We bought a 2008 CX9 about 3 months ago. It has high miles but appears to have been very well taken care of. I watched it like a hawk for coolant loss the first 2 months after reading the horror stories about the water pump failures. It didn't lose any at all and ran great. We took it on several long trips and drove it a lot with 0 issues. Last month we were driving down the highway and it died. My wife pulled over and it restarted right away but I noticed the temp gauge was a little over 3/4 of the way and I knew it was not good news. We drove it a little under a mile to get it off of the highway we were on that had no shoulders and when we pulled into someone's driveway and slowed down it died again. At this point the temp gauge was almost all the way up but not quite to the H. I opened the hood and the engine really didn't feel that hot, there was no gurgling and no smoke, but I called a tow truck knowing I would kill it if I tried to just put coolant in it and drive it. We did end up having to start it one more time to pull it about 20 feet forward so the owner of the house could get into their driveway and it did smoke a little for a second then. Once I got it towed home I pulled the dipstick hoping the pump leaked externally and not into the timing cover but the dipstick looked like chocolate milk so the coolant definitely got into the oil. My mechanic said the manual calls for the engine to be pulled ot change the pump but I mentioned I saw a few writeups online of how it can be done just by removing the motor mounts on one side, jacking the motor up, etc so he is going to watch a few of the videos and read the writeups and give me an honest estimate instead of just going by the Mitchell estimator. My main question is, it has already sat almost a month with coolant in the oil, will that destroy any engine components and or timing components? Should I drain all of the oil and coolant out of it until I can tow it there since it will probably be at least 3 more weeks before I can save up $1000 to get it fixed? Hopefully I haven't already done too much damage letting it sit with the coolant and oil mixed. Thoughts? Advice?

 

The reason better service shops go by the recommended service procedure is they work. Anything less if something goes wrong they are responsible. Not to mention personal safety. There are always short cuts but those that video them are concerned if something goes wrong with their advice, it’s not their vehicle.
I would be more concerned about the engines condition? The shop should have first suggested to do a few checks. Compression check followed by a cylinder leak-down test?

 

Thanks for the replies. I ended draining the oil and coolant and refilling both so I could start it and take it around the block to see if it knocks, bearing noise etc. It actually sounded fine but it ran rough like it has a misfire now and would die when I came to a stop and have to be restarted. It threw a P0016 CKP/CMP Correlation Bank 1 Sensor A code so I don't know if it jumped timing or the vvt system was damaged? I towed it to my mechanic and had him do a compression test and that was fine so I told him to go ahead and tear into it. I ordered a water pump and timing kit. The timing kit was the one that comes with VVT sprockets but when I got it one was missing and they don't have anymore. A VVT sprocket by itself is over $200 and I can't afford that right now. Does anyone think the VVT sprockets could be damaged and causing my misfire issue and code or is it most likely something else? Thanks

 

got the car back from having the water pump, timing kit, and vvt sprockets replaced and it runs great other than this noise when I start it. Anyone have any idea what is causing this noise? It's not from the serpentine belt/pully area, it comes from closer to the driver's side. I'm afraid the coating was eating from a bearing while the coolant was in the oil and it's a ticking time bomb but hopefully not or there is something I can replace before it totally dies to prevent it. * Sound attached *