Car died while driving

[MK519]

as the title says, i was on my way home from work this afternoon and my car suddenly died. all the lights on my dash started flickering and my power steering went out, luckily i was on a street that wasn't too busy and managed to pulled to the side. upon pulling over, i thought maybe i left my headlights on and that it was related to my battery. but then i thought, how tf did it turn on to get where i'm at... so that wasn't the case. anyways, i tried starting it again multiple times, but no luck.. it was completely dead. Luckily i work with someone who hasn't left the office yet incase i needed a boost... i waited, but in my frustration, i kept trying to start it and voila.... turns on magically.... :S anyone have this issue or know what the cause would be? I've done some googling and gotten a few answers, but would like to get some feedback from this mazda community.

Thanks

[dentinger]

How are your battery terminals? Clean and tight?

[aris]

sounds like you need a new alternator

[silverstarmazda]

How are your battery terminals? Clean and tight?

:chuckle im sorry. but yeah, any clues that might help? previous services, potholes or anything that could of damaged/loosened something?

[MK519]

How are your battery terminals? Clean and tight?

dentinger yup

[MK519]

:chuckle im sorry. but yeah, any clues that might help? previous services, potholes or anything that could of damaged/loosened something?

silverstarmazda i hit a good one this morning on steeles.. ill have to take a good look at it tomorrow, however i've been driving it ever since i got home earlier and it seems to be working fine now..

[MK519]

sounds like you need a new alternator

aris if thats the case, shouldn't my battery light be on? mine isnt.. iirc when the alternators go, the car will run my battery dead.

[aris]

@aris (http://www.torontomazda3.ca/forum/member.php?u=6096) if thats the case, shouldn't my battery light be on? mine isnt.. iirc when the alternators go, the car will run my battery dead.

No... This happened to my parents Mercedes a while back and it was altenator .... It don't hurt to get it checked

[MK519]

Reviving thread –

It’s been about a year and my car did this again. Over the weekend I was driving and my car started to act up. It did the usual dash light flicker and my power steering went out, however my car actually never got to dying. I parked to the side, turned the car off and waited for a good 5 minutes. While it was off, all of the tachometers on my dash had a life of its own and bounced up/down.

To add on, there are no CEL lights on my dash, the battery warning light isn’t on. I’ve tested my battery, re-did the connections to make sure it was 100% tight and clean. I also even took a voltage meter to test my alternator and it reads normally as pointed out in this link. https://www.yourmechanic.com/article/how-to-test-your-alternator_2 I’ve stressed test it - no signs of what was stated in the link. As per the instructions, if the voltage reads that it stays between 13V and 15V, it should be ok, which it does. I am lost for words here, I’m not sure what else to do. Is this some sort of electrical short happening in my car? If so, what other things should I look for?

Thanks in advance for the help guys, everytime I drive this car I am in fear that I will be left stranded on the road. It happens so randomly that if I take it to a mechanic/dealership, they won’t be able to replicate the issue.

TDLR: Car died once again, unsure of issue. Tried to diagnose all that I can. Looking for advice/opinions.

[MK519]

TDLR: Car died once again, unsure of issue. Tried to diagnose all that I can. Looking for advice/opinions.

Correction: TL;DR*

[jeff7670]

You are clearly getting a short somewhere....what a nightmare tbh. Hopefully you can find something out. I can't see a battery or alternator doing thing as you are getting the flickering of a short. Try and find any small melting or splice in any exposed wiring. Just a guess when you change out your cabin filter you have to take a fuse box out. Make sure all the female connection ends aren't damaged and everything is tight.

[MK519]

jeff7670 I will try and do this over the weekend. Also, I've noticed my horn intermittently works as well. The only time it starts working again is if I take it to a few car washes and it magically works again. I know it may be a wild shot but does anyone know if this would have an affect on how my car runs? I've read a user post on this forum that his car dies when he takes left turns and it had to do with some electricals in his steering column. He also claimed the same symptoms I've noted in my post. However don't think he got it sorted out...

[morganc]

You could have an intermittent plate connection within your battery. Symptoms of this are a battery that reads 12V and above no problem, but dies under load (ie, won't start immediately after). I'd start with a new batt if you haven't already.

[MK519]

morganc i bought a brand new one a month after the first incident happened. Been driving all year just as fine until this past weekend. Not sure if that's a connection to the battery or something else.. this is really irritating.

