Anybody got any knowledge of 3.7 Ford Cyclone V6?

[Stumpy]

Took my wife's 2009 Mazda 3.7 CX-9 to shop and got it back Wednesday. It's got 235K miles. Had techs replace:
1. Plugs and Coil Paks
2. Valve Cover Gasgets
3. PCV Valve
4. Intake Plenum Gaskets
5. Belts and Tensioner

Just got in from checking it out and there is motor oil slung all over and coating the passenger side of the engine compartment. The car was a tad over a quart low. It was topped off the day I took it to the shop. No obvious signs of leakage from the valve covers. Wherever it is coming from it is obviously being slung by the new drive belts. Anyone know if there is something they might have missed in reassembly that would lead to such an oil leak? It was not doing this prior to the service. Just got back in from checking underneath the car. The right unside is dripping or coated in fresh oil. Not ATF or Pwr Str fluid.
QUESTION: The tech called and mentioned the "stretch A/C belt" was a problem on this cars. IS THERE AN EXTERNAL OIL LINE OR SOMETHING THEY MIGHT HAVE PUNCTURED, TORN OR BROKE trying to get this "stretch belt" on????????? Oil prssure switch?


Thanks in Advance

 

[ragtoplvr]

The intake plenum gaskets, or some of the crankcase vent hoses. Be ready for the we did not do it show.

Rod

 

[joekingcorvette]

Hopefully it's repaired correctly and all you need to do is clean up the oil. It sounds to me it's still leaking though. Bring it back and provide an update.

 

[dnewton3]

To answer your question, there are no external oil supply lines I know of for the Cyclone engines.
Mazda did build this engine under license from Ford, so it may be a tad different, but I doubt it would be so different that they decided to add external lines.
Much more likely that one (or more) of the gaskets were not put in properly, or a vent line is not reconnected, etc.

 

[Stumpy]

I took it back Saturday morning. Hope to hear back from them Monday. Most likely the Oil Pressure Switch crapped out coincidentally after it left the shop. Found a YouTube video that showed a 3.7 squirting oil out of the OPS showing everything in the engine bay coated like my wife's car! It does have 233K miles on it so it wouldn't be unexpected. The OPS is quite hidden and a deep reach with an extension and socket.

 

[Stumpy]

About two months ago I posted about an oil leak on my wife's 2009 Mazda CX-9 3.7. I thought it was an oil pressure switch/sending unit. The inside of the engine compartment was coated in oil and was being slung by the serpentine belt. The engine was a quart low but this engine does use about 3/4 to 1 1/2 quarts between changes, so no big deal. I topped it off and I took it to the shop and guy that has been wrenching my whole fleet for over 12 years. They will install parts I buy elsewhere and that is a plus. He kept it a week and could not find the leak. He called me and told me he thought it had to be the front main seal behind the timing cover but he didn't have the cam keys to lock the cams into position to preserve the timing and neither Snap-On on Matco could get them quickly.

So I took it to a shop about 30 miles from home that specializes in Cyclone V6 water pump replacements. They did my replacement about a year ago. I drop it off and give them the run down. After two and a half weeks(thats another story) the owner and lead tech calls me and says "you aren't gonna believe this". I ask "what?". He tells me it is nothing to do with the engine but my POWER STEERING SUPPLY HOSE is dry rotted and leaking onto the serpentine belt and making the mess! WHAT?NO WAY! I had recently drained and replaced the power steering fluid in all my cars and did an oil change on the Mazda so both the fluids looked about the same color and both the oil and fluid really didn't smell all that different. Owner of shop said they lowered the car, someone climbed in it to crank it and they lifted it and had two others looking for the leak! One spotted it and said "you ain't gonna believe this". So anyway, I'll take a $225 repair versus a $750-$1500 repair any day. I didn't get mad and I still trust both operations to work on my cars but sometimes mechanical issues can be confusing and confounding, especially the way they package modern car engine bays.

 

[Urshurak776]

Sometimes we get in our head what we think the problem is. When we do that we can overlook something like this. We're all guilty of it. I know I am.

 

[ripcord]

I've been totally fooled many times because I thought I "knew" what the problem was. My worst characteristic as a shade tree mechanic is failing to do thorough enough visual inspections.

 

[KrisZ]

When everything is soaked in oil, it’s hard to spot a leak for sure.

 

[doitmyself]

I refer to this as working with blinders on. As already mentioned above, I get a biased mindset of what I presume the problem is and overlook the obvious. Thanks for sharing.

 

[someonesomewhere]

I refer to this as working with blinders on. As already mentioned above, I get a biased mindset of what I presume the problem is and overlook the obvious. Thanks for sharing.

Agreed, I wish more people on forums (all over the Internet, but automotive in particular) would update with conclusions once they resolve the issue they're experiencing!