Recent content by mowyang

No, the missing bolt head never had an effect on any driving characteristics that I noticed.

To close the loop on this, the dealer replaced the broken bolt and the matching one on the other side. They inspected but did not remove the other bolts. Mazda agreed to cover all costs. The shank of the bolt was easily removed. It was so loose that the tech could twist it with his fingers...

According to one of the parts sites, that bolt is used in these positions: Left Outer, Left Lower, Left Rear, Right Outer, Right Lower, Right Rear, Rear Outer Outer, Rear Outer Lower, Rear Outer Rear Does that mean there are nine separate places that bolt is used on the CX-9? If there was a...

A defective bolt is my conclusion also. I agree that the rust across the entire shank shows that the bolt had been cracked for a long time, perhaps since the car was manufactured. I'd not considered an over or under torquing of the bolt could have created the defect. Wouldn't robotic...

Took the car to the Mazda dealer and they found the broken bolt. e2jankow got it right. The technician believes that water did accumulate up there, leading to the problem. No evidence of any other rust on the bottom of the car. Thanks again for your help, everyone.

Would a shop need to get the correct replacement bolt from a Mazda dealer?

Thanks. Rust on the bolt is common? Sounds dangerous. If the bolt hadn't fallen off in my garage, I'd never have known there was an issue. I'm going to have the car towed to a shop; your info will help me direct them. Should I have this looked at by a Mazda dealer specifically, or is taking it...

The piece I found does look identical to the one in the picture posted by e2jankow, right down to the rust. Looking at the diagram of the control arm assembly, there are several bolts (#'s 5,6,7,9) with the same type of head, any of which may have sheared off. Since the shank of the bolt may...

19mm is the size of the socket that fits the bolt head. To me it also seems too large for holding the plastic belly panels. Unfortunately, the car was driven out of town before I realized this could be a safety issue. It's at my daughter's house about 80 miles away. It's been driven about 125...

I found this bolt head under my car on the floor of my garage. There was also a small rust stain that must have dripped from where the head broke off. The stain was on the driver side just inboard of the left front tire. I haven't had a chance to get under the car to look around yet. The bolt...

Seems like it would work. The last part of the instructions for the Redarc unit I installed mentioned it: