Does the 2013 CX-5 have issues with carbon buildup and If it does would it hurt the engine to leave it? Are there any ways to help reduce carbon build up without using any products or doing an engine teardown to get to the valves?

 

At 48k miles, mine doesn't. I have not seen any reports of this being an issue but, being a GDI engine, it's always a possibility even though Mazda went ot great lengths in the design process to ensure it doesn't happen. I follow the old adage "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" and won't worry about decarbonizing the head until symptoms arise. I'm doing the same thing with my wife's E89 BMW which is much more prone to this kind of thing. It is just about @55k miles and no problems yet.

 

Tons of youtube videos on this very subject ...

 

Bumping this thread rather than making a new one. Being a GDI engine there is no fuel wash to keep the intake valves clean. Pretty much all GDI engines are susceptible to this. I'll probably try some Seafoam at some point as preventative maintenance. Anyone with some serious miles on their 2013+ CX-5? Any issues with this?

 

I haven't seen any CX5 petrol engines in our shop with carbon issues.

 

Thanks, what was (approximately) the highest mile one you've seen?

 

Well over 150,000km's

 

I owned a 2014 CX5 Diesel Sport for just over 2 years. In that time it had terrible carbon build-up issues. It suffered numerous DPF issues and full engine failure after just 6 months due to carbon buildup in the fuel injectors, none of which are tested in any way as part of the servicing process. The car had to be taken away and I had to pay for the engine to be stripped and investigated before Mazda would accept liability to repair it under warranty.


The process of confirming liability and engine rebuild took over 2 months, during which time I had to hire a car in order to keep working. This was meant to be the responsibility of the garage, but they just said they had no cars available.

When I finally got my car back it suffered another breakdown less than a week later and it had to be towed and investigated yet again. The garage and Mazda did not want to claim liability for why they repair had failed. Mazda claimed that the garage had not done the repair properly and the garage claimed that the components they had sourced from Mazda and used in the repair were faulty. It took another month to resolve.

when I finally got the car back from its second stint of repair it was fine for 4 months before the dreaded oil warning came once again and it had to go in for another lengthy repair. This time the small turbo was replaced as well as getting the injectors cleaned. I had had enough by that point. I no longer trusted the car and felt extreme anxiety whenever I set out on a journey in it. So I sold it to a dealer as soon as it came back from repair.