New here. Our 1st Mazda, PTU failure.

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Mazda CX 9 grand touring
New to the forum, my first post.
My wife and I recently purchased a used 2009 cx9 grand touring from our local Mazda dealer. With less than 96,000 miles on the odometer, we really liked the vehicle, it had a clean carfax and was in like-new condition. But less than 700 miles and 10 days after purchase a loud grinding noise started while we were on our way to the dealer to pick up our new license plates. We left the vehicle there (Saturday) and got a loaner to drive. A quick Google search gave me a likely suspect.... the PTU. On Monday I got the call with the answer I already knew, a bad PTU. Long story short, they covered the all the costs and didn't charge us for the loaner. I guess there is something to be said for purchasing from a dealer that you have a history with.

In case anyone is in a similar situation, did find new PTU's available for around $650 (https://www.amazon.com/dp/ (commissions earned)) but I'm glad I didn't have to go that route. On a related note, has anyone designed some sort of heat shield to go between the PTU and exhaust? I would think this would go a long way to keeping the fluid in good condition and preventing failures. I may have to look into designing one if nobody has.

The other big thing seems to be the water pump. The one on ours is original, which makes me a little nervous. I'll have to keep a close eye on the coolant level for now. Eventually I will probably just replace the pump, chains, and guides just to be safe. Has anyone done this? Did you do the chains/guides too or just the pump?
 
If you keep up changing the gear lubricant in this transfer case, such as 15,000~25,000 miles interval suggested by others, with good quality synthetic gear lubricant, your new PTU should last for a while even without any heat shield. Make sure to change gear lubricant in your rear differential too. The only problem is there's no drain hole and changing the lub is a big hassle!

Changing your coolant with proper Mazda coolant more frequently may help to prolong the service life of your water pump too. But the water pump eventually will fail, and replacing it is imminent. When you pay all the expensive labor taking the engine out to replace the water pump, might as well replace every thing accessible when engine and transmission are separated.
 
if PTU is cracked, changing oil won't help,

at 0:53 second mark, he says they have 3 cars with the same problem, can't believe there hasn't been a class action lawsuit yet

 
Our previous car, a 2005 Chevy Equinox, went 283,000 miles and I never touched the transfer case. It would be reasonable to think that the proximity of the exhaust to the PTU on the Mazda is a major factor in its failure. Watching the videos, the black lube sprayed everywhere looks more like C/V joint grease than gear lube. If it's going in a liquid and coming out a semi-solid, its gotta be cooking inside the case.
 
Not sure but from what I've read it's 2007 through 2014. Our failure made a rubbing/grinding type noise. It sounded like a plastic wheel liner had come loose and was rubbing on a tire. Or baseball cards in the spokes of a bicycle (for us older folks), just a little more muffled. It seems that the most common failure is a leak or broken housing.
 
Our previous car, a 2005 Chevy Equinox, went 283,000 miles and I never touched the transfer case. It would be reasonable to think that the proximity of the exhaust to the PTU on the Mazda is a major factor in its failure. Watching the videos, the black lube sprayed everywhere looks more like C/V joint grease than gear lube. If it's going in a liquid and coming out a semi-solid, its gotta be cooking inside the case.
Yeah in the old days those gear lub can be "life-time" in transfer case、differential、and manual transmission, but it seems no longer. Many such as CX-5 have specified a short replacement schedule in severe conditions. Consider newer and very expensive gear lubricants, such as Mazda Long Life Hypoid Gear Oil SG1 for CX-5 with list price $29.95 per quart, are synthetic and should last longer. I saw some had shown the sludge in old gear lub from CX-9's transfer case in 30,000 miles which looks nasty. I've no doubt that the lub leaked out in the video is from transfer case!
 
Not sure but from what I've read it's 2007 through 2014. Our failure made a rubbing/grinding type noise. It sounded like a plastic wheel liner had come loose and was rubbing on a tire. Or baseball cards in the spokes of a bicycle (for us older folks), just a little more muffled. It seems that the most common failure is a leak or broken housing.
Actually this front transfer case or PTU problem is for entire 1st-gen CX-9, from MY 2007 to 2015! Mazda has never done anything to prevent it, not even adding a line in maintenance schedule of owner's manual for routine gear lub replacement! Yeah it did extend the PTU warranty but what is that good for? I guess I was lucky as we almost bought a 2009 CX-9 AWD new and I really don't want to deal with this problem either!
 
Has anyone tried drilling and taping a hole in the bottom of the PTU for a drain plug? Definitely would help with a fluid change or even flushing out the bad stuff.
 
Yeah in the old days those gear lub can be "life-time" in transfer case、differential、and manual transmission, but it seems no longer. Many such as CX-5 have specified a short replacement schedule in severe conditions. Consider newer and very expensive gear lubricants, such as Mazda Long Life Hypoid Gear Oil SG1 for CX-5 with list price $29.95 per quart, are synthetic and should last longer. I saw some had shown the sludge in old gear lub from CX-9's transfer case in 30,000 miles which looks nasty. I've no doubt that the lub leaked out in the video is from transfer case!

Mazda specs 75w-140 for the PTU and I'm pretty sure all variants of that weight are synthetic. I just put Royal Purple in mine....
 
Has anyone tried drilling and taping a hole in the bottom of the PTU for a drain plug? Definitely would help with a fluid change or even flushing out the bad stuff.

We had our 2nd PTU failure at 89k miles, and Mazda had extended the warranty on that part to 90k. So it was replaced under warranty.... Now the clock is ticking..... 30 to 60k and I know it will fail again, on my nickel.... So, you have to take the plunge and change the fluid before the damage starts being done. For me at the 1 year mark last August, about 15k miles on the new unit, and I did the drill and tap thing and installed a drain plug following the Ford Edge instructions. It's a pic with mm measurements to mark the spot. Anyway, it was easy but somewhat messy. I recommend it though as necessary.

Does anyone have a recommendation on a good fluid pump? The cheap one I got leaks a fair bit while pumping and is pretty annoying.
 

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