Transfer case leaked and warranty replacement

Starting my own thread so others can read, share, and hopefully learn.

At around 48K on our 2010 CX-9 AWD started leaking dark colored, sort of graphite gray fluid from under the front of the car just in front of the driver side foot well. I changed the oil myself and looked under there noting the dark greasy stuff was all over the mounts on that side of the car.
After reading a few threads here about this same issue being the AWD transfer case, and on the recommendation from another forum member, I took the car to local dealer for a look. I have around 10K left on warranty.

Sure enough the transfer case was leaking. Dealer ordered one from Mazda and replaced it under warranty in a couple days and gave me the car back on a Friday.
My wife drove it from the dealership so I didn't get to talk to her about it until we got home. She said it sounded funny but seemed to drive fine.
The next day, I took it for a spin and noted the following:

• Slight rattle or grumbling from the area where the transfer case is located at light throttle, just off idle
• This noise was most prevelant when the car was cold. As it warmed up, it would go away ( initially )
• After a week, the noise was worse and didn't go away after warmup.
• The 3.7 motor is much louder and sounds more loaded down at mid range RPM under accelleration. It's really noticable.
• One week later and the new case is leaking on my floor.

So I'm taking it back to the dealer for another look next week and I'll report my experience.
Anybody go through two transfer cases in a short period of time or get a bad unit out the gate?

Wurf said:

Starting my own thread so others can read, share, and hopefully learn.

At around 48K on our 2010 CX-9 AWD started leaking dark colored, sort of graphite gray fluid from under the front of the car just in front of the driver side foot well. I changed the oil myself and looked under there noting the dark greasy stuff was all over the mounts on that side of the car.
After reading a few threads here about this same issue being the AWD transfer case, and on the recommendation from another forum member, I took the car to local dealer for a look. I have around 10K left on warranty.

Sure enough the transfer case was leaking. Dealer ordered one from Mazda and replaced it under warranty in a couple days and gave me the car back on a Friday.
My wife drove it from the dealership so I didn't get to talk to her about it until we got home. She said it sounded funny but seemed to drive fine.
The next day, I took it for a spin and noted the following:

• Slight rattle or grumbling from the area where the transfer case is located at light throttle, just off idle
• This noise was most prevelant when the car was cold. As it warmed up, it would go away ( initially )
• After a week, the noise was worse and didn't go away after warmup.
• The 3.7 motor is much louder and sounds more loaded down at mid range RPM under accelleration. It's really noticable.
• One week later and the new case is leaking on my floor.

So I'm taking it back to the dealer for another look next week and I'll report my experience.
Anybody go through two transfer cases in a short period of time or get a bad unit out the gate?

Click to expand...

Good luck. Let me know how this works out.

Ok so the leak on the floor was from the old case and I forgot to clean it up the week we took the car to the dealer. Shoulda known that because the new fluid that goes into fresh case doesn't look like that AFAIK. The service guy should have asked me or said something but was probably playing it safe because of the other symptoms I reported.

I drove the car cold last weekend. It would seem the rattle noise is from drive train lash, most likely the CV or UV joint on the driveshaft. You have to put the throttle at just the right position to neutral load on and off the transfer case. Off throttle, no noise, in throttle no noise. Right at the threshold of positive throttle you can hear it. It sounds to me like the solenoid on the differential is kicking on and off and the lash in the joint is taken up each time. It works fine though.

Roads were snow covered and slippery this weekend. I have brand new tires on the car and the AWD was working great.

I cancelled the appointment and I'm going to let it go for now. I'll follow up later if any funny business occurs.

Wurf said:

Starting my own thread so others can read, share, and hopefully learn.

At around 48K on our 2010 CX-9 AWD started leaking dark colored, sort of graphite gray fluid from under the front of the car just in front of the driver side foot well. I changed the oil myself and looked under there noting the dark greasy stuff was all over the mounts on that side of the car.
After reading a few threads here about this same issue being the AWD transfer case, and on the recommendation from another forum member, I took the car to local dealer for a look. I have around 10K left on warranty.

