Transfer-case SB-03-005/11

I have a 08 CX-9 with ~75K miles. About a month ago, I heard a very loud POP while driving and at the next Signal I had noticeable Wheel-Spin during Acceleration. At the time, I did not equate the two and the vehicle did not show any other symptoms. Although the Wheel-Spin has continued, I have learned to compensate.

More recently, I was using a Cell-Phone Charger in the Center Console Power Port and I experienced an Airbag Fault Light. Again, I did not connect the Cell-Phone Charger to the Airbag Fault. However, I did research the Airbag Fault and discovered that it was a caused by the Cell-Phone Charger being connected to the Center Console Power Port (TSB-08-002/09). During this research, I also discovered SB-03-005/11 that addressed the Wheel-Spin during Acceleration.

After talking to the local dealer, finding out that any repair would not be covered under warranty, I started to investigate replacing the Transfer-Case myself. I am posting this because; some of you may find my research useful. (The dealer did supply me with a copy of TSB-03-001/12, which supersedes SB-03-005/11, I have attached that).SB-03-001-12a.pdf

Information on the CX-9 Transfer-Case indicates that:

1. ALL CX-9s use the same Transfer-Case P/N: AW21-27-500K-9U.
2. The Mazda CX-9 & the Ford Edge MAY use the same Transfer-Case.
3. The Ford Edge Transfer-Case is also used in the Explorer, Flex, Taurus, Mercury Sable & Lincoln MKX.
   With interchangeability between all models from 2007 thru 2013.​
4. One website indicates a change in the Ford Transfer-Case on 08/08/08.
   (I would assume that Ford made that change to address a problem with the Transfer-Case).​

Given the wide range of Ford vehicles that use the same Transfer-Case, I was very surprised to find that Ford Transfer-Cases do not suffer from the same failure as the Mazda units. The only TSB I could locate for the Ford units (TBS-09-25-07) is for a seal failure that causes leakage onto the exhaust manifold. Most likely, this was the change that was instituted on 08/08/08.

This led me to further investigate the interchangeability of the Ford for the Mazda Transfer-Case. Because, even if Ford has not fixed the leakage problem, it would be cheaper to repair the leak, than for the total replacement of the Mazda unit.

First I contacted Hollander, the company Auto Wreckers consult for the interchangeability of parts. They could confirm the interchangeability between Ford models or Mazda models. But, they could not confirm any interchangeability between Ford and Mazda models.

Then while searching eBay, I found the best clue. As the attached photo shows, the FORD P/N: 7E53-7251-BP WITH THE MAZDA P/N: AW21-27-500-H9U (a search of this number confirms that it is a valid CX-9 P/N) ETCHED INTO THE HOUSING OF THE TRANSFER-CASE. THIS WAS THE PROOF I WAS LOOKING FOR! FORD-MAZDA PN.JPG

I then looked at Ford P/Ns and how to decipher them, because Ford Codes information into their P/Ns. I found that there was a change in the Part Numbering System around 2000. This link will explain both systems: http://www.nospartsltd.com/Articles.asp?ID=250

This decoded the P/N as being for a 2007 Ford Fusion, not as a part for a Ford Edge. An eBay search for 7E53-7251-BP only returned the one exact listing, but did return several close listings for 7E5Z7251F. The 7E5Z7251F was listed a fitting 2011 & 2012 Ford Fusion (Model # E5), Ford/Lincoln Zephyr, Mercury Milan & Lincoln MKZ (Model # H6). Further research shows that this unit would fit 2007 thru 2012 model years. Please note that none of these models are not included in our earlier Ford Transfer-Case Interchangeability list for the Edge.

Maybe this reveals the heart of the problem. The Ford Fusion class of vehicle has a Curb Weight of ~3,300 lbs., while the CX-9 has a Curb Weight of ~4,500 lbs.
Is Transfer-Case chosen by Mazda is undersized for the weight of the vehicle?
Is Ford using Transfer-Case on the Edge that is stronger?
IT IS STILL UNKNOWN IF THE EDGE TRANSFER-CASE INTERCHANGEABLE WITH THE CX-9?

At this point, I need to decide whether to replace my Transfer-Case with a Mazda P/N: AW21-27-500K-9U and hope that it does not break again.
Or, try a Transfer-Case for a Ford Edge and hope that it is interchangeable.
That is the $600 question?

