A few months ago I posted a thread about a pulsing feeling coming from the centre of my CX-9, below the centre console. I would experience the pulsation/knocking during left and right turns mainly and infrequently during starts from a stand-still, ie. at traffic light and then going on a green. Well I suspected that it was drive shaft related and took the vehicle in to my dealer. To no surprise they mysteriously couldn't find anything wrong. Note that the truck was still under warranty, but almost expired.
So about 3 weeks ago we drove to Ottawa to skate on the Rideau Canal. That's a 1,000km return trip. The CX-9 ran flawlessly. A week after the trip, I took the vehicle in for regular service. I picked it up later same day and while driving home on the highway, a real serious knocking started from under the centre console. I knew it was serious and had to get off the highway because at 100km/hr it felt like something was going to drop out of the truck at any second.
Anyway, to make a long story short, the bearing on the joint shaft was gone. See attached sketch for more details. The dealer allowed me to look at the housing while the CX-9 was on the hoist. I couldn't believe my eyes. There was nothing between the bearing housing and joint shaft, but air! The bearing was gone.
My gut was right from the first time I felt the pulsing during a left turn. The good news is that Mazda Canada picked up half the repair cost even though my CX-9 was officially out of warranty...41,000 miles. It's a US vehicle. Amazingly enough I was told that the drive shaft is not covered under the power train warranty. That's BS. Without a drive shaft, there can be no drive!
Anyway my CX-9 is all back together and purring like a kitten again. She's very happy now too, I can feel it. I'd like to know what caused a drive shaft bearing to go. This is a mystery on a vehicle with only 31,000 miles on it when I bought it.
So about 3 weeks ago we drove to Ottawa to skate on the Rideau Canal. That's a 1,000km return trip. The CX-9 ran flawlessly. A week after the trip, I took the vehicle in for regular service. I picked it up later same day and while driving home on the highway, a real serious knocking started from under the centre console. I knew it was serious and had to get off the highway because at 100km/hr it felt like something was going to drop out of the truck at any second.
Anyway, to make a long story short, the bearing on the joint shaft was gone. See attached sketch for more details. The dealer allowed me to look at the housing while the CX-9 was on the hoist. I couldn't believe my eyes. There was nothing between the bearing housing and joint shaft, but air! The bearing was gone.
My gut was right from the first time I felt the pulsing during a left turn. The good news is that Mazda Canada picked up half the repair cost even though my CX-9 was officially out of warranty...41,000 miles. It's a US vehicle. Amazingly enough I was told that the drive shaft is not covered under the power train warranty. That's BS. Without a drive shaft, there can be no drive!
Anyway my CX-9 is all back together and purring like a kitten again. She's very happy now too, I can feel it. I'd like to know what caused a drive shaft bearing to go. This is a mystery on a vehicle with only 31,000 miles on it when I bought it.
