2007~2015 Changing CX-9 transfer case gear oil (photos)

@avidien, Thanks, this is awesome. (headbang)

I just did flush transmission fluid last weekend, i shocked when i saw fluid came out from it ( it's damn dark and black). I just to change Transfer case and rear diff this weekend if i have some spare time.
 
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66,000 mile transfer case update, all good !!

hello guys,

As promised to keep fellow AWD CX-9'ers updated on long term reliability of our transfer case oil change procedure,

here is update at 66,000 miles. Still all good !! no sludge at all, SUV still runs like brand new, no oil leaks , no burning oil smell,

so history is as follows: changed first time @35,000 (OEM was thick black oil), changed @60,000 (Royal Purple not thick, no sludge)

now changed at 66,000 (see video below)

here is video of oil at 66,000, you can clearly see the Royal Purple oil has no sludge and not thick :


One improvement/recommendation is to go with this pump for the new oil to pump into the transfer case,

the tube it comes with is extremely pliable/flexible, also the pump action is very smooth and fast:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/ (commissions earned)
 
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hello guys,

As promised to keep fellow AWD CX-9'ers updated on long term reliability of our transfer case oil change procedure,

here is update at 66,000 miles. Still all good !! no sludge at all, SUV still runs like brand new, no oil leaks , no burning oil smell,

so history is as follows: changed first time @35,000 (OEM was thick black oil), changed @60,000 (Royal Purple not thick, no sludge)

now changed at 66,000 (see video below)

here is video of oil at 66,000, you can clearly see the Royal Purple oil has no sludge and not thick :


One improvement/recommendation is to go with this pump for the new oil to pump into the transfer case,

the tube it comes with is extremely pliable/flexible, also the pump action is very smooth and fast:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/ (commissions earned)


Also, forgot to mention, I checked today, there's absolutely no space for an extension bar,

only way to get to the transfer plug is to crossover the beam underneath from the rear with a stubby 3/8" drive ratchet.

The head of the 3/8" drive can just barely fit ! there is a metal plate on the opposite side of the 3/8" drive

we got lucky, if any more tighter, we wouldn't be able to get the plug out due to the stack up tolerance

of the loosened plug threads + ratchet head thickness

(the available space decreases with each loosening turn of the plug threads until the ratchet hits metal on the opposite side).



I recommend getting this stubby low profile 3/8" ratchet :

https://www.amazon.com/dp/ (commissions earned)

 
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Finally got around to this job today. First off, I cheated a little when it came to getting it in the air. My Rhino Ramps I bought because they're low profile and could get under my GTO were short enough to put in front of the rear tires.

022B3CCE-7427-4768-87B8-DEB7AEAD3AE9_zpsmofavb4k.jpg


Took a bit of throttle to climb up but made working under it easy.

I used the recommended 12v pump hooked to my snowmobile battery (happened to be out, fully charged, and light enough to easily take under the car with me). First problem was the pump didn't have enough suction to get the sludge like oil to flow. I shortened the input and output lines and added a few oz of royal purple to to help dilute it. Doing that, and switching to the thin suction line I got some fluid finally pumping out. I pumped some more fresh oil in then did the suction one more time. This time I got a decent amount out so with what was left of the quart I filled it back up and reinserted the plug.

What an awful job. I've worked with gear oil plenty of times but between the lack of a drain, suction and drain lines filled with fluid and additional line/pump to fill the case I made one hell of a mess. I was pretty much bathed in the stuff up to my elbows.

Right now my plan is to put 500 or so miles on and do it again. The fluid was in really bad shape so I figured after that the new fluid should thin out the sludge and I'll get much more out with the pump.

Thanks again for documenting this so well.

PS: Sitting in a CX-9 sitting that high off the ground feels pretty cool. Maybe I'll stick a lift kit on it. Wife would be pissed because she could barely climb in. Lol
 
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Hello Eskimo,
Thanks for posting your experience to help fellow members. Yep, it's worse than cleaning the toilet but it's absolutely necessary to keep the transfer case running properly.

Excellent plan to redo procedure after another 500 miles, based on your description of thick/sludge OEM oil, looks like you caught it in time. Per your handle, it's a 2012, how many miles on your odometer?

Although it was messy, I'm glad there was no major hiccups and you were able to complete the job. Good job. Cheers.
 
I had this thread from last year (60,000 miles). We're now at about 85,000

Hi Rawyzf,
so you changed your transfer case oil at 60,000 miles using Avidien's procedure and now your at 85,000 miles with no problems ? did you use Royal Purple oil ? I'm planning to do the transfer case oil maintenance before the cold weather starts, I'm close to 20,000 miles now.
 
