Snow with my 2016 CX-9 issues

Benchmark11

Member
:
2016 Mazda GT CX-9
Hello, first post here.

We recently got our slightly used 2016 GT CX-9. Today we got slammed with a snow storm and my wife was at work when the storm hit. When my wife got to her GT, the snow on the windshield and back window were blue as if the windshield washer was leaking constantly. Then, driving home, the wiper blades would not push the heavy snow very well. I tried changing the blades out to winter blades yesterday only to find a problem with 3rd party blades.. I saw the posts by other users complaining as well. Anyhow the the rain sensing wipers didn't work very well with the snow. Its like they didn't know what to do with the snow on the windshield.... Half way home she got message that the front radar was blocked. I looked when she pulled in the garage and there was SOME snow slush sprayed across the front of the car from the highway driving. I cleared the snow off the front sensor and the message went away. Above all those issues, the GT handled ok in the snow.

So looks like the CX-9 is not handling a typical New England snow storm very well. Anyone else seeing these every time it snows??

thnx
 
Hello, first post here.

We recently got our slightly used 2016 GT CX-9. Today we got slammed with a snow storm and my wife was at work when the storm hit. When my wife got to her GT, the snow on the windshield and back window were blue as if the windshield washer was leaking constantly. Then, driving home, the wiper blades would not push the heavy snow very well. I tried changing the blades out to winter blades yesterday only to find a problem with 3rd party blades.. I saw the posts by other users complaining as well. Anyhow the the rain sensing wipers didn't work very well with the snow. Its like they didn't know what to do with the snow on the windshield.... Half way home she got message that the front radar was blocked. I looked when she pulled in the garage and there was SOME snow slush sprayed across the front of the car from the highway driving. I cleared the snow off the front sensor and the message went away. Above all those issues, the GT handled ok in the snow.

So looks like the CX-9 is not handling a typical New England snow storm very well. Anyone else seeing these every time it snows??

thnx


I live in a snowy area here in Cda and what I can tell you is that the CX9 so far in my experience doesn't do well in snowy/icy roads and that is primarily due to the all season tires it came with the vehicle. I will invest in winter tires in a couple of years but so far the AWD no issues. As far as the wiper blades not much experience use for us yet but I don't use the rain sensing wipers esp during winter because the sensors are infra red based so can only detect the rain and not snow...it even states in manual to only use as such and not when snowing. Same is true with my previous Volvo that had rain sensing wipers...i only used it when raining and not when snowing or wet snow
 
Yeah, I switched to a set of Blizzaks right after I bought it in November and along with the AWD it's been awesome. It just doesn't spin or slide. Even if you encourage it. I ended up just selling the Falkens and getting a set of Michelins for summer. I didn't have the Falkens long enough or in varied enough conditions to really form much of an opinion but I read enough negative opinions of them on wet roads that I wasn't really interested. The same probably applies on snow. The tire choice was the only thing about the car that really felt like a corner cut to me. Although oddly the OEM Falkens are selling for the same price as the Michelins I bought, so who knows if they even saved any money?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
I did experience the radar sensor block, but didn't think much of it. Also I had a wheel get packed with snow and out of balance until I cleaned it out, but I guess that's what you get for riding on dubs in the snow haha. Overall I'm very happy.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Same snow here outside Worcester today. The other day, I got the same Warning. When I checked out front, the Mazda emblem on the front grill was covered with slush. Not sure this would be any different in another car.

IMG_8650.jpg

Whatever they did with the front and rear wiper system is a total disaster. The stock blades suck and there are no after markets available. My driver spray nozzle drizzles "by design" when going around corners. You are absolutely correct, it must not snow that much at Mazda's Hiroshima plant.

I'm totally disgusted on this issue.
 
I have had Mazda's auto-wipers on other cars, and none of them worked well in cold weather. I haven't had the chance to try it out in the new CX-9. Not sure if auto-wipers from other manufacturers work better?
I believe you can disable the auto feature in them menus, which would just give you normal intermittent control?
 
Same snow here outside Worcester today. The other day, I got the same Warning. When I checked out front, the Mazda emblem on the front grill was covered with slush. Not sure this would be any different in another car.

View attachment 216100

Whatever they did with the front and rear wiper system is a total disaster. The stock blades suck and there are no after markets available. My driver spray nozzle drizzles "by design" when going around corners. You are absolutely correct, it must not snow that much at Mazda's Hiroshima plant.

I'm totally disgusted on this issue.


I have a 2016 Signature. We had 24 inches of snow yesterday. The wipers are not good. I posted on a different thread and you actually replied to me about putting the older arm on the wiper for $50. Did you ever look into that? The fact that I cannot put a dedicated winter blade on this car is ridiculous.
 
Uh, we had a major issue yesterday with our 16' CX-9 GT. We're staying up at a resort hotel at the top of a mountain in Maine. During that snowstorm, we encountered a warning 3/4 way up the mountain stating "4WD Heavy Load" - and then the 4WD stopped working, reverting the car to FWD only. We literally had to turn off the car to reset it and turn it back on several times to make it up.

There was a definite "hot" smell coming from under the car - I have to imagine we really stressed the clutch? that controls power to the rear wheels. Very concerned about the longevity of the AWD transmission if something like this causes the system to fail.
 
Uh, we had a major issue yesterday with our 16' CX-9 GT. We're staying up at a resort hotel at the top of a mountain in Maine. During that snowstorm, we encountered a warning 3/4 way up the mountain stating "4WD Heavy Load" - and then the 4WD stopped working, reverting the car to FWD only. We literally had to turn off the car to reset it and turn it back on several times to make it up.