Sure enough the transfer case was leaking. Dealer ordered one from Mazda and replaced it under warranty in a couple days and gave me the car back on a Friday.
My wife drove it from the dealership so I didn't get to talk to her about it until we got home. She said it sounded funny but seemed to drive fine.
The next day, I took it for a spin and noted the following:

• Slight rattle or grumbling from the area where the transfer case is located at light throttle, just off idle
• This noise was most prevelant when the car was cold. As it warmed up, it would go away ( initially )
• After a week, the noise was worse and didn't go away after warmup.
• The 3.7 motor is much louder and sounds more loaded down at mid range RPM under accelleration. It's really noticable.
• One week later and the new case is leaking on my floor.

So I'm taking it back to the dealer for another look next week and I'll report my experience.
Anybody go through two transfer cases in a short period of time or get a bad unit out the gate?

Click to expand...

Interesting. My 2010 CX-9 AWD transfer case crapped out at almost exactly the same mileage, 48,000 and change. Took it to the dealer and they diagnosed it immediately and had it back to me the next day (could have waited 3 or 4 hours). According to the mechanic who did the test drive with me, they replace these things all the time. He diagnosed it just by sitting in the car and smelling the oil. The test drive confirmed it quickly. Medium pitched whining sound from the middle of the console area (right above the transfer case). There also were new small oil spots on my driveway that had appeared first a couple of weeks earlier. The problematic transfer case is a Ford supplied part and unfortunately they seem to be replacing them with exactly the same part number so this could easily be a recurring issue. The cashier showed me the exact warranty invoice for the repair that would be billed to Mazda which was a total of $812 including parts and labor. She indicated that was significantly less than what the repair cost someone other than Mazda. Still, it was only about 3 hours of labor.

Other than oil changes, this was literally the first time my CX9 had been in the shop.

The smell is the sign apparently. I don't recall any whining noises coming from the console area though.

The way I'm looking at it for now is the OEM piece lasted over 40K so I figure we'll drive it another 20k before I start looking at another car. I just want to enjoy having the car paid off for awhile and that's going to take another year itself.

Ours had never been to the dealer or anywhere for service either.
I change my oil myself and even rotate the tires.

I drove it again last weekend. The noise I've been hearing is almost certainly a loose mount or something like the exhaust system contacting the floorpan someplace.
I suspect when they reassembled it, they didn't quite get something back in place properly. When I start it cold, I hear the noise briefly as soon as the motor fires. I'm going to take a shot at correcting it myself since that would be easier than coordinating another visit to the stealership.

Bad transfer case - a common issue

After taking my CX-9 2013 to the dealer for the first oil change at 6,500 miles, in the way back form the dealer I sensed burnt oil smell. I thought it was an oil leak from the recently changed oil, maybe they had dropped oil in the exhaust.... So 5 days AFTER my first service I had to take the car to the dealer again. They told me it was a leak from the transfer case and they informed me "these transfer cases fail all the time" and Mazda is well aware of it, they know transfer cases are prone to fail in models 2008 to 2013!!!!!! So Mazda authorized the dealer to replace the complete transfer case because they know they are faulty! This is a NEW car, that was serviced for the first time, and the hood has been opened not more than 2 times just for regular inspections!!!!!
The whole thing is VERY fishy and prompts several questions. a) How come I never felt burning oil smell and just found out about this ON THE WAY BACK from the first service at the dealer? Extreme coincidence? b) If the transfer case was leaking before I took it for an oil change (never felt smell or saw any drop of oil)how come the dealer did not see all this oil while the car was serviced and fully inspected????? c) If these are faulty transmission cases and MAZDA is aware of this, why don't they recall the cars or change the transfer cases for newer models????? d) How can something be so poorly designed that fails after 6000 miles??????

it's possible that it was indeed a coincidence that you discovered the leak right after your service. but perhaps the burning oil smell was caused by the oil change, and when they were inspecting it when they brought it in the found the leaking t-case. maybe the t-case leak wasn't burning but they just happened to then find it.

lmabadie said:

After taking my CX-9 2013 to the dealer for the first oil change at 6,500 miles, in the way back form the dealer I sensed burnt oil smell. I thought it was an oil leak from the recently changed oil, maybe they had dropped oil in the exhaust.... So 5 days AFTER my first service I had to take the car to the dealer again. They told me it was a leak from the transfer case and they informed me "these transfer cases fail all the time" and Mazda is well aware of it, they know transfer cases are prone to fail in models 2008 to 2013!!!!!! So Mazda authorized the dealer to replace the complete transfer case because they know they are faulty! This is a NEW car, that was serviced for the first time, and the hood has been opened not more than 2 times just for regular inspections!!!!!
The whole thing is VERY fishy and prompts several questions. a) How come I never felt burning oil smell and just found out about this ON THE WAY BACK from the first service at the dealer? Extreme coincidence? b) If the transfer case was leaking before I took it for an oil change (never felt smell or saw any drop of oil)how come the dealer did not see all this oil while the car was serviced and fully inspected????? c) If these are faulty transmission cases and MAZDA is aware of this, why don't they recall the cars or change the transfer cases for newer models????? d) How can something be so poorly designed that fails after 6000 miles??????

