2013~2016 Front transfer case fluid leaking... anything to be concerned about?

joh

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Mazda CX-5 Granda Touring
I had my local oil change shop change my rear differential fluid and front transfer case fluid on my 16.5 CX-5 GT AWD a couple months ago. I provided 2 qts of Mazda Hypoid Gear Oil and 4 new crush washers. After the work was done, my wife and I would sometimes smell burning fluid coming from the front of the car. I took it into the shop this afternoon and had them look at it. Apparently, the tech who worked on it failed to use one of the crush washers I provided, and as a result, some of the fluid has been leaking out and spraying on the exhaust, resulting in the burning smell.

The shop asked that I get them some new hypoid gear oil and a new crush washer, and they will be happy to replace the washer and top it off free of charge. He said there was no way to no how low the fluid level is. I am obviously going to demand that they reimburse me for the fluid and crush washer.

So I'm basically trying to figure out how to deal with the shop after their negligence. Not trying to milk them, they are very nice and people make mistakes. But if there is potential damage to the car, then I should obviously demand more.

Question: would there be any damage to the front transfer case caused by the leaking fluid? Fluid is still leaking so I am assuming there is an adequate amount of fluid left in there. If the fluid was below a critical level, would the check engine light come on?

Any feedback or advice would be appreciated.
 
I had very similar experience to yours recently. I had the first factory free oil change done by a Toyota dealer for my 2018 Yaris iA. After the road trip from San Jose to LA, I checked the oil level and found it was 2.5 quarts short which is less than half of the oil capacity! I added 2 quarts of oil driving back to SJ and brought it back to the Toyota dealer. I'd been told the drain plug crush washer was cracked and it's leaking oil. The dealer gives me on additional oil change, and is willing to check the compression for free. But the damage has been done, just don't know how much.

In your situation the damage to front transfer case may have been done but not much you can do about it either. The damage can be minor, and the transfer case may be able to survive for the life of the vehicle. But nobody knows. IMO reusing the aluminum washer should not cause any leaks. Something else happened. Or the drain bolt simply didn't get tighten up for some reason.
 
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