power fail?

[thanu31]

so this happend to me once before too,
I was reversing the car out of the parking spot, and then my radio reset, and the power steering went out, and when i tried to turn the wheel, it wouldnt let me, and all the lights on the guage cluster flashed. so i turned it off and restarted, and it was fine.

I thought it might be the power steering problem others have had, but wouldnt the power steering have failed by now?

happend a month ago. Now again today

Anyone know what can be going on?

[thanu31]

:pop

any ideas......... .... . . .. . . . . ........

[mazda lover]

Its a Mazda, we bought the car for the ZOOM ZOOM not for the quality and reliablity. Have no idea but I am sure someone will step up

[S.F.W.]

so this happend to me once before too,
I was reversing the car out of the parking spot, and then my radio reset, and the power steering went out, and when i tried to turn the wheel, it wouldnt let me, and all the lights on the guage cluster flashed. so i turned it off and restarted, and it was fine.

I thought it might be the power steering problem others have had, but wouldnt the power steering have failed by now?

happend a month ago. Now again today

Anyone know what can be going on?

alternator/battery. I had the same symptoms was told my alternator needed to be replaced, and the battery should be done as well.

[TheMAN]

not necessarily... the engine could've just stalled because of a ECU programming issue... there's a new ECU flash that fixes the stalling problem

[froggy]

it could be the battery that's no longer holding a proper charge, it could be a loose connector on the battery terminals, or corroded terminals ( clean them up with a wire brush and there's this goop that you can put on also to inhibit the corrosion) or it could be the alternator, or the connection/terminals on the alternator or it could be an ecu fix. I had the same thing happen on my old car same thing shift into reverse and it goes dead. that time it did happen to be the battery, I'm not sure but the way it was explained to me was that the car gets it's power for electronics and stuff mostly from the battery with the alternator continually charging the battery, so that even if your alternator is fine you don't get enough power to shift into reverse for some reason, but driving around normally is fine. I know it sounds wierd but that's what the tech told me.

[Flagrum_3]

Considering thanu31 mentioned that the engine did not stall, that he turned it off and restarted it himself, I highly doubt it's a battery or alternator problem!!....Just guessing but sounds like a relay issue, relays have been known to be problematic and can cause all kinds of weird issues!....A simple ecu flash might be in order, not that I think it would solve the issue but a very simple thing to eliminate from the possible list of problems.


_3

[thanu31]

thanks for the suggestions.
I too highly doubt its an alternator or battery problem as there have been 0 symptoms of that, and the battery is pretty strong from my experiences. Also to add, first time it happend, i was turning into a parking spot. This time it was reversing out. Both times the sub was pumping.

Last night i did check my battery, and the negative connection was very loose. And to think of it, this problem only happend after my sub was installed. Im guessing the loose connection was the problem. (hopefully)

Il see if it happens again. But does this sound like a possible cause?

Thanks again.

[Flagrum_3]

thanks for the suggestions.
I too highly doubt its an alternator or battery problem as there have been 0 symptoms of that, and the battery is pretty strong from my experiences. Also to add, first time it happend, i was turning into a parking spot. This time it was reversing out. Both times the sub was pumping.

Last night i did check my battery, and the negative connection was very loose. And to think of it, this problem only happend after my sub was installed. Im guessing the loose connection was the problem. (hopefully)

Il see if it happens again. But does this sound like a possible cause?

Thanks again.

Was the battery connection itself loose or the "sound system" connection to the post?

If it was a "very loose" battery connection itself, I'm slightly amazed you got her started lol.


_3

[Junior]

You're symptoms are typical for a loose connection to the battery. On my pro i had the same issue turned out to be corrosion on the terminal not allowing for a clean connection. Removed, cleaned up and re-connected and the issue was gone.

Not surprised that you were able to turn it over again.

