Transfer case fluid replacement - I say YES for a 2012 CX-9 AWD (details below)

M

mccasle

Member
First of all, I want to thank James Parrott (service advisor) and the techs at Germain Mazda in New Albany Ohio for their assistance! I have a video I will post on youtube and I will post a link here as soon as it is uploaded.

I knew about the transfer case issue when I purchased this car new. I chose to purchase a 10 year / 120K extended waranty to be safe. I am thankful Mazda will cover me to at least 90K miles now.

At 30K, I replaced the rear differential fluid. Germain uses BG fluids
At 35K, I decided to replace the transfer case fluid. Germain offers the flush serice for around $150.

They gave me a half bottle of the transfer case fluid removed from my car in addition to a half bottle of the new fluid for comparison.

At first glance, the differences at 35K miles are very noticeable:

1) The old fluid is the blackest black I have every seen compared to the new fluid which is a light yellow
2) The old fluid felt very thick and did not move freely around the bottle. My wife and I agreed it had become the consistency of glue. The bottle was definitely much heavier even though both had the same amount of fluid.
3) The smell - oh god the smell. My heart goes out to those of you that have had to experience the smell. Opening the bottle to do the video filled the house with the most rancid smell I have ever come across. The new fluid has a real light petroleum scent

Personally, if I were an owner of a lower mileage CX-9, I would get on a 30K replacement schedule if at all possible
View attachment 210264
 
Thanks mccasle, YouTube link works, all I can say is wow, no wonder transfer cases are failing, there is no way that should be a lifetime fluid looking like that at only 30k, I'm going to flush mine out and replace with new, thanks for posting, appreciate it. Is the service a standard at all Mazda dealerships or just some are offering it.
 
Wow. Thanks for sharing.

Ours is a FWD. But if it were AWD, after seeing that video, I don't think I'd wait until 30K. I think that would be a 15K item for me.
 
I asked my local dealer, they refused to do it.
They, of course, said that it is not serviceable.
When I challenged him (the service advisor, who used to be a technician at the same dealer), he said, well, it is tedious and it might cost $$$. He did not continue to explain how much.

I need to find a Mazda dealer near me who is willing to perform this.
 
Actually this was done at 35K along with my regular 5K synthetic oil change. I can tell you the car feels much smoother, but it could be the placebo effect.

Unfortunately it will vary by dealer. Montrose Mazda in Cleveland OH (where I bought the CX-9) will not do it because it is a "closed system". I am very thankful Germain in Columbus OH is willing to do it.

The service advisor shared some stories of earlier model CX-9s coming in stinking to high heaven and the owners were then asking for a flush. Unfortunately it was too late for them. All in the 60k - 90K range.

I think I will do my next one at 30K and then 25K and then 20K intervals in order to see how dramatic the change is at these various points. I am curious to see when the breakdown really begins to occur. At only $150 or so a pop (and coupons are always available), it is another prevention item that should keep this thing running at 200K and further.
 
"Unfortunately it will vary by dealer. "

Yeah that's what I thought, my local dealer said it's a sealed unit and can't be changed, blah blah blah....

I know a couple of forum members did it, I think the hardest part would be the suctioning of the old gear oil, there's no drain plug, so have to use a suction pump to get as much as the old oil out and keep filling until the black old oil flushes out and becomes more like the new oil color. But seeing your video of the oil at 35k is concerning because the old oil is almost like sludge and per your description of glue consistency not sure if even suctioning or squirting new oil will get that sludge out entirely.

One thing though that the forum members didn't mention was the foul smell when changing the oil? Is it really that bad? I don't want to be stinking up the whole neighborhood.
 
Got to love how Mazda themselves cant change the fluid, yet countless members here have done it. Yet the dealerships will always talk down on "Keyboard mechanics"...
 
Lets put it this way.....in the 5 minutes it took to do the video in the kitchen, my wife was complaining of the smell 20 feet away in the living room. It took about 15 minutes for the smell to dissipate after I recapped the bottle.

