My driver side mirror is still on back-order a full month into waiting. If the mirror had been clipped in a crash, the car would be out of commission for a month and counting. To me, all these things mold the ownership experience and help to determine who will get the next pile of cash I throw at a new vehicle.

I know there's plenty of folks here who praise Mazda no matter what. I'd just as soon leave before I stop speaking my mind and my experience, and I won't be doing either any time soon. At least my problem isn't with the people on the forum, it's the manufacturer, the service, and sometimes even the product.

 

[badself]

Hopefully Mazda will go back to their philosophy of simplicity in engineering more now that Ford's stranglehold has been lifted.

Last I heard, Ford went from 49% ownership of Mazda to something like 90%.

Maybe I got it wrong. Does anybody know the real nature and extent of Mazda's relation to Ford presently?

Even with their financial viability and quality improvements, Ford is not my cup of tea. As far as I'm concerned, the less Ford in my Mazda, the better.

A whole lot of the parts (suspension parts, throttle body, engine block, you name it) on our CX-9's are straight out of the Ford parts bin, and IMHO they constitute the weakest links in the ownership experience. I'd love to see what Mazda could design and build as an autonomous car manufacturer.

 

[ceric]

Ford used to own 33% of Mazda (to claim Mazda as its revenue of Ford group).
Due to Ford's crisis for more cash, Ford dumped 20% of Mazda. Now Ford owns 13%.
Ford can no longer claim Mazda as part of Ford based on US regulation.
(i.e. you used to read Mazda news on Ford website. No more.)
That is why Mazda will use hybrid system from Toyota (per recent announcement) instead of
using the one used on Ford Fusion Hybrid.
However, since Mazda has no big V6 engines, Mazda may continue to use Ford Duratec as MZI.

 

[DSherwood]

Last post on this odor of coolant, mazda has routed the hose from the degas bottle (overflow tank) to the rear of the car. It has taken the odor and put it not where the fresh air intake is and made it less of an issue. It has been over two years, not exactly the outcome I was looking for.

best of luck everyone, happy motoring.

DS