I am just about 100% sure that you won't see any oil at all by just removing the plug, particularly on a vehicle with your mileage. You will have to pump the oil out to a container as has been said several times in this thread. If you are going to the trouble of getting under there and removing the plug it would make the most sense to just press on and change the fluid in the transfer case.
2007~2015 Changing CX-9 transfer case gear oil (photos)
- Thread starter avidien
- Start date
I am just about 100% sure that you won't see any oil at all by just removing the plug, particularly on a vehicle with your mileage. You will have to pump the oil out to a container as has been said several times in this thread. If you are going to the trouble of getting under there and removing the plug it would make the most sense to just press on and change the fluid in the transfer case.
If you just want to just look at the PTU plug, do it when the car is cold, and I guarantee 100% no PTU oil will come out.
The oil plug location is the fill line of the oil capacity; so cold oil should be right below the plug hole.
I'm almost certain at 47,000 miles you will see sludge gunk on the plug if you remove it,
The two pictures below is what mine looked like at only 38,000 odometer miles.
But I agree with Rowland57, at 47,000 miles, if you're going thru all the trouble, you should just swap oil.
However, do it when the oil is warm (drive the car a couple of miles to warm up the PTU oil then let it cool down a little so you don't burn yourself on the exhaust pipe running below the PTU).
The warm oil will be less viscous and easier to suction out. You should swap once, drive a few miles, then swap out again,
just to make sure all the sludge is diluted and removed.
If you do remove the plug, please post a picture to the forum, I'm curious to see what it looks like at 47,000 miles.
Thanks in advance
.
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yeah, that's been mine experience with Mazda dealers too, they play dumb and say the PTU is a sealed unit.
Dealer says the oil doesn't need to be changed but we all know that's not true.
I agree with you, I'm almost positive they have no idea what you're talking about and most likely, they think you are talking about the engine oil and asked them to remove the engine oil plug to check the condition of the 5W20 engine oil instead of the PTU 75W140 oil, LOL. I would just do it myself than leave it to these guys, they may mess it up.
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eskimo0101
Member
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- 2012 Mazda CX-9 Touring AWD
The service departments I'm sure are aware that this fluid isn't lasting a lifetime. The problem is if they start admitting it and offering transfer case fluid service it admits liability for the false claim of it being a lifetime fluid.
Ah, good point, never thought of it that way, so they're just playing dumb on purpose knowing there's a major issue with the sludge.
I guess Mazda just wants to roll the dice and hope PTU's last until 90k, then it's our problem and only fix the ones that fail,
Mazda playing the percentage game. Big risk Mazda is taking if a failed PTU seizes on the highway and someone dies,
we have all this documented info on this forum. I recommend all AWD owners to just at the very least crawl under the car (don't even need to lift the SUV) and check for any black oil leaks near that exhaust U-pipe.
Although, I do recall two forum members did mention they found Mazda dealers that do offer the PTU service... one in New Jersey and another on Ohio, not positive..... it's in this thread somewhere.... one of the dealers even showed the owner the black sludge
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- 2016 CX-5
thanks for recommendation but there's not much clearance for us big fellas and was too lazy to get ramps out so used this little neat trick below using my curb to get some clearance, checked the PTU and all good so far, this is my second PTU, my first one failed, I've got ~ 5000 miles on this replacement PTU, will do the procedure when I reach 6000 miles using proper ramps.
eskimo0101
Member
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- 2012 Mazda CX-9 Touring AWD
It's really not. It's 4400lbs of vehicle going 65+MPH vs a transfer case the size of a melon. There isn't a single component in there strong enough to lock up the wheels so even if one completely grenades on the highway all that's going to happen is the splines into the trans will strip and the driver will hear a loud clunk and possibly some grinding. Despite these things failing at a pretty high rate in both Mazda and Ford vehicles I have never heard of a single case where the failure resulted in a locked up wheel.
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- 2016 CX-5
Eskimo is right, I can confirm first hand because it happened to me,
it won't lock up the wheels, you'll hear a loud bang and crunching grinding sounds,
and the cabin will fill with smoke and putrid burning oil smell.
Real concern is the potential fire hazard from the PTU oil leaking on the exhaust pipe, two documented cases of fire:
https://forums.edmunds.com/discussion/14518/mazda/cx-9/mazda-cx-9-transmission-problems/p2?make=panoz&model=&Form_Go_Cars=Go!
http://forums.edmunds.com/discussion/14518/mazda/cx-9/mazda-cx-9-transmission-problems
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My wife’s PTU started leaking about 5-10K miles after I changed the gear oil @ about 110K miles(I don’t remember exact mileage). No service was performed to that point, so as batmancx mentions, I don’t think it was related to the fluid change, it was just it’s time to start leaking.