Great research!, I've heard some stories about the failure of this Mazda transfer case, some dudes just choose to disconnect it and drive FWD only,
I have 2008 GT myself and I didnt have a problem with this, except that I found a month ago that its 2 front rubber hangers for the rear differential were GONE, the rear differential was dancing hard every time we apply the accelerator (the car was lifted up for inspection of bad front wheel bearing), and there was no indication or noise inside the cabin that it's dancing,
when I bought the new hangers I inspected them and I was really surprised how soft they are! I mean you can easily twist the rubber part in there, I dont know how long this rubber should last on the car!, and I doubt that it can handle the torque, I would suspect that most CX-9ers have bad hangers right now and somehow this contributes in ruining the transfer case or the rear differential!,

can you check the fords hangers and let us know if they are as soft?,
Thanks

Updated: Sorry I was talking about the rear differential hangers and I confused it with the transfer case.

Is there anyway we can get Mazda to cover these it seems to be becoming very frequent that transfer cases are being changed. I bought this car thinking that Mazda made good, reliable cars and a transfer case is a pretty important and expensive part of my car. To learn that they seem to fail so early and frequently worries me.

I had a crazy loud pop last week while driving down the road..... turns out it was a black walnut falling from a tree, smacked the fender...things are the size of baseballs and about the same weight too. Thankful I don't have to deal with this AWD transfer case issue.

Hello Guys!. I'm a new member on this board but I think I should share my experience. I own a 2012 CX9 GT with 35k miles with no issues to report. until last Saturday, when changing the oil notice some oil spotting allover the rear differential. Called the dealer first thing in the morning and asked me to bring it in. Upon inspection, not only the rear right seal was leaking but the front was also leaking. They gave me a loaner and left the car over night to replace the front transfer case and rear seal. I got my car back the next day and seems to be running smooth. The invoice to Mazda was around $1200. Question is what is going to happen if it goes again once the warranty expires?. 35k is way too soon for massive failure like that. The manager told me that Mazda got their differential parts from Ford, but in 2011 or 12 they started getting their own parts from china and Chinese are not know for 4WD. I don't know how much of a truth that is but I am not too confident at this point. My car has never being off road or even snow. I love the car but my last Honda I traded in was 10 years old and no leaks and couldn't even hear the engine. thanks

My 08 has 63k miles and there are no leaks, no buildup on any gaskets or anything, but mine is FWD. (although I found a little bit of buildup under my engine cover between the cylinder banks) If you read up on this forum, you will find that at least in my opinion, it looks like everyone and their brother have to mainenance the AWD components all the time and the parts from the transfer case and back seem to not last very long....Ford parts from the Edge. The transfer case is from Ford unlike the Aisin transmission. This is why I got mine in FWD.

Good luck! lol.

Bobny said:

Hello Guys!. I'm a new member on this board but I think I should share my experience. I own a 2012 CX9 GT with 35k miles with no issues to report. until last Saturday, when changing the oil notice some oil spotting allover the rear differential. Called the dealer first thing in the morning and asked me to bring it in. Upon inspection, not only the rear right seal was leaking but the front was also leaking. They gave me a loaner and left the car over night to replace the front transfer case and rear seal. I got my car back the next day and seems to be running smooth. The invoice to Mazda was around $1200. Question is what is going to happen if it goes again once the warranty expires?. 35k is way too soon for massive failure like that. The manager told me that Mazda got their differential parts from Ford, but in 2011 or 12 they started getting their own parts from china and Chinese are not know for 4WD. I don't know how much of a truth that is but I am not too confident at this point. My car has never being off road or even snow. I love the car but my last Honda I traded in was 10 years old and no leaks and couldn't even hear the engine. thanks

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Don't mean to thread hijack but wanted to know what the leaking fluid looked like. I have a 2010 and there's a dark black fluid leak coming from around the rear motor or trans mount. It doesn't stink but it looks like a mixture of oil and moly grease. It's very dark gray and thick.
I'm pretty familiar with rear diff fluid and this doesn't look like it but wanted to ask you.

