MariettaTaco
Member
- :
- 2011 Mazda CX9
I'm posting this in hopes that it helps someone who is on the fence about proactively changing their water pump on their CX9. I have a 2011 CX9 GT with a 105k miles. I purchased this vehicle new and have always done the maintenance. Oil changes at 5k and had the dealer flush the radiator at 97k. Shortly after I had it flushed, I started reading about all of the horror stories of water pumps going out unexpectedly on CX9's with far fewer miles than mine. In addition to this, you should know that my wife is in the wedding cake business and we deliver cakes weekly with some deliveries over a hundred miles away. Uber is not an option if the water pump went out on us while we were in the middle of a delivery. Our reputation would be severely diminished if we couldn't make a single delivery. With all of this on my mind I decided to bite the bullet and have the water pump replaced. After looking at the following Youtube videos below, I decided I couldn't do this myself.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Q1M1pHIzTk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3-NOGZL8ms
I shopped around at 1 independent Mazda mechanic and 3 Mazda dealers. The independent could do it but not in the near future. Two of the dealers never returned my call so I went with the third (Jim Ellis Mazda of Atlanta). The quote I got over the phone for just the water pump and timing chain was 3k. When I arrived I decided to do everything else that made sense with a vehicle over 100k miles.
The mechanic left all of the parts in a box for me after he was finished.
--All belts and hoses I should have just done the main radiator hoses. He ended up doing all of the hoses and most looked fine except for the two large ones which had bulges.
--Water pump (More on that below)
--Oil pump. One of the videos recommended it since you have easy access to it once you have access to the water pump.
--New thermostat and new radiator. I didn't ask for a new radiator, but when the mechanic was taking the hose off, it broke the plastic housing, so they replaced the radiator for free.
--Transmission flush. I had it flushed at 56k and decided to do one more flush with this service. All future transmission services will just be drain and fills since I know the risks in flushing the transmission.
One of the Youtube videos shows changing the water pump without pulling the engine, but everyone I talked to said why bother, it was easier to pull the engine. It took them about 5 days to do the job, which was fine since I had a backup car. The total cost was $4500, which is a lot but far less than if the water pump torpedoed the engine. I plan on keeping this car for the another 100k. The cost is far less than another comparable mid sized SUV which is close to 40k. I know they put there senior person on the job so I am confident it was done right. The service person told me they had done a bunch of water pump replacements in the past, for what it's worth.
I'm attaching pictures of the water pump. It doesn't look too bad and certainly has not leaked in between the gaskets. There are a couple of rough places on the corner gaskets that look sketchy. When I spin the impeller, it spins fine with no looseness but had a bit of drag on it like the bearings where starting to wear.
If you are in this position of a vehicle over 100k, you probably would be fine going to 120k, but I wouldn't push it much further.
Good luck in your decision.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Q1M1pHIzTk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3-NOGZL8ms
I shopped around at 1 independent Mazda mechanic and 3 Mazda dealers. The independent could do it but not in the near future. Two of the dealers never returned my call so I went with the third (Jim Ellis Mazda of Atlanta). The quote I got over the phone for just the water pump and timing chain was 3k. When I arrived I decided to do everything else that made sense with a vehicle over 100k miles.
The mechanic left all of the parts in a box for me after he was finished.
--All belts and hoses I should have just done the main radiator hoses. He ended up doing all of the hoses and most looked fine except for the two large ones which had bulges.
--Water pump (More on that below)
--Oil pump. One of the videos recommended it since you have easy access to it once you have access to the water pump.
--New thermostat and new radiator. I didn't ask for a new radiator, but when the mechanic was taking the hose off, it broke the plastic housing, so they replaced the radiator for free.
--Transmission flush. I had it flushed at 56k and decided to do one more flush with this service. All future transmission services will just be drain and fills since I know the risks in flushing the transmission.
One of the Youtube videos shows changing the water pump without pulling the engine, but everyone I talked to said why bother, it was easier to pull the engine. It took them about 5 days to do the job, which was fine since I had a backup car. The total cost was $4500, which is a lot but far less than if the water pump torpedoed the engine. I plan on keeping this car for the another 100k. The cost is far less than another comparable mid sized SUV which is close to 40k. I know they put there senior person on the job so I am confident it was done right. The service person told me they had done a bunch of water pump replacements in the past, for what it's worth.
I'm attaching pictures of the water pump. It doesn't look too bad and certainly has not leaked in between the gaskets. There are a couple of rough places on the corner gaskets that look sketchy. When I spin the impeller, it spins fine with no looseness but had a bit of drag on it like the bearings where starting to wear.
If you are in this position of a vehicle over 100k, you probably would be fine going to 120k, but I wouldn't push it much further.
Good luck in your decision.
View attachment 220158View attachment 220159View attachment 220160View attachment 220161View attachment 220162