[thanu31]

the battery connection (-) was loose.
It was still connected but the nut wasnt tightend

[TheMAN]

wow.. that's messed up

be sure NOT to overtighten the battery terminals.... these stock terminals don't like a lot of torque... they'll stretch and they will NEVER be tight again... just snug enough where you can't move it by hand is enough!

[thanu31]

cool thanks

[thanu31]

problem happening again:(

agincourt mazda wont look at it until i agree they can possibly charge me $110 if its my fault....:bang

and i dont think its loose connection, the connections seem to be fine and secure......:whoa

[Thrizzl3]

i get this same problem if im reversing but only when i turn the wheel full crank and try to give it gas. it would struggle and then return to normal...????

[thanu31]

similar, but mine does it with small turns, and in forward or reverse
It just looses all power and resets and comes back. after i restart off my car and restart it, it seems fine. it happened last week, and it just happend today morning

[Zoom Zoom Boy]

problem happening again:(

agincourt mazda wont look at it until i agree they can possibly charge me $110 if its my fault....:bang

and i dont think its loose connection, the connections seem to be fine and secure......:whoa

Weird... I would have thought connection to the terminals for sure. Did you try cleaning everything? Both the cable connectors and the actual terminal points?

I thought you weren't using Agincourt anymore Thanu?

[thanu31]

yea i was right near them when it happened and im starting to worry, so i wanted to have a quick look at it.
but yea, for sure, im done with them. i really dont like them at all. lol i know i say it but, this time im sure.

Im going to head to Scarboro mazda right now.

and no i didnt try cleaning anything. I think im going to try before i take it in then.

[Zoom Zoom Boy]

LOL. Yah, I hear you...

If the cleaning doesn't work, then you might have damaged or faulty wiring. I doubt very much this is an alternator or battery issue. Your battery light would also come on if the alternator is losing charge capability. Usually the warning light starts by coming on and off sporadically and then claps out for good and leaves you stranded.

[thanu31]

yea, im going to clean it now
and i called scarboro mazda, the service manager was speaking, and he said yea, bring it in, we will do tests on the car, and try replicating the problem, so we can order the part for you.

NO BS, just good customer service.

So yea, if it happens after i clean it, gotta take it in:(

[xxSlidewaysxx]

research TSB: 06-002/09, power steering problem....mine died on the 410 at 7:00 am this morning.....that was fun to get to oakville.

[thanu31]

scarboro mazda covered the inspection under warranty like its suppost to be done ... god i hate agincourt lol
anyways, they ended up updating the PCM and ECU

hopefully problem is resolved.

[rab33]

So any recurrence?

[Noisy Crow]

Did you check your sub wiring? Was the +ve feed fused properly? Check to make sure that the +ve isn't cut and grounding out... especially between the fuse and the battery, as a short in the section of wire would have no protection.

Also check anything else that was touched to install the sub.... are all the PJB connections tight, ground screw tight, etc. etc.

[thanu31]

It happened once after the ECU update, in August, but it was more like a powersteering fail. Everything I described happened, but the steering light stayed on this time and i lost the steering power for about 2 minutes. Now this happened while I was driving. (luckily i was on a straight road).

Scarboro Mazda told me to bring it in right away, as they think its the power steering thats starting to fail, but everything came back to normal in 2 minutes. I been busy, and didnt give the car in yet. Im actually waiting for it to happen again, I just dont feel like driving a rental and giving my car in for a unknown period of time.

Its been perfectly fine since that though. Very weird lol.

I think my problems started with something to do with the power steering in the first place.
Or it could be my battery, because after they did tests they also told me my battery was getting weak.

[yuro]

any updates on this issue?
my car started behaving really weird and I think it might be a weak battery..... it starts fine, runs fine for first 15-20 min... and then when I put the load on electrical system (using power steering) the engine tries to stall.... if I have my head-lights on, it happens earlier, if I have lights off, it happens later... I will try to run another test today using AC, since it will put more load on electrical system....... once I shut the car down and restart it, the problem goes away........ very bizarre...
I just want to make sure that I can replicate the problem and know more about it before I go to the dealership... I would love to go to MoT but I'm in downtown, so Downtown Mazda is closer......