I had the same type of fluid leak on my 2010 at 35K and it was the transfer case - replaced under warranty - take it in right away

Takehold66 said:

I had the same type of fluid leak on my 2010 at 35K and it was the transfer case - replaced under warranty - take it in right away

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Thanks Takehold66! I found your original thread on this issue and read through it briefly.

Also thanks to the OP for your legwork and information.

Fortunately I'm at about 50K miles on a 2010 and I'm taking it in tomorrow to the dealer. Spoke to the service rep and gave him the VIN - car is still covered thankfully ( 60K powertrain warranty ). He mentioned they've done a transfer case on a CX-5 but didn't recall doing one on a CX-9 yet.

If Mazda isn't going to improve this situation by way of a recall that would allow replacement of the transfer case fluids - like a retrofit housing with fill and drain plugs, gasket and fluids specification then I'm unloading this car within 10K miles of this replacement. I'm not willing to eat a whole transmission later or any associated costs or eat the depreciation from a dead AWD setup when I sell it.

This is my first AWD car and I loved it. I really feel let down by Mazda.
I'll probably trade in the CX-9 for a Toyota, Subaru, Acura, or whatever if they don't extend the warranty or make some other change that keeps my confidence in the car.

There is no other fluid back there other than differential. Mine was dark oil all around the differential and mostly on the right side that was leaking. Make sure they use a mirror to look up the front transfer case. It may be leaking on top and you don't want to find out 10k miles later when is already passed 60k. good luck!

Purchased my 2008 CX-9 Grand Touring in August and noticed during fall weather (when it was raining or snowing) that my front wheels would slip far too easily. I took the car back to dealer where I purchased it, which was not a Mazda dealer and then to a Mazda dealer, where they both initially said everything was working fine. I knew something was wrong and found a TSB describing a possible Transfer case issue and what techs needed to do to identify it. The Mazda service manager agreed to inspect it again and found that- indeed- my 4W drive was not working and the Transfer case needed replaced. Now, going on the second week! in the garage and after a rep from Fidelity Warranty service inspected the vehicle- they are replacing the transfer case and the transmission. I am lucky to have it all covered under an extended warranty I purchased and the Mazda dealer provided me a "loaner" vehicle. Hopefully, I'll get my car back Tuesday or Wednesday. Funny, the loaner car is a 2013 Ford Edge, which it seems shares parts with the CX-9.

Unfortunately for me I am at 67k miles on a '10 GT and my transmission was making a grinding and humming noise. Not covered by Mazda, because I am at over 60k miles I had to pay 1300 out of pocket to get this fixed at a dealership hoping that Mazda would help me. Now I get a gift card for $500 that will likely be worthless after it expires in a year.

Well it could be worse fellow CX9 owners...... Here is my story.

After 14 years of driving minivans with small kids, my wife decided we needed to upgrade to a crossover. I wanted the biggest bang for the buck so I sold my Honda minivan(that had no problems) and had a buddy with his auto auction license start looking for CX-9's. We found one in Chicago that was exactly what the wife wanted(sunroof, leather, black, 3 zone climate control) and I wanted(AWD, Navigation) so we got the car bought around the first part of November. Drove it for about a month and absolutely love the vehicle.

Fast forward to our first snowstorm and I am out testing the AWD. The front tires spin whenever on the ice and I get a warning light in the dash that says 4WD which I at first figured was telling me it was engaging but after searching this forum and the internet knew it was a warning light. I took it to Aamco on Monday to have them look over it but was expecting the transfer case to be shot and that's what they diagnosed it to be. They got the transfer case and planned to do it the next day. Quoted me $1,100

I got a call about noon the following day where he told me they had some bad news for me. Yes the transfer case was shot, but also the input shaft on the transmission/front differential had all the splines peeled off so it was smooth. So instead of the transfer case, I now had to replace the transmission as well. My bill went to $4,474. The car has 90K miles on it so not eligible for warranty. The tranny came with a 3yr/50,000 mile warranty and the transfer case a 12 month/12,000 mile warranty so I felt OK about it after the initial shock.

We get the car back and drive it on ice and snow and it made one heck of a difference. We loved it. Then I noticed it was leaking tranny fluid when it sat overnight. Called and was told that sometimes it takes a while for the seals to swell up and to see what it did over the next 5-600 miles I put on it before they checked it over. Well the leaking got worse. Not only that but when the car is going straight down the road, the steering wheel varies from being 20 degrees of center in either direction of being vertical.

