Timing Chain

Broken timing chains on any car are extremely rare these days aside from something with high miles and maintenance neglect. Broken timing belts from neglected change interval... guaranteed broken at some point.
 
Some engines, have those plastic guides, that wear out and cause problems, BMW, Jaguar... Our cars, don't have that system?
 
Tensioners fail.

But i still prefer a chain to belt, even though some would say both are ok.
 
I think they basically both have their pros and cons. I do prefer chain but it’s not a deciding factor for me. I have owned cars with both and asside from an ‘89 POS Dodge I had in college I’ve not had issues with either in the recent decades.
 
Personally.. glad to be on a chain. It's always been lower maintenance for me. Offhand only a few belt users left that I can readily think of... IE: Honda Accord V6 and the Ridgeline.
 
Tensioners fail.

But i still prefer a chain to belt, even though some would say both are ok.
Definitely prefer metal timing chain over rubber timing belt. Timing belt is guaranteed broken at some point like Kedis82ZE8 said. Worse some manufactures, i.e. VW 2.8L V6, irresponsibly put longer timing belt replacement interval matching others and is broken earlier than expected caused major engine damage.

Right now in the US only Honda V6 and GM I5 diesels use unreliable timing belt.

And for CX-7, turbo is also known to fail frequently. Basically CX-7 is not doing well on long-term reliability, hence Mazda dropped it IMO.
 
Apparently the CX-7 had problems with this issue, loss of timing chain with resulting damage to engine. I wonder how our CX-5 will be in that respect.

https://www.edmunds.com/mazda/cx-7/2007/consumer-reviews/review-964804759/

The issues with the early Mazdaspeed3/Mazdaspeed6/CX-7 engine VVT/Timing chains were sometimes noticeable at 30k miles... These were updated with an engineering change/update to the VVT adjuster, PCV system, and valvecover updates in 2009.

As far as the skyactiv engines, I have yet to hear of any failures or anything in the same realm.
 
The recent issues with timing chains on most manufacturers has a lot to do with the oil. The oil companies have been reformulating with less zinc for example which exacerbated timing chain and tensioner/guide issues.

The latest motor oils with the dexos 1 generation 2 formulation are supposed to address this. The jug will say gen 2 on the dexos icon or if the dexos license # on the back starts with the letter D , you are good to go. The major brands have all gone to gen 2.

As for disparaging Mazda quality, the Y should look at the records of other car makers and their timing chain problems. It’s not just a Mazda thing.
 
Our Subaru had a timing belt on an interference engine (if the timing belt breaks, the pistons could hit the valves). It was also a long belt given the flat-4 config.
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Turbo failed on a neighbours CX_5 diesel, under two years old, a 2014 car, also those owners with the prematuring wear on the cams were also seeing failing sequential turbos failing.
My first cx-5 came under the Vin range with the dodgy cams, and spent a week having repairs, dealer tech say they changed the vacuum brake pump, but I'm not convinced thats all they changed.

Reason i got rid after the second service.

Definitely prefer metal timing chain over rubber timing belt. Timing belt is guaranteed broken at some point like Kedis82ZE8 said. Worse some manufactures, i.e. VW 2.8L V6, irresponsibly put longer timing belt replacement interval matching others and is broken earlier than expected caused major engine damage.

Right now in the US only Honda V6 and GM I5 diesels use unreliable timing belt.

And for CX-7, turbo is also known to fail frequently. Basically CX-7 is not doing well on long-term reliability, hence Mazda dropped it IMO.
 
Turbo failed on a neighbours CX_5 diesel, under two years old, a 2014 car, also those owners with the prematuring wear on the cams were also seeing failing sequential turbos failing.
My first cx-5 came under the Vin range with the dodgy cams, and spent a week having repairs, dealer tech say they changed the vacuum brake pump, but I'm not convinced thats all they changed.

Reason i got rid after the second service.
Did Mazda resolved this in the 2nd generation CX-5 diesels? This is scaring me.[emoji51] Issues like that is hard to resolve with the dealership in this side of the world unless they issue a TSB.
 
Did Mazda resolved this in the 2nd generation CX-5 diesels? This is scaring me.[emoji51] Issues like that is hard to resolve with the dealership in this side of the world unless they issue a TSB.

I would say that the 2.2 diesel has evolved to as near perfect as you can get it. Xtm has a small storm cloud surrounding his head ;-)
 
Is that the same as saying xtrailman has personal experience of failure? (shrug)


I would say that the 2.2 diesel has evolved to as near perfect as you can get it. Xtm has a small storm cloud surrounding his head ;-)
 
Only time will tell.
My advice is don't run the diesel out of warranty, it could be expensive.

Theres not much to go wrong with the petrol, especially the NA engine so unless you really need the diesel i would avoid it, we don't get offered the 2.5 petrol in the uk.


Did Mazda resolved this in the 2nd generation CX-5 diesels? This is scaring me.[emoji51] Issues like that is hard to resolve with the dealership in this side of the world unless they issue a TSB.
 
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