Problems

[silverm5]

I purchased a Mazda5 Auto Touring last Saturday. On Thursday, the 5's engine dies while my wife is driving it from the store. She first gets a CEL and then engine starts to sputter. Engine dies in the middle of the street. She is then unable to start the motor. Another commuter helps my wife push the 5 to the side of the road. Wife calls Mazda roadside assistance and 5 gets towed to nearest Mazda dealer. Its already later in the afternoon and techs have gone for the day. Techs take a look at it Friday morning. They are not really sure what to make of it. They contact Mazda USA for technical assistance. At that point, it is determined that it is a bad PCM. Part has to be shipped from SoCal. Dealer gets PCM and replaces module. It does not fix problem. Dealer is again in contact with Mazda for tech assistance. So, in the meantime, my wife is driving a rental car. Servicing dealer and the selling dealer have not encountered this problem before. I hope this is not an omen of things to come with the 5. My previous Mazda was an MPV and was pretty reliable other than an O2 sensor going bad at 65,000 miles.

[silverm5]

Update: PCM was not the problem. Dealer still does not know what the problem is. They are in contact with Mazda for technical assistance.

[Wuster]

Wow...

Glad to know that someone stopped to help.

I think there was a mention of this problem somewhere in this forum (or maybe in the Edmunds forum for Mazda5). I think the fix was for the dealer to reflash the computer to fix this problem. (key word - I think)

[vcinsanity1523]

HOLY Shit that is crazy i can't believe that can somebody say lemon law...

[silverm5]

Day 5 - Well, tech has thinking that the new PCM that he got was bad, so he pulls one out from a working 5 on their lot. Still doesn't work. They are saying that power is going into PCM, but there is no power out. They are supposed to be in contact with Mazda's head tech guy here in the US. Sounds like a friggin short somewhere. They need to bring in an electrician.

[Protege52003]

HOLY Shit that is crazy i can't believe that can somebody say lemon law...

can't jump the gun with the lemon law. has to happen 3 times and not get fixed by the dealer or something like that. they at least get a one or two chances to fix the problem.......

sorry to hear about this. least you got help from other drivers and i hope mazda fixes the 5 for you!

-R

[ladygrey]

Day 5 - Well, tech has thinking that the new PCM that he got was bad, so he pulls one out from a working 5 on their lot. Still doesn't work. They are saying that power is going into PCM, but there is no power out. They are supposed to be in contact with Mazda's head tech guy here in the US. Sounds like a friggin short somewhere. They need to bring in an electrician.

I hope they figure it out soon and get it fixed for you!

Hope they been accommodating at least. My experience has at least been pleasant with the tech guys. I don't have to push for anything they are all about proactive.

[silverm5]

Thanks Lady. Hopefully goodnews. They think they finally have it. They found a bad #1 coil that was shorting the power out of the PCM. They swapped out the bad coil and reprogrammed the PCM, and engine is now running. They will run more tests this afternoon and if all looks good, they will release it to me.

[Zoom5Zoom]

Day 5 - Well, tech has thinking that the new PCM that he got was bad, so he pulls one out from a working 5 on their lot. Still doesn't work. They are saying that power is going into PCM, but there is no power out. They are supposed to be in contact with Mazda's head tech guy here in the US. Sounds like a friggin short somewhere. They need to bring in an electrician.
I remember the Mazda 3 had a PCM wiring issue.... wires where at the contacts and measured fine but contacts didnt mate with PCM. I don't have a reference for you to fall on. The info I give you is word of mouth.

Wiring issues in anything is the hardest to diagnose. FYI we changed out 5 Electronic Pumps for Mazda 3 power steering and found it was a bad ground (intermittent at that)

Hope this helps

[silverm5]

I remember the Mazda 3 had a PCM wiring issue.... wires where at the contacts and measured fine but contacts didnt mate with PCM. I don't have a reference for you to fall on. The info I give you is word of mouth.

Wiring issues in anything is the hardest to diagnose. FYI we changed out 5 Electronic Pumps for Mazda 3 power steering and found it was a bad ground (intermittent at that)

Hope this helps
Thanks Zoom. It turned out to be a bad coil. Its running just fine now.

[vcinsanity1523]

Thanks Zoom. It turned out to be a bad coil. Its running just fine now.

glad to hear its back up and running fine

[MD5]

glad to hear its back up and running fine

Man, funny how something so simple can be sooooo aggravating!

Matt

[jandree22]

funny... I just had a coil go bad in my Sunfire like a week ago. It still ran but misfired. They replaced it now it runs like a champ again.

Glad to hear you got your baby back all healed!

[Zoom5Zoom]

Happy to hear it was only a coil.... congrats

DUMP THE SUNFIRE(poke)

[jandree22]

DUMP THE SUNFIRE(poke)

Yeah yeah... I'm working on it (shady)

[ladygrey]

So glad you are back up and running!