I take the car in after 600 miles and tell them the leak has not improved and also what I was dealing with on the steering wheel. They looked and figured the front seal on the transmission was the leak and have to pull it out. They said the company that supplied the transmission wanted them to take it out and replace the seal and they said no, if it wasn't done right to start, they needed to replace it. So hopefully tomorrow the replacement transmission will be here so they can get it fixed Friday.

The steering is what has me baffled. It was right before and he assured me he would fix it so I know I shouldn't worry, but....... It went from being off 20% from center when driving a straight line to now if I am turning left onto a curve and lets say the curve straightens out and then goes to the right, the steering basically does nothing from being 20 degrees left of center to 20 degrees right of center. I am not sure what is causing this, but now when I turn left from a stop I hear a popping sound. I told them about it the following day and they said they would fix it. Now it is getting worse so I hope they don't come at me and say I need to pay something to fix what went bad from me driving the car where something is either done wrong or not tightened up. My wife is now driving my truck and I am driving this until it is fixed correctly.

I hope I get to loving this car before it breaks me. I found an invoice under the seat that ended up being the previous owner of the car. Part of me wants to call and find out what the hell he did to the car and why he decided to trade the POS off giving me all his problems, but I know that gets me no where.

CyBrian

Your story sounds exactly like mine. I recently took my 2008 CX-9 Grand Touring to my mechanic because the AWD appeared to not be working. He looked through the computer on the engine and transmission and could find no error codes. He agreed that the rear wheels did not appear to be engaging, but was hesitant to order a new transfer case because they cost so much and he wasn't able to identify an obvious problem. He asked me to take it to an actual mazda dealer and see if they could identify the problem.

So I took it to the local mazda dealer and they told me that there wasn't anything wrong and that I should continue to drive it. Mazda quoted me a price of $1200-$1500 for a new transfer case if that was indeed the problem, but again, they said that everything appeared to be working properly and so I should just drive it.

Well, I attempted to drive my car again in about 1 inch of snow and the darn thing wouldn't even get out of my driveway - I should mention that I have had this vehicle for 4 years and it has always done great in the snow.

So I called my mechanic and he ordered the new transfer case at $712.00 - much cheaper than the mazda dealer. He took the old transfer case apart and discovered that the spline was stripped and that the entire transmission would have to be replaced as well because the spline running to the transmission was stripped as well. Apparently the spline from the transmission attaches to the spline from the transfer case to make the rear wheels work. You can't just order new spline, you must replace the entire transmission. Great engineering there Mazda.

Quote of $5000 for a new transmission, $712 for new transfer case and $350 labor on the transfer case. So $6000.00 to fix a car with 90,000 miles on it.

Needless to say, I am very disappointed in Mazda. I thought they made quality products. I guess I was wrong.

I should also mention that I bought this vehicle used with 24,000 miles on it and I use it to haul my 4 kids around and I drive it to work. I do not drive fast or hard and cannot recall any incident that may have caused this problem.

My fault resulted in 55tis miles auto ceased to go to 4x4,

repair gear, new hardened, yet everything is OK mileage 105tis miles

http://lapaja.rajce.idnes.cz/Auto_CX-9

1. http://lapaja.rajce.idnes.cz/Auto_CX-9#2013-10-31-1760.jpg

2. http://lapaja.rajce.idnes.cz/Auto_CX-9#2013-10-31-1768.jpg

3. http://lapaja.rajce.idnes.cz/Auto_CX-9#2013-10-06-1748.jpg

Dooley said:

I should also mention that I bought this vehicle used with 24,000 miles on it and I use it to haul my 4 kids around and I drive it to work. I do not drive fast or hard and cannot recall any incident that may have caused this problem.

Click to expand...

Now that blows me away. I would have bet $100 that when those splines got sheared off that it would have sounded like crushing ball bearings and there was no way you wouldn't have known something seriously went wrong with your car when it happened. I figured the cat that got rid of his car that I bought knew something terrible went wrong and got rid of his car before winter hit and I was the wonderful recipient of the gift.

But reading your story it appears that is not the case..... Strange. But it maybe gives me a little bit more faith in humanity once again. Still dissapointed in Mazda though for not backing up the obvious problem they have though.