Hi Rawyzf,
so you changed your transfer case oil at 60,000 miles using Avidien's procedure and now your at 85,000 miles with no problems ? did you use Royal Purple oil ? I'm planning to do the transfer case oil maintenance before the cold weather starts, I'm close to 20,000 miles now.

I had it done at a transmission shop. No issues at all, used Mobil 1 Synthetic in the TC.
 
just did the procedure this morning, very easy, even for me. I'm the last person you'll want to work on your car, I know nothing about them, I'm even scared to jack up the car worried I may jack it at the wrong jack point and bust a hole in the undercarriage so I asked all my local dealers and every dealer said "can't be done, it's sealed". I gave up looking and jacked up the CX-9 up using Avidien's cement blocks idea, worked like a charm. When I got the plug out, the plug was full of gunk and sludge!!! Mine is 2011, 48,000 miles, I only got 1/4 cup of oil out using the electric pump, I suspect the rest is sludge. I refilled with Royal Purple until only new oil started dripping out. I'm going to run it for 500 miles and try to dilute and redo the procedure. No way in hell this should be lifetime oil.
 
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Ive got about 10K miles on my replaced updated transfer case. With all the issues, im already thinking its time for a flush and fill.
 
Found a well written three-part write up from the Ford Flex forum which uses the same CX-9 transfer case, their procedure is very similar to our how to procedure except ours use an electric pump to suction out the old oil and include detailed pictures, I agree with their assessment that the notion of lifetime oil is ridiculous and also there's "less drivetrain drag" and improved mileage after changing oil:

http://www.fordflex.net/forums/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=9334
 
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just did the procedure this morning, very easy, even for me. I'm the last person you'll want to work on your car, I know nothing about them, I'm even scared to jack up the car worried I may jack it at the wrong jack point and bust a hole in the undercarriage so I asked all my local dealers and every dealer said "can't be done, it's sealed". I gave up looking and jacked up the CX-9 up using Avidien's cement blocks idea, worked like a charm. When I got the plug out, the plug was full of gunk and sludge!!! Mine is 2011, 48,000 miles, I only got 1/4 cup of oil out using the electric pump, I suspect the rest is sludge. I refilled with Royal Purple until only new oil started dripping out. I'm going to run it for 500 miles and try to dilute and redo the procedure. No way in hell this should be lifetime oil.

just re-did the "suction flush and fill" this morning after driving around for 500 miles this past week to try to dilute the sludge, I was able to get about 16 oz. of oil out this time (much more than the 1/4 cup the first time). I highly recommend any AWD owners past 15,000 miles to do this procedure to protect the transfer case from overheating and damaging the gasket seals especially with winter season coming. I will post updates as I accumulate more mileage. Many thanks to Avidien for posting the pictures, they really help a lot and make the process very easy.
 
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Just a quick update for AWD members. I did first swap on 2011 CX-9 AWD at 48,000 miles, only got 1/4 cup of old oil out, rest was sludge. Filled with new royal purple, drove 500 miles and suctioned flush and filled till new oil dripped out of fill hole. Since then, I have accumulated 1000 miles now, absolutely no transfer case problems. I'm glad I did the maintenance, I don't think the transfer case would have lasted if I didn't. From now on, I'm going to change every 6000 miles like Avidien.
 
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Great write-up and information in this thread! Well Done.

I had this thread from last year (60,000 miles). We're now at about 85,000, so next oil change will be Engine Oil, TC, Rear Diff. Transmission should still be good for a while.

http://www.mazdas247.com/forum/show...sion-amp-Differential-Fluid-Changes&highlight=

-Ryan

Thanks.

Quick long term update for fellow AWD owners, I'm close to 78,000 myself now; still on my original transfer case, woohoo!

I'm absolutely 100% positive this is the fix for the infamous CX-9 transfer case problems.

I'm going to change TC oil again at 80,000 miles before the really cold weather starts, I believe cold weather is the biggest enemy for CX-9 transfer cases since there's so little capacity and if the oil is already thick; the cold weather will make it even thicker, so want to have fresh oil in there during the winter months since I don't have a garage and don't want to be freezing my butt off doing TC oil change in the freezing cold.

Also the cold weather may make the oil harder to suction out, obvious, I would warm it up first with a quick drive first but I don't think the suction hose tubing will be as pliable in the cold to get in really deep into the transfer case.
 