There was a definite "hot" smell coming from under the car - I have to imagine we really stressed the clutch? that controls power to the rear wheels. Very concerned about the longevity of the AWD transmission if something like this causes the system to fail.


Wow, that's not good. I'd bring it in and make sure they give you a free rental.
 
I have a 2016 Signature. We had 24 inches of snow yesterday. The wipers are not good. I posted on a different thread and you actually replied to me about putting the older arm on the wiper for $50. Did you ever look into that? The fact that I cannot put a dedicated winter blade on this car is ridiculous.


No. I mentioned to the dealer and he said it may not fit due to the curve of the windshield. It may be different. I'm waiting until next winter and see if there are aftermarket blades. If not, then I'll go to a local junk yard and see if I can find one on the cheap.
 
Uh, we had a major issue yesterday with our 16' CX-9 GT. We're staying up at a resort hotel at the top of a mountain in Maine. During that snowstorm, we encountered a warning 3/4 way up the mountain stating "4WD Heavy Load" - and then the 4WD stopped working, reverting the car to FWD only. We literally had to turn off the car to reset it and turn it back on several times to make it up.

There was a definite "hot" smell coming from under the car - I have to imagine we really stressed the clutch? that controls power to the rear wheels. Very concerned about the longevity of the AWD transmission if something like this causes the system to fail.

wow, that's not good, either the clutch like you said or the front transfer case overheated giving off the burning smell

video also shows the same warning you got below 0:47 seconds mark,

doesn't look like Mazda AWD system can carry the extra weight on the CX-9

 
Last edited:
Wow, that's not good. I'd bring it in and make sure they give you a free rental.

Did just that earlier today - dealer appt on Friday morning, and they offered a loaner. Happened again tonight when trying to back into a snow-covered parking spot. Not good.
 
Did just that earlier today - dealer appt on Friday morning, and they offered a loaner. Happened again tonight when trying to back into a snow-covered parking spot. Not good.

wait, you said it happened again? on your car or on the loaner ? if the loaner, than it's not an isolated incident, and an inherent design flaw
 
"4WD Heavy Load"

wait, you said it happened again? on your car or on the loaner ? if the loaner, than it's not an isolated incident, and an inherent design flaw
New CX-9 inherited CX-5's i-Activ AWD system and it may be under-designed a bit for heavier CX-9. I'd also check the gear lubricant level in rear differential, as it seems to come 25% low for almost all CX-5's from factory! The capacity of gear lubricant for rear differential with clutch pack is only 0.48 quarts, which could be very easy to get overheated during heavy usage for heavier CX-9. The gear lub capacities of rear differential for other AWD system I've seen are all at least 1.25 quarts.
 
wait, you said it happened again? on your car or on the loaner ? if the loaner, than it's not an isolated incident, and an inherent design flaw

It happened again with my CX-9.

The dealer now has her - they spoke with Mazda's technical service team and they can't figure it out. Their lead tech is taking it tonight (according to the service rep) to try and replicate the issue.
 
Sounds like a TSB in the making... wonder if the rear diff temp sensor is overly sensitive, actually in overheat mode or in need of different hardware...??

In threads I have seen over years you really have to abuse the CX-5 i-Activ hard to make it go into limp mode due to rear diff heat
 
Sounds like a TSB in the making... wonder if the rear diff temp sensor is overly sensitive, actually in overheat mode or in need of different hardware...??

In threads I have seen over years you really have to abuse the CX-5 i-Activ hard to make it go into limp mode due to rear diff heat

Dealer just called and said the tech took it home last night to try and replicate the issue - he was unable, and now the dealer is hinting at the fact that I overstressed the AWD system and somehow it's my fault. They checked the logs and the error IS due to overheating fluid in the rear diff, but pulled a sample and found no metal shavings inside. The fluid level was good, too.

I've registered my concerns that the system may not be able to cope with the weight of the cx-9, but they don't seem too concerned. Thankfully the powertrain warranty will cover 5 yrs/60k, so we'll get another winter or two for the issue to crop up again.

Extremely disappointed.
 
Just an FYI. I was at my local Mazda dealer, bs'ing with my parts guy after picking up a few things and he pointed to 3 2017 xfer cases on the shelf he was replacing and already had done 6 or 7 already. They overheated, puked all the oil out the breather and fried. The CX-5 xfer case is fine for the weight and power it has, but is way under engineered for the weight and torque of the new CX9. The diff in the 1st Gen is actually a better piece than the 2nd Gen, especially if you change the crap Mazda oil with a high quality synthetic. By the way these were all low mile jobs, anywhere from 700 to 3,500 miles. I'll keep my low mile (<17,000) 2012 GT AWD over the 2nd Gen all day long. YMMV! BTW, I test drove a signature when they first came out and the torque steer, wind noise, lack of top end power, less storage, styling, etc made me love mine even more! My wife's 2015 CX5 GT AWD is about to turn 70,000 miles and going strong. I did change the xfer, rear diff to RL very early, drain and replace the tranny with MZ, changed plugs, cabin and engine air filters regularly, etc.
 
^^ This is certainly a major concern. What's bad is Mazda is likely replacing the transfer case with the same design so they could spell disaster for any possible success for the CX-9.

I've been 50/50 on whether to buy the CX-9 or Highlander later this summer and Mazda's not helping themselves with an AWD system not up to snuff. I was overlooking other shortcomings because of how great it is but when it comes down to it, I want a reliable ride. Not to mention a Toyota V-6 will run well for 300K+, a Mazda turbo-4, not so much.
 
Wow good information here, thanks for sharing guys.

It's very concerning for me, as we were looking at a new CX-9 to replace our CX-5...
 
Back