Click to expand...

This is a Ford part ( the transfer case ) and supposedly high speed driving is a contributing factor. I'm not sure I believe that, but that's what I read.
I'm not sure if you received in the mail yet or not, but Mazda recently sent me a notification regarding the transfer case unit replacement and warranty extension. They are now warranty replacing it to 7 years or 90K miles whichever comes first. In my case I will hit the 7 year mark for sure but this is great news to me.
So even though yours bit the dust early, take comfort in the fact they will cover you well into the future and the one they just installed should last at least 15k. Mine made it to almost 50K.

Also in regards to my OP, the noise I was hearing after the dealer installed the new unit was a brace bar under the exhaust. However the dealer mounted the motor and trans after this work was done, everything appears to have been moved back a couple inches somehow. The exhaust system has a clearance divot molded into a stainless flex connection of the main exhaust tube in the middle of the car. This was moved back a couple inches causing the exhaust to contact a chassis brace that hangs below the exhaust. My wife drives the car and she's not Ken Block or anything so I just removed it. Noise fixed and no need to take it to the dealer to have it checked out. I tried spacing it with some washers but I was running out of thread on the bolts and the noise was still there so I said screw it. I can't find any difference in ride and handling and frankly don't give a crap about it.

Decent car but I'll be getting something else in a few years and it won't be FORD with AWD unless it's an F150.
Looking at Tundra with a 5.7 and extra cab.

lmabadie said:

d) How can something be so poorly designed that fails after 6000 miles??????

Click to expand...

That's why you have a warranty. Stuff happens sometimes, and if something fails before the warranty, the auto maker stands behind it. They can't guaranty nothing will ever go wrong with your car. You should be happy that the problem surfaced during your warranty period--many people have a major issue crop up a few 1,000 mi after the warranty is up, and they are the ones that really get screwed, because an auto warranty is partly just an arbitrary line drawn by the auto maker.

Give the frequency of this issue, I for one am glad they have extended the warranty for this problem. And I can only hope if I have an issue, it happens during those 7 years.

lmabadie said:

After taking my CX-9 2013 to the dealer for the first oil change at 6,500 miles, in the way back form the dealer I sensed burnt oil smell. I thought it was an oil leak from the recently changed oil, maybe they had dropped oil in the exhaust.... So 5 days AFTER my first service I had to take the car to the dealer again. They told me it was a leak from the transfer case and they informed me "these transfer cases fail all the time" and Mazda is well aware of it, they know transfer cases are prone to fail in models 2008 to 2013!!!!!! So Mazda authorized the dealer to replace the complete transfer case because they know they are faulty! This is a NEW car, that was serviced for the first time, and the hood has been opened not more than 2 times just for regular inspections!!!!!
The whole thing is VERY fishy and prompts several questions. a) How come I never felt burning oil smell and just found out about this ON THE WAY BACK from the first service at the dealer? Extreme coincidence? b) If the transfer case was leaking before I took it for an oil change (never felt smell or saw any drop of oil)how come the dealer did not see all this oil while the car was serviced and fully inspected????? c) If these are faulty transmission cases and MAZDA is aware of this, why don't they recall the cars or change the transfer cases for newer models????? d) How can something be so poorly designed that fails after 6000 miles??????

Click to expand...

Imabadie,
did you ever get this fix ?? Never heard of a transfer case failure with such low mileage before on a new car, only 6500 miles ? WTF, this is nuts, does anyone know of an online petition we can all sign and get Mazda to do something?? Are they going to wait until there's a catastrophic accident and someone gets killed before doing something ? Thank god there's this forum that we can voice our grievances and have a record when something serious does happens. I just read someone's post about CX9 transfer case fire and sure enough when I googled searched cx9 transfer case fire there's a picture of a burned up cx9 where the transfer case caught fire.