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video of removing transfer case plug

hello fellow CX-9ers,

I received a lot of private messages asking me for a video of how to get to the CX-9 transfer case plug using the "crossover" method,
it turned out to be a really nice 60 degree day so I figured I change the transfer case oil @ 78,500 miles before the winter comes and take a video for fellow members.

here's a video of how I'm able to loosen the transfer case plug with the low-profile stubby 3/8" drive (from Amazon) using the "crossover" method,



you can see I reach over the left of the crossbeam then "crossover" and above to get to the transfer case plug:


Also, I got this forehead LED from Walmart (2 pack for $4.97) works great



Here is a picture of the transfer case plug and Royal Purple 75W140 gear oil, no sludge !! just some small amount of metal particles as expected on the magnet. You can also see some of the VC-3 orange sealant came off during plug removal, I reapplied new VC-3 when I reinstalled the plug.



Here is video and picture of the used oil drippings, I highly recommend getting a large aluminum drip pan (I got mine at Walmart, they run about $12 but well worth it to catch the mess)




Here is a video of me pumping out all the old oil, I got about 14 oz of used Royal Purple oil out, absolutely no signs of sludge, oil still looks like it can go 10,000 miles but I rather play it safe and get it changed now since there's no way for me to change it in the cold weather, I probably won;t change until April 2016 or around 90,000 miles, I WILL SAY IT AGAIN, THAT $21 ELECTRIC OIL PUMP IS THE BEST THING EVER !!! LOL , don't mess with those manual pumps, just go with the electric pump, it's so much easier !!!!


Here is a video of me "flushing" out the residual oil out of electric pump lines for the next use, you can see Royal Purple oil is still good and no sludge



I hope the videos help out all the fellow members who asked me to post video of how I removed the plug. Good Luck.
 
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Great tip about the drip pan. I've been using leftover cardboard all my life but with the amount of mess this project causes I think that drip pan is the way to go.
 
Thanks avidien for the write up. I completed this last night with very few issues.

I wish I would have jacked it up higher for more clearance.

The biggest issue was that I didn't have a low profile 3/8 socket wrench. I was still able to get the plug out and in, but it took some extra effort. Going over the cross member actually made access relatively easy. My plug looked similar to avidien's, even though mine(my wife's) has ~115k miles on it.

I purchased the electric pump as well and it worked pretty good. The oil (more like goop) was cold, so it didn't flow well, which made the pumping more difficult. I was only able to get about 8oz out, but better than nothing. I'm sure if I let it run longer more would have been pulled out. Pumping fresh stuff took some time as I had to hold the tube to the pump because it kept sliding off.

I'll probably tackle this again in the spring when it's warmer.
 
Thanks avidien for the write up. I completed this last night with very few issues.

I wish I would have jacked it up higher for more clearance.

The biggest issue was that I didn't have a low profile 3/8 socket wrench. I was still able to get the plug out and in, but it took some extra effort. Going over the cross member actually made access relatively easy. My plug looked similar to avidien's, even though mine(my wife's) has ~115k miles on it.

I purchased the electric pump as well and it worked pretty good. The oil (more like goop) was cold, so it didn't flow well, which made the pumping more difficult. I was only able to get about 8oz out, but better than nothing. I'm sure if I let it run longer more would have been pulled out. Pumping fresh stuff took some time as I had to hold the tube to the pump because it kept sliding off.

I'll probably tackle this again in the spring when it's warmer.

you're very welcome Odrapnew, I'm glad it went well with no hiccups,

with only 8 oz of old oil recovered, sounds like you caught it in time before the winter season,

good to have fresh oil especially when it's cold.

After seeing the goop and sludge yourself, I bet you're now a firm believer that there's no way that oil should be classified as "lifetime" right ?
 
you're very welcome Odrapnew, I'm glad it went well with no hiccups,

with only 8 oz of old oil recovered, sounds like you caught it in time before the winter season,

good to have fresh oil especially when it's cold.

After seeing the goop and sludge yourself, I bet you're now a firm believer that there's no way that oil should be classified as "lifetime" right ?

Yeah, I was a believer before, but this reinforced it. I wish I would have saved some of it and sent it in for analysis. Regardless, definitely worth the effort. Since my wife just paid it off, gotta do the "little" maintenance things to keep it on the road for a while.

As for only recovering 8oz, I was only able to add ~8oz of fresh stuff as well before it started overflowing, so I think there was more in there. I'll do it again in the spring once the new stuff mixes in and dilutes the goo. Plus, I'll do it when the lube is warmer so it flows better.
 
I did mine when the car was warm. Just a warning, there's a lot of parts that take a really long time to cool off in that area. Makes the job even more fun.
 
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