I have a strange issue. For months my Cx9 has been making a rattling sound. It seems to be suspension related. I have been the service center for this problem about 5 times already and they cannot seem to find the issue. The suspension got so bad, it started to squeek! I was informed by the dealer it was an issue with the strut and the left control arm. They replace both stating it was a factory recall. The repair got rid of the squeeking sound but the car still rattles over bumps(not loud) and constantly pulls to the left.

Has anyone had this issue with their CX9 and could you tell me what you did to solve it?

 

First off, maybe I missed something, but in all the CX-9's I've worked on, I've never seen recalls listed as of yet, not to mention a recall to replace the left control arm and strut. At least you weren't anything out of pocket.

Any pulling to the left, assuming your tires aren't causing it, will be an alignment issue. If you were anywhere near me I'd tell you to come into my dealership and tell the service writers to have Daniel work on it hehe. I'd love to take a look at it if I could.

Same thing with the rattle. Sometimes it takes a keen ear, eye, and intuition, and sometimes it takes a totally different person.

 

I'm not sure what to say( or do). They already rotated the tires twice and stated they had the car aligned when they replaced the control arm. Maybe I'll take it to another Dealer. I'm beginning to get a little frustrated. I wish I could find someone I could trust.

 

Where do you live? Not trying to be invasive, but state/city. Maybe you're close enough to my store hehe. I can tell you I'm in good company. Our master tech has been working on Mazdas for 17 years, and he's ready and willing to help any of us when we need it. Combine that with honest service advisors and service manager. Keep in mind as you're dealing with this even if you're nowhere near me, a shop is only as good as it's people. So if you have to go to another dealer, don't blame Mazdablame the shop.

What you might try if you get them to align it again, is request a printout of the readings. Every time I align a car, I get a printout that shows the specified tolerances, what the car was at before, and after the alignment. If there is anything that Mazda didn't put in a way to adjust, or if I've adjusted something as far as it will go and it's still not in spec (this can happen after a wreck), I always note that on the printout.

 

Daniel,

Thank you for your information. I'm located in the SF Bay Area, Ca.

 

Don't know what is causing the rattle, but the pull is likely due to an issue with the way the strutswere installed at the factory. There is a TSB on the issue for the 07 model. I had the same problem and my dealer was able to correct the problem with the proper adjustments (it takes some effort to get it right). Good luck.

 

After 3 more trips to the service department, my CX9 still rattles. The Vallejo service center replaced the left control arm and strut. But, this did not resolve the issue. Now I hear squeaking too. I feel like I'm driving a junk heap. I took the Mazda in another time to Vallejo. But , they claimed they did not hear anything. So, I then took it to the Oakland dealer. That had it for two days. They heard the sound but could not fix the issue. They did not want to keep paying for the rental, so they made me bring the rental back with no resolution. It think it's time for me to complain to whoever, I'm supposed to complain to. This is crazy.

 

CX-9 rattlesI recently dealt with one and had no clue where to look. It sounded like it was coming through the dash, and happened only on acceleration. I called Mazda's tech hotline (the guys we techs call when we're stumped) and though TSB's or other tips hadn't been published yet on what he had to offer me, he had three specific areas to repair or modify in a specific order, and told me to call him back if none of them worked. The first one I tried fixed it. I wish they'd publish this info.

 

Thanks for your input. could you tell me those three areas to repair or modify? I still have the same issue.

 

Well there's technically 4 areas to look in (two areas are dealing with the same bracket). There was one published tip, but it didn't fix the noise I was hunting down. Try these in the order you see here, or have your dealer try them if you're uncomfortable with any of it or simply wish to take advantage of your warranty and protect your wallet. If you're doing these repairs, test drive in between each one. You may fix the noise with the first try and end up saving yourself a lot of unnecessary work:

1) There's a black bracket that supports the vacuum lines between the power brake booster and the intake manifold. You'll see the top of it on the firewall right above the battery. Notice: It should be held in place on two studsone stud has a nut threaded onto it, and the other one has a plastic fastener pushed onto it. Do not remove the small wiring harness from the fastener, but find a pair of needle nose pliers or something else that you can sort of "fork" over the stud and under the fastener to gradually pry it off the stud. Then thread on and tighten a nut of the correct thread size onto the stud to anchor that side of the bracket. Then push the plastic fastener back on.

2) Same bracket as mentioned above. This time you'll need to remove the battery (might I suggest to write your radio presets down if you don't know them by heart. I think your NAVI should retain the destinations, etc. you've put in it). Once you have the battery out of the way, you'll see the rest of this bracket, and you'll see a plastic hose coupler that clips into it. If you wiggle it, it'll likely have a little bit of play in it. The idea here is to put thin padding between that coupler and the bracket itself. Best is going to be a thin felt with an adhesive backing. Remove the fastener and nuts holding the bracket to the firewall. Then, using a pair of regular pliers, squeeze open and slide back the hose clamps on either side of the plastic coupler. Then pull off both hoses. Now with the bracket/coupler in hand, look on the back side, and you should find 4 small tabs holding the coupler to the bracket. Careful use of a small flathead screwdriver will free up one side, facilitating removal of the coupler from the bracket. Clean the surface you're going to stick the felt (or equivalent) to. I put it on the bracket. Make sure you can still fully clip in the coupler after you've put the felt (or equivalent) on. Install felt, reinstall coupler to bracket, reinstall hoses to coupler, reinstall hose clamps, reinstall bracket to firewall, tighten nuts (don't overtightenthey're small) and reinstall plastic fastener over nut. Reinstall battery.

3) This next one is one that you may want to let the dealer handle. The cowl grille (black plastic vents where wiper arms stick out of) has hooks on the underneath side that clip onto the bottom of the windshield. The hooks have thin felt pads on them, but they can wear out a bit, and the hooks can rattle on the windshield. You'll need to remove both halves of the cowl grille and install new thin adhesive felt pads over the old ones. To remove the cowl grille, you first have to remove the wiper arms. You'll also need to disconnect the windshield washer hose line on the passenger side of the vehicle. Then there's some plastic fasteners and screws (screws may be covered with plastic discsif so, pop the discs out with a small screwdriver or equivalent) that need to be removed. I also recommend you carefully (it can tear easily) remove the weatherstrip on the edge of the cowl grille furthest out from the windshield. Observe that there are rubber moulding pieces on either end to remove, and then side cowl grille pieces on either end as well. Remove it all.Once all of that's done, pull the cowl horizontallyaway from the windshield toward the front of the car. It's not the easiest thing to do, but once you get it off and look on the underside, you'll see the hooks I'm talking about. Install THIN felt pads over each of them (don't remove the old ones), making sure they adhere well, and then reinstall the cowl grille, and all other removed parts.

4) I highly recommend you let the dealer perform this next one if you're inexperiencedand also because warranty will pay for it. Parts are expensive. If none of the above work, the final suggestions the rep made to me were to loosen and re-torque the bolts retaining the upper plenum of the intake manifold to 76-101 in. lbs. If the noise remained at all, he then said to replace the upper plenum.

Except for #1, all other possible causes and repairs explained here are not published to my knowledge except in this forum post. If your dealer is going to do them, the tech should verify them with the hotline we have available to us. #1 and #2 are doable, I'd say, but anything beyond that (If the noise remains) I really recommend letting your dealer perform the repairs.

Good luck!!