TatiannaG

I have a 2011 Mazda 3 sport with 106493 miles on it. I bought it with maybe 100 miles on it (it was a loaner car so basically brand new)and I’ve had very few problems with it but a few years back I had an issue with it randomly shutting off. The radio would power down, dials would go all the way up then Down again and it’d lose power steering. I was told by the mechanic I had that it might need an update to the operating system. (I’m a computer nerd so I thought firmware update) it had codes and everything. I don’t remember what they were sadly.

well I didn’t have the $ for that so I found a fix to it and did it. I unhooked the battery from the leads, touched them together for 15-30 seconds to discharge any and all electricity in the system and then reconnected it. It worked! I just had to drive it around.

Now it’s doing it again. I took the car to the dealership in Spokane and they said I had bad selinoids and that’s what was causing the problem because it had an error code for it. $400 later they were replaced. Driving home it HAPPENED AGAIN! I turned right back around and dropped it off, telling them that wasn’t it. They then said that after some testing(there were no error codes) they said it was a bad o2 sensor. $500 later that was replaced. It was doing fine while I drove it home, got into some heavy interstate traffic and what happens?

Danger Will Robinson! It shuts down AGAIN! This time I have error codes because the engine light popped on. Code p0685 and U0100. Indicating it’s losing connection to the ECM/PCM and that the power relay control circuit/open? I found those out because I hobbled it the last few miles to an autozone to get the readings.

does anyone have a fix for this that’s not going to cost me an arm and a leg? The cost of the labor alone on the last one was more than the part. Ugh. Help!! Pleeease! I don’t have anything left to get this thing resolved and it’s feeling like the dealership has been just throwing stuff at the wall to see if it’ll stick while charging me an arm, leg and my first born child.

should I try my first fix?

Lolo323

Listening in because I’ve had similar issues! My 2010 mazda 3 would shut off and restart while driving, mostly started with the same radio restart. Then at a stoplight it just all silently shutdown.

My mechanic can’t find anything wrong with it because codes are not registering and they’ve been driving it for 3 weeks and it’s flawless. I’m afraid of driving it now and contemplating just getting a new car (which I’d rather not do financially but safety kind of trumps that).