somebody stop me before I take a sledgehammer to my p5...
 

ok.. here we go again..

I go get a nice dinner with my girlfriend.. we go out to my car.. of course, it doesn't start.

This is nothing new, it's happened many times before. Nothing gets left on, it doesn't always do it. The first time the dealer replaced the battery for me.. the second time they did jack and said there wasn't a problem. This is the 8 or 9th time this has happened. It doesn't even make a sound.. just..click.

The battery isn't completely dead, the remote doors work, the lights work, the radio works.. it just doesn't start. If I get a jump, it'll be fine for a while.

I was going to just have it towed to the dealer but it was like 9 at night. I can't even begin to tell you how irritating this is. IT'S A BRAND NEW CAR WITH A BRAND NEW BATTERY!

I've done no mods.. (thank god my sterio install got delayed or they'd blame that)..

Now what's different tonight.. is that after shifting in and out of park a few times (it's an auto/stick).. it started up fine.

WTF?!?!?!

Any ideas? If the dealer tells me one more time that there isn't a problem I'ma smack em' and sell the car heh.. I love this car..but I don't have this kinda patience..

Ok, I'm done ranting now.. any ideas people?

Kyle

They didn't check the starter, by chance, did they? I don't know what it is but if it starts every once in a while and is okay when it starts, that's what it sounds like to me..

What this requires is someone to do a complete check on the electrical system, looking for something drawing power somewhere. I had a car like this, but it was really old. It had some serious problems with degraded wiring.

Hmm... make sure you tell them about the shifting.

Cuz normally, if your car is in a Drive gear (or reverse I think), the car won't start. So maybe there's some electrical problem, or contact problem where it thinks the transmission is in gear.

I am not a mechanic or anything, but IMHO it sounds to me like it might be the neutral safety switch ( I think that is what it is called on an automatic too, kinda like what the last poster said). It stops the car from starting if it is not in park or in neutral. You may want to ask them to check that or the starter may have a dead spot in it. If it is the starter you can smack it with a hammer and it may start, but the dealer probably won't like that too much especially if it was not the cause of the problem to begin with. When you figure it out let us know what the problem was, I would like to hear what the dealer says.

I agree with vtaero. I worked in a autoshop for a while and that can be a problem. See if you can't get around it not starting by shifting the car into neutral and starting it from there. Alot of times when the neutral safety switch goes bad, it won't start in park, but it will start just fine in neutral. If you take it to the dealer, definitly tell them about the shifting.

any chance you could have a faulty solenoid? I don't know much but I had a similar problem with my old tercel and that's what it ended up being..


If I'm wrong at least you have a nice new word to throw at the dealership :)

Funny, the same thng happent to me and alls it was was the stupid alarm. Try deactivating your alarm after youy get in the car and see if it starts then:)

works for me:D

lol. man.. if it was that i bet you'd feel like the biggest assclown ever, lol.

I'd try the alarm thing if I actually had an alarm.. it's on my to-get list hehe..

I took it to the dealer today..surprise surpise.. they couldn't get it to do anything wrong.. worked just fine for them. They ran some tests (wouldn't let me stick around and watch exactly what) and said they couldn't find anything. The guy was real nice about it.. just couldn't get it to act up. I told them about the shifter.. but what he told me, was that if a battery jump started it just fine, and i got a clicking sound when I tried to start it.. it can't be the neutral safety switch. he said if it was that I wouldn't get anything, and the key probably wouldn't even turn.

#@$#!&%_)!($*@#^%$&#@$*%@^#$&!#)

this is irritating..

Thanks for the suggestions peoples..

Kyle

Sounds like one of the safety systems that keeps you from starting the car when not in P or N is malfunctioning. Try to get your dealer to replace it.

It could also be user error.

Make sure you put the shifter ALL THE WAY in park.

Start making SURE it's in park before complaining to the dealer.

I'd bet it's the safety switch - and it's not necessarily "bad" - probably a quick bend of the contact will solve the whole thing. Something like this can be caused by the contact being literally 1/16" out of where it should be.

If you take the car to the dealer TELL them to check the safety switch. Truthfully, if they couldn't figure this as one of the first things to check, they are truly dumb.

~HH

Also try giving the wheel a twist so it locks out before you try and turn it over. I've had that a couple times on my P5 where the switch in the steering column isn't quite in sync and it won't turnover...

Dumb Mazda dealer service department? The hell you say! Everyone knows that Mazda has the best and brightest service techs in the business! :rolleyes:

PS: if you believe that, I've got a Daewoo dealership for sale in a Florida swamp.

I'll give you 20 bucks for it plus a fleet of 200 cars for the lot. You'll be making money on the deal ya know, like $19.99!