2013 Mazda, CX-9 Transfer case failure, < 29,000 miles

atom88

We bought a 2013 Mazda, CX-9, around July 2014. It's now Jan. 2015 and the vehicle has about 29,000 miles on it. Bad transfer case, will be replaced under warranty.

We noticed a burning smell but didn't know what it was. Last week the drive train had some major issues, sounded like loud grinding gears sound going 1-2 mph in 1st gear. All gears seemed to have a problem. I drove it right away to the dealer, luckily it made it there. Just having the tech. drive it from the parking space to the garage, he heard the terrible sound. So far they have confirmed that the transfer case has gone bad and needs to be replaced. They say it will be under warranty.

Many forums say that the burning smell is caused by leaking transfer case fluid, that leaks on the exhaust and causes the smell. Possibly due to overheating of fluid that turns to sludge (for some reason?)

He said some of the vehicles they've seen that have come in with this issue have damaged transmission "splines" that mean the transmission would need to be replaced also.

Got a free loaner vehicle while I'm waiting.

If you google this you will find aerticles on edmunds.com forum and reddit.com forums mentioning this an an issue dating back several years.

You wouldn't expect a vehicle that is 14 months old with < 29k miles to have a transfer case / transmission problem!

This doesn't inspire much confidence in the Mazda brand.

Have other people experienced problems with the transfer case going bad? What is the cause, bad fluid, leaky case, faulty OEM parts?

Mr_Shiftright

There has been a TSB issued on transfer case issues with the CX-9 but it doesn't specify causes---just symptoms, testing and if necessary, replacement. Symptoms include front tires spinning when going uphill or take off, and the AWD or DSC light going on.

lisapisa

we have a 2009 cx-9 AWD grand touring with about 76K miles. back in october we noticed a burning smell after driving it and also a drip spot in the driveway where we parked it. Called the dealer and brought it in for service and they said the transfer case was going out. this was not under warranty so we paid the 2K to replace it.

Mazda dealer did the repair. Since then we noticed that the car's mileage has decreased significantly. from about 16.5 on average down to about 14. The AWD model is rated for 14 city 20 highway and that has been our experience avg about 16.5 since we drive both. Nothing else done to the care since then and our driving patterns have not changed. We have an appt to get into the dealer on Jan 29th, but when we called to discuss it with them they did not seem that interested in helping us solve the problem.

Anyone else experience this issue after the transfer case was replaced.

lisapisa

we took the car into mazda in SF on 1/29 and of course they could find nothing wrong with it, so now we get 12.5 miles per gallon. Far less than the EPA guidelines for this model. Do we have any recourse.

atom88

Update: the dealer replaced the transfer case for free, since it was under warranty. He said that particular part has been redesigned at least TWICE, since the first and/or second generation update of the part didn't resolve the transfer case failure issue. So, hopefully, whatever the latest version of this re-designed part was that they put in will have solved "the problem", whatever it is, that was causing these cases to go bad and/or leak and then go bad. I haven't looked at the MPG since then, I'll keep an eye on it and see what the MPG is now. Although we typically do a lot of city driving and stop and go traffic so it may be hard to tell. Is the 14 MPG a city mileage or highway mileage figure?

dannym7

I have a 2013 CX9 Touring Premium Package AWD. I received a letter from Mazda informing us of the known premature failures of the transfer case and extending the warranty on the unit. Nice that Mazda took some initiative on it. For info the transfer case was supplied to Mazda by FORD! Thanks Ford!!!! A legacy of FORD's once significant ownership stack in Mazda I guess. So far we have been very pleased with our Mazda and the dealers customer service. Only non-scheduled repair was the Bluetooth module failed which was repaired in two days under warranty. Got our suv back with a wash and full tank of gas for our inconvenience! Overall fit and finish continues to impress us at two years. No loose pieces or rattles to speak of and still drives like new.

timbarrr

I have a 2009 CX9 and have to replace the transfer case twice. The first was within 4 years and still under warrantee, and the second was 2 years later that was not covered. I have contacted Mazda USA & they said there is nothing that they can offer me as this is not a defect. Clearly they have not read or choose to read all the posting that this is a recurring issue. I have been a Mazda owner for 18 years and will make me reconsider for how much longer.