I still have the bottles in the garage in case anyone has ideas around how we could test that fluid.

Doing it outside probably lessens the smell somewhat.
 
Found a dealer near me that is willing to do it for $159.
I will bring a coupon for $15 off.
Mine has 75K on the odometer.
It drives fine, but I am worried about the TC (the only unit with original fluid inside!).
 
ceric said:
Found a dealer near me that is willing to do it for $159.
I will bring a coupon for $15 off.
Mine has 75K on the odometer.
It drives fine, but I am worried about the TC (the only unit with original fluid inside!).
Click to expand...

Ask them if you can keep the fluid like they did for @mccasle... Would be great to start getting comparisons from users...
Damn, after seeing that video I'm definitely going to do a 25k~30k swap of the fluid, might even just make it a 2 yr service thing if I don't put that many miles on (which I probably won't), because I'm sure age has an effect too. Really interested if we could see your 7 year old, 75k mile fluid @ceric.

Thanks for the video @mccasle!! $150,000 bucks is steep though >>> JK, I know you mis-spoke and called it out on Youtube, but it's still funny (drinks)
 
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xxxmonoxidechil said:
Got to love how Mazda themselves cant change the fluid, yet countless members here have done it. Yet the dealerships will always talk down on "Keyboard mechanics"...
Click to expand...

And it just makes sense that no fluid is possibly "Lifetime"... Just corporate BS to get around having technicians offer the service, even though it's just another thing they could charge people for (I guess liability for the dealerships if the thing fails after they service it? dunno). Sounds like it costs about $15 if you do it in your driveway (provided you have a pump of course).
 
Im happy i had my TC replaced so this wont be a worry for me for some time. But it is nice to know How To do it when the time comes. Thanks to this forum. :)
 
I will have them take a picture of the old fluid. (just to make sure they actually do it....)
 
mxer said:
What's the issue here? Is there no drain plug or anything? (I haven't looked at it)
Click to expand...

Correct, there is no drain plug on the case. Couple that with Mazda Corporate's decision to call the transfer case and transmission fluids "lifetime". This leads to an inconsistent dealer network of where a fluid swap is offered and to a lack of knowledge that the fluids should be swapped (not part of the maintenance schedule).

I think we can all say that the fluid maintenance is necessary, as all the evidence points to severely degraded quality in the fluid and TC case failures. What I don't think has been shown yet is whether or not fluid maintenance actually prevents a TC failure; if it were a wide-spread enough issue, Mazda would have issued a recall (one can hope). But in general, it's logical and typical for AWD systems to need this maintenance in their transfer cases and differentials to keep everything happy. (Just look at a 4Runner forum, those guys swap their diff. and tc fluids like every 20k).
 
The issue with dealers not wanting to do this is all about the money.

1. If Mazda doesn't have a standard time rate or service bulletin showing how to do this (which they wouldn't if they don't recommend it) then they wont know what to bill
2. If the dealer replaces your transfer case, they get paid from Mazda to do so

Mercedes Benz went with the "sealed for life" transmission fluid on all there cars back in 2004 - 2005. They have since changed that and now recommend trans fluid changes at 30,000.
 
"life-time" fluid is a funny concept in my book.
Check with BMW E39 owners and see how many owners experienced transmission failure because of "that".
And, it usually happened out of warranty. Automakers are anything but stupid.
 
Bad news.
I waited for 1 hr at dealership.
The adviser came back and said that he was mistaken.
They did TC fluid exchange on CX7 before. He thought CX9 is the same. He was wrong.
There is no drain plug on the TC unit (unlike the one on CX7). (yes, we all know that)
There was nothing he could do. He spent a few minutes looking at the TC with the mechanic.
I told him that he could suck the fluid out from the fill hole. He did not respond.
He did not charge me one cent in the end, and that is very decent of them.
They did vacuuming and full-circle check for free.

Need to keep my fingers crossed from now on for the TC (transfer case).
 
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