[McGuyver_3]

If I understand correctly, you said the car started without a boost. The mechanical portion of the ignition is irrelevant otherwise they key would no longer turn. When the car does not start is there any power at all in the dash? IE cranking/immobilizer light flashing quickly?
My recommendation and or guess would be to start with an ignition switch. The electrical portion right behind the mechanical portion. I have had to change quite a number of them at work. The contacts on the inside fail and cause only ACC to work or no power at all to come on. It is a starting point

[Rustislite]

I've had similar issues with previous Hondas. One ended up needing a PCM. The other i replaced all the Ground wires and the issue never came back. Haven't had the issue with my Mazda though

[arsin225]

If I understand correctly, you said the car started without a boost. The mechanical portion of the ignition is irrelevant otherwise they key would no longer turn. When the car does not start is there any power at all in the dash? IE cranking/immobilizer light flashing quickly?
My recommendation and or guess would be to start with an ignition switch. The electrical portion right behind the mechanical portion. I have had to change quite a number of them at work. The contacts on the inside fail and cause only ACC to work or no power at all to come on. It is a starting point

I've disconnected the immobilizer while running and everything was running normally. I had a dash flicker issue with my immobilzer though, like McGuyver said bad contacts. Apart from that having a messed up OBD2 reader also caused my dash to flicker and twice to turn off the dash and turn off power steering while driving. Car stayed on though.

[arsin225]

I've disconnected the immobilizer while running and everything was running normally. I had a dash flicker issue with my immobilzer though, like McGuyver said bad contacts. Apart from that having a messed up OBD2 reader also caused my dash to flicker and twice to turn off the dash and turn off power steering while driving. Car stayed on though.

Sorry, to clarify the dash flicker due to the bad contacts on the immobilzer was when I turned the engine off & removed the key. **Can't edit posts yet.

[McGuyver_3]

I've disconnected the immobilizer while running and everything was running normally. I had a dash flicker issue with my immobilzer though, like McGuyver said bad contacts. Apart from that having a messed up OBD2 reader also caused my dash to flicker and twice to turn off the dash and turn off power steering while driving. Car stayed on though.

You cannot disconnect the immobilizer. The ring around the key is the reader that sends the signal(from the key chip) to the cluster which communicates with the ECU. The only time that unit is active, is when the car is starting. It is verifying the key, cluster and ECU all have the same signal. Once the car is running, you can plug in another cluster or disconnect the ring and nothing will happen until you try restarting the car. Not to sure what you are trying to say with the statement in your next post
Are you trying to say the immobilizer was flashing quickly when the car was off and key out of the ignition? or when the car died?
Out of curiosity, do you have an aftermarket alarm/starter? I remember a long time ago on my 05 one of my ignition wires for the starter was loose and if I hit a bump hard enough the entire car would shut off. Was a simple fix. A good way to test it would be, have the car running stationary and start twisting and moving around wiring. Hopefully its something simple. I know the junction boxes are also not very strong in these cars. Its hard to diagnose an intermittent problem

[MK519]

McGuyver_3 my car does have an aftermarket starter.. i'll check to test for that this weekend. I am the second owner of this car.. was told the non-oem fob that was given to me did not work so i never bothered to use it.

[MK519]

McGuyver_3 turns out it my ignition switch crapped out. it also ran my battery dry. 50$ fix + new battery replacement under warranty. lets hope for no more issues lol.

[McGuyver_3]

Well, I'm glad it's up and running. And I am happy i was on the right track.
Thanks for updating

[Erika]

morganc i bought a brand new one a month after the first incident happened. Been driving all year just as fine until this past weekend. Not sure if that's a connection to the battery or something else.. this is really irritating.

I get a 2020 Mazda3, and done my service like 10 days ago, and similar issue, the car shut off while I'm driving, but the service shop can't find the issue. I was stuck at the gate when the engine stopped. Still waiting for their reply

[G ~ MINI]

I get a 2020 Mazda3, and done my service like 10 days ago, and similar issue, the car shut off while I'm driving, but the service shop can't find the issue. I was stuck at the gate when the engine stopped. Still waiting for their reply

Ouchie
Thats unusual.
I once had the 2012 shut off while driving on the highway.
Restarted it and it was ok ... But do report back if the dealer figures it out.
Suggest to have the ECU reflashed with their latest software.