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- 2016 CX-5
Odrapnew,
what was the outcome? did you get it fix, or ignored the leaking and
just put in new oil and it eventually stopped leaking on it's own.
Thanks for the replies guys, so glad i found this thread! Mazda technician (via the service co-ordinator-who is not a technical person) said transfer case oil is deteriorating and they recommend replacing. Must not be a common procedure as they don't stock the 75W-140 gear oil and I would need 2 liters at $$$! I told them it needs just over 500ml and could do it a lot cheaper myself. Have ordered a stubby ratchet, an electric pump, some amsoil and a hand pump all for less than half the price mazda quoted. Will post my findings once the job is done. Thanks again.
ngocpollard
Member
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- Make
2 liters ????? LOL, we all wish it was 2 liters capacity !!!!! then the PTU will last longer !!
good thing you were in the know, and didn't get ripped off !!!
yep capacity is only about half a liter ,
consumable is ~ $20 USD for premium liter of 75W140 oil (can do two changes so $10 per change),
one time cost of electric pump is $20 and stubby wrench like ~$10
dealers charge way more than that combined,
I hear like $159 USD is the going rate at dealers, I guess it depends how much one drives per year,
but if done twice a year at the dealer, it comes to $318 a year, better off doing it yourself.
P.S. Mikenem, please post a picture of the PTU plug after you remove it, it would be interesting to see the oil condition. thanks.
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Had it replaced @ the dealer shortly after the leak started. Something like $1300.
I would have looked into it a little more myself, but I'm living in a rented townhouse right now and don't have an easy way to work on it.
Hi guys, i changed my transfer case oil this afternoon. The job itself was pretty easy, i think most of my time was spent cleaning out the pump hoses and trying to clean away the oil that ran down the side of the transfer case!
http://s1160.photobucket.com/user/m...zda CX-9/20160516_164722_zpstljwj5mj.jpg.html
As you can see in the photo, the fill plug was reasonably clean. I believe the mazda technician took it out last week to check the oil condition, and probably wiped any gunk off then.
http://s1160.photobucket.com/user/m...zda CX-9/20160516_170206_zps03ntrgty.jpg.html
I only removed about 150ml of black oil from the unit and when pumping in the new oil another maybe 30-50ml was pushed out.
I plan on repeating the process after 800-1000km and comparing the results then.
A BIG thanks to Avidien, and all the others who have contributed to this very helpful thread.
P.S I live in the North Island of New Zealand and the car has spent it's life so far here too. Temperatures range from -3C to 30C & we only get snow & ice on the mountains!
http://s1160.photobucket.com/user/m...zda CX-9/20160516_164722_zpstljwj5mj.jpg.html
As you can see in the photo, the fill plug was reasonably clean. I believe the mazda technician took it out last week to check the oil condition, and probably wiped any gunk off then.
http://s1160.photobucket.com/user/m...zda CX-9/20160516_170206_zps03ntrgty.jpg.html
I only removed about 150ml of black oil from the unit and when pumping in the new oil another maybe 30-50ml was pushed out.
I plan on repeating the process after 800-1000km and comparing the results then.
A BIG thanks to Avidien, and all the others who have contributed to this very helpful thread.
P.S I live in the North Island of New Zealand and the car has spent it's life so far here too. Temperatures range from -3C to 30C & we only get snow & ice on the mountains!
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you're welcome Mikenem, glad I can help.
yep, your plug looked like it was definitely cleaned when they inspected it last week, mine looked A LOT worse when I first took mine off for the very time at 38,000 miles (it had a good chunk of thick goop and sludge on it).
Wow only 150 mL oil left ? looks like you caught it in time before that transfer case ran completely dry.
Drive around for another week or two, then redo procedure and you'll be good to go, cheers.
yep, your plug looked like it was definitely cleaned when they inspected it last week, mine looked A LOT worse when I first took mine off for the very time at 38,000 miles (it had a good chunk of thick goop and sludge on it).
Wow only 150 mL oil left ? looks like you caught it in time before that transfer case ran completely dry.
Drive around for another week or two, then redo procedure and you'll be good to go, cheers.
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