[thanu31]

I dont think your problem is similar to mine.

I think my problem was something to do with power steering and ECU update. Because after the ECU update it seemed to have helped a lot.
But i also think i have a minor power steering problem which caused my problems too.

your issue might be the alternator/battery, since you said the headlights were a factor, but im no expert at all

[yuro]

today my car started doing funny things 4 minutes after it get started (yesterday it took 15-20 minutes), so I don't know if headlights are factor.... once I restarted the car, the problem went away.... no warning lights at all and no CEL...... very strange... the electric power to everything just switches off and on... with engine trying to stall, radio shutting off and so on....

I think I will try to restart ECU by removing wire from the battery overnight (I think that's how it works, but I will have to confirm it...) to see if it helps with this problem....... the strange part is that the problem is intermittent, so I can't just randomly show up to the dealership.....

[Delete]

today my car started doing funny things 4 minutes after it get started (yesterday it took 15-20 minutes), so I don't know if headlights are factor.... once I restarted the car, the problem went away.... no warning lights at all and no CEL...... very strange... the electric power to everything just switches off and on... with engine trying to stall, radio shutting off and so on....

I think I will try to restart ECU by removing wire from the battery overnight (I think that's how it works, but I will have to confirm it...) to see if it helps with this problem....... the strange part is that the problem is intermittent, so I can't just randomly show up to the dealership.....

I'm assume your on the road when this happens? wow thats dangerous.

[yuro]

i was on the road in downtown traffic on Peter St. plus my g/f was driving since my leg just came out of the cast and I don't drive yet in the morning rush hour.... it's a bit dangerous... the engine would not stall completely, but the radio would go off, "Hello" sign on the radio would come on and the lights would dim.....

I really want to bring the car to Mazda, but the problem does not happen once you restart the engine.....

[yuro]

I was thinking more about the issue with my car, and here is what I think...

the car has 2.3L engine with 5 speed manual transmission......

The issue can be either electrical (battery and alternator), throttle body or ECU.....

today the car started behaving funny almost as soon as it got out from underground parking... once the engine was stopped and restarted the problem went away.... in the evening the car ran without any issue at all on the drive home..... (i'm thinking ECU).... may be resetting it by disconnecting the battery overnight will help????

the car hasn't been on highway in over 2 weeks, so it's possible that throttle body gets stuck little bit... so may be by taking the car out for a nice spin tonight will clear it out a bit?????

I can't think of anything related to battery or alternator, but I will try to clean out battery and ground connections.........
Check Engine Light didn't come on and battery and power steering lights are not illuminated..... car starts up without any issues after sitting for couple of days and starts up right away......

The issue is really weird... I want to figure it out a bit, or have some kind of a time-line (for example it takes 5 minutes on a cold car, or engine needs to be fully warmed up and so on... ) before I go to the dealership, plus I want to be able to replicate the issue at the dealership..... I don't mind paying for the issue to get fixed, I just don't want to replace every possible part (i.e. alternator, battery, throttle body, ECU flash and so on... )

[yuro]

so, just in case if anyone else is having same issues......

last Saturday
-I did reset ECU by unplugging negative cable from the battery overnight and pressing brake pedal couple of time to drain the electrical system (I still don't know 100% if that is the correct way to reset ECU)
- I did clean up negative battery connector (it was little bit dirtly), positive battery connector (it was fairly clean ) and ground connector beside the battery box (it was fairly clean)
- I did used one bottle of STP fuel injector cleaner with new tank of gas (not sure if it does anything, but I did it)
- I did take my car for a nice spin, redlining through every gear (well, may be not every, but first 3 for sure.. :) ) and took it on a long highway ride (about 2 hours each way)....

Guess what, it's been almost a week and car is running fine, no issues at all (knock on wood 3 times...)