2018 cx-5 Blown Head Cylinder and Head Gasket
#41
08-17-2021 | 02:57 PM
Junior Member
Joined: May 2021
Posts: 4
From: Maine
Was on my way to Disneyland with the family on our day off and noticed white smoke billowing over my windshield. At first I thought it was from the car in front of me, but no, it was my car burning oil from under the hood. Soon the cabin filled with smoke at the stop light just 1 mile away from the DIsney parking structure. Naturally the kids ignored the smoke and pretended like nothing was wrong but I knew this was going to bad. Anytime you smell/see that much burning oil you can't ignore it and so I pulled over and popped the hood. I looked inside and saw splashed oil on the back side of the engine (everything was wet from oil) but it was difficult to see where it originated from. From there we cancelled our day at the park and headed straight for the Mazda dealer. Dropped the car off and two hours later I got the video recording from the service tech capturing the cylinder head leak. Now they need to contact the Mazda "hotline" to walk them through a detailed inspection. They may decide to replace just the head or completely swap the engine...TBD. What a crappy day. Only 16.4k miles on the CX5 and not even 2 years of ownership. I don't want this vehicle anymore and don't want anything to do with Mazda going forward. Trust has been broken due to a defective product despite the fact that its still under warranty. The service people knew damn well this was something not out of the ordinary.
I've brought mine back three times since they worked on it because the engine light keeps coming on. Drives fine though.
Shame such a great vehicle is brought down by this and I have no interest in any other vehicle in it's class.
#43
08-18-2021 | 03:46 PM
Senior Member
Joined: Jan 2018
Posts: 586
From: United States
I was a service technician for a while at Mazda and the reason why this has been happening is because there are two factories where the cars are made (Japan and Mexico) and there was a bad batch of aluminum heads and now its causing every engine with the bad head to crack by the last head stud next to cylinder 4. If you're engine isnt hurt we just put a new aluminum cylinder head on the engine and swap over cams and rockers
#45
08-20-2021 | 01:59 PM
Junior Member
Joined: Aug 2021
Posts: 3
From: SoCal
My CX5 with a blown cylinder head has been at the dealer for a week now and I had to call them to get an update, otherwise I don't think they would have proactively called me at all to explain the situation. Turns out many of the parts they require to replace the head are on back order and they couldn't provide an ETA. The service manager told me it could take 3 weeks or more but once the parts arrive they can start on the rebuild and finish relatively quickly. What a shame this experience has been, I feel like a rebuilt engine on a car that's not even 2 years old is like driving a tainted vehicle. On the plus side, they provided me with a free loaner (a 2021 model) and surprisingly the engine/transmission perform significantly different than my 2019. The 2021 has more linear and quicker throttle response from a stop and it doesn't wind up as much as my 2019. Nonetheless, I won't be keeping my car once I get it back because I have no idea what accelerated damage was done to bearings and other components when so much oil was spewing out when the head blew.
#47
08-26-2021 | 10:58 AM
Junior Member
Joined: Aug 2021
Posts: 3
From: SoCal
Yup. I challenged the dealer about the lead time for parts and he said they've been lagging availability "due to COVID19". They must be getting the new head assembly from Japan. Nonetheless I have a loaner CX5 from them and i'm racking up loads of miles with it so they can keep my lemon as long as they need to, i will be selling shortly after I get it back and ensure all the burnt oil smell is gone.
#48
09-05-2021 | 01:52 AM
Junior Member
Joined: Sep 2021
Posts: 9
From: San Francisco, CA
My 19 CX5 GT had a rubber burning smell and smoke went into the cabin. Next day I jacked up and checked to locate the oil leaks. It appears oil leaking all over the timing chain/belt cover area. I was able to drive to the dealership and drop off. The service dept. staffs gave me the look of what the hell is going on with my car. Smoke all over the hood area when I was in the service dept.
Waited for an hour of inspection, service advisor came over and told me that the cylinder head need to be replace due to leaks from cylinder #3. I asked if this is common issue for Cx-5, he said he saw certain number of CX-5s been getting cylinder head replaced due to this same issue. This is a TSB fix (TSB #SA-031-21) only if you have this oil leaks. I think Mazda should having a recall for those who have cylinder deactivation on their model years. They set me up a loaner vehicle to drive while the car is waiting for parts and getting the cylinder head replace. I assume it might take up to 1-1.5 months. I believed cylinder deactivation engine will cause this oil leaks, it just a matter of time when its going to happen. GL y'all!
TSB SA-031-21
Waited for an hour of inspection, service advisor came over and told me that the cylinder head need to be replace due to leaks from cylinder #3. I asked if this is common issue for Cx-5, he said he saw certain number of CX-5s been getting cylinder head replaced due to this same issue. This is a TSB fix (TSB #SA-031-21) only if you have this oil leaks. I think Mazda should having a recall for those who have cylinder deactivation on their model years. They set me up a loaner vehicle to drive while the car is waiting for parts and getting the cylinder head replace. I assume it might take up to 1-1.5 months. I believed cylinder deactivation engine will cause this oil leaks, it just a matter of time when its going to happen. GL y'all!
TSB SA-031-21
#49
09-05-2021 | 01:41 PM
Senior Member
Joined: Jan 2018
Posts: 586
From: United States
My 19 CX5 GT had a rubber burning smell and smoke went into the cabin. Next day I jacked up and checked to locate the oil leaks. It appears oil leaking all over the timing chain/belt cover area. I was able to drive to the dealership and drop off. The service dept. staffs gave me the look of what the hell is going on with my car. Smoke all over the hood area when I was in the service dept.
Waited for an hour of inspection, service advisor came over and told me that the cylinder head need to be replace due to leaks from cylinder #3. I asked if this is common issue for Cx-5, he said he saw certain number of CX-5s been getting cylinder head replaced due to this same issue. This is a TSB fix (TSB #SA-031-21) only if you have this oil leaks. I think Mazda should having a recall for those who have cylinder deactivation on their model years. They set me up a loaner vehicle to drive while the car is waiting for parts and getting the cylinder head replace. I assume it might take up to 1-1.5 months. I believed cylinder deactivation engine will cause this oil leaks, it just a matter of time when its going to happen. GL y'all!
TSB SA-031-21
Waited for an hour of inspection, service advisor came over and told me that the cylinder head need to be replace due to leaks from cylinder #3. I asked if this is common issue for Cx-5, he said he saw certain number of CX-5s been getting cylinder head replaced due to this same issue. This is a TSB fix (TSB #SA-031-21) only if you have this oil leaks. I think Mazda should having a recall for those who have cylinder deactivation on their model years. They set me up a loaner vehicle to drive while the car is waiting for parts and getting the cylinder head replace. I assume it might take up to 1-1.5 months. I believed cylinder deactivation engine will cause this oil leaks, it just a matter of time when its going to happen. GL y'all!
TSB SA-031-21
#50
09-05-2021 | 02:53 PM
Junior Member
Joined: Sep 2021
Posts: 9
From: San Francisco, CA
Thanks for the info. For data collection purposes and to find out if there is a correlation, do you know if your CX-5 was assembled in Mexico or Japan? One forum member here indicated that this issue seems to happen to a batch of vehicles that were assembled in Mexico. Curious if this theory is valid.