Do you have a Mazda with a 2.5L?

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For those not already aware, it was brought to my attention that Mazda has released (quite some time ago now) a service bulletin for 2016-2020 Mazdas with the 2.5L turbo. Apparently the cylinder head can crack and either leak externally, or crack inside, which would destroy the entire engine. There is a fix for this, but if the vehicle's out of warranty, the fix would be on the owner's dime. The fix includes replacing the head, and installing four separate gasket kits. I priced out all of the parts (Mazda parts, not aftermarket), and they come to $1300. Labor would be the killer on this project as the engine has to come out of the vehicle to replace all of the parts.

This puts me at a crossroad with our 2017 CX-9. It's in excellent shape, as I take very good care of it both cosmetically and mechanically, but it has 78K miles now. My wife and I absolutely love this vehicle, and further more it's paid off. Trading it in for something else is not plan A, because I don't want to start another round of car payments. On the other hand, spending several thousands of $$$ on a vehicle when the turbo could go out next year, or even next week, wouldn't be good either. I looked up the value of the CX-9 and it's value is still fairly high, but how much does that change in 2 or 3 years when it has over 100K miles? Trade-in value is as good as it's gonna get right now. I had looked into getting a warranty plan, but even that would run $100-$150 a month. There's also the chance our vehicle won't be affected by this issue, but going this route leaves us with a vehicle of questionable reliability. I'm going in to talk to my mechanic about this tomorrow to find out what he would charge me to do this repair, and get some of his advice. I've had him for years and I know he's a straight shooter so I know can trust him. That will probably have a lot of influence on my decision. I really don't know which to go with this...
 
Simple. If you both love the car, then do it.

Can’t always be about the money- unless it might put you in a bad spot. In that case I might just let it go- and put money aside for another vehicle, just in case.
 
I have a 2019 Mazda CX 5 with the 2.5L turbo engine. It is within the VIN range of vehicles that potentially could have the issue. My car is just about ready to turn over 20,000 miles so I'm only putting about 5000 miles per year on it. It is also paid for and I love that car and would be highly PO'd should I have a major issue with it.

What I do is keep a close eye on the coolant level. I don't believe the problem is a sudden and catastrophic engine failure but rather a slow coolant leak that isn't noticed eventually causes the cracked head. So if I notice the coolant level dropping I'll take it into the shop and deal with it one way or another. Keeping my fingers crossed that I never have the problem.
 
The warranty plan is $100-150 a month?
Warranty yourself.
Take the money that you would spend on the warranty, and stick it into an account.
If the thing blows, either fix it from the balance in the account, or use it to supplement the downstroke on the replacement vehicle.
It is a 6 year old Mazda. Just use it, until it gives you valid feedback to question its reliability.
 
Simple. If you both love the car, then do it.

Can’t always be about the money- unless it might put you in a bad spot. In that case I might just let it go- and put money aside for another vehicle, just in case.
No matter which way I decide to go, the cost doesn't hurt us at all. I just hate making car payments, but I also want a reliable vehicle...
 
The warranty plan is $100-150 a month?
Warranty yourself.
Take the money that you would spend on the warranty, and stick it into an account.
If the thing blows, either fix it from the balance in the account, or use it to supplement the downstroke on the replacement vehicle.
It is a 6 year old Mazda. Just use it, until it gives you valid feedback to question its reliability.
In this case, the feedback would be seeing coolant on the garage floor, or noticing a drop in the coolant level if its leaking internally, which would be very bad...
 
Fixing it if it breaks will still likely be exponentially cheaper than replacing the car. After all, the new car may have problems of it's own that will put you right back to the same scenario in a few years.
 
The head can crack while not low on coolant. Of course, keep an eye on the coolant level, but if it gets low, something caused it to happen and if the cause is a cracked head, that is sucky scenario to be in.

Never assume your mechanic will do a job for you. You might get a quote tomorrow, but he could be swamped 2 months from now and would rather do a dozen high dollar fast jobs than a sucky head job that would take him a few days.
Meanwhile, your vehicle sits and takes longer than expected to be repaired.
 
Fixing it if it breaks will still likely be exponentially cheaper than replacing the car. After all, the new car may have problems of it's own that will put you right back to the same scenario in a few years.
This is absolutely true, and something to consider...
 
I just checked the coolant level and its right at the full mark, and there hasn't been any leaks, so no problem yet...

There you go, you're good.
Monitor the situation, bank the "Insurance" money should things go awry.
Costs you nothing, unless it breaks.
 
The head can crack while not low on coolant.
It could, but I would think a cracked head is going to leak, either internally or externally. I've never heard of a head that cracked and didn't leak somewhere...of course an internal leak would be way worse...
 
It could, but I would think a cracked head is going to leak, either internally or externally. I've never heard of a head that cracked and didn't leak somewhere...of course an internal leak would be way worse...

I didn't mean to confuse anyone. I said that because of DwightFyes post. If the head cracks, coolant loss usually follows.
 
I didn't mean to confuse anyone. I said that because of DwightFyes post. If the head cracks, coolant loss usually follows.
After reading the service bulletin it sounds like the head cracks due to a molding defect. I don't think its caused by a coolant leak, but rather the head cracking causes a leak...
 
Stuff happens... or not.

If you're going to worry about it I'd cut the car loose.

Why does the engine have to come out for a head swap?
 
I wouldn’t stress over it. Compared to however many millions of engines out there the failure rate is probably not that high and you statistically will probably not have the issue.

If you are so worried about it, trade it in. But whatever you replace it with could have problems too…
 
I wouldn’t stress over it. Compared to however many millions of engines out there the failure rate is probably not that high and you statistically will probably not have the issue.

If you are so worried about it, trade it in. But whatever you replace it with could have problems too…
It would be helpful if there was a way to find out what percentage of these vehicles have actually had the problem, but unfortunately I'm not having any luck finding that info...
 
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