Location of factory door lock relays in 2005 Mazda 3?

[BrianG]

My door locks have recently started "acting up" where they occasionally won't lock and/or unlock via remote or using the door switches. When I try, I do hear a clicking coming from somewhere in the passenger foot area, so the relays are working - the locks just don't function. And then, they will just start working again some random time later - sometimes after several repeated attempts, sometimes a day later. It started about 3 months ago with a rare occurrance or two, but is getting more frequent. I am thinking the contacts for the relays are worn and will just replace the relays. But first, I need to find them. And if the relays are ok, at least I can start tracing the problem from there.

Any help would be appreciated before I tear apart the whole passenger side trying to look for them.

 

[icspots]

There are two places to look for fuses/relays. One is in the engine compartment on the driver's side about midway between the headlights and firewall. The other is in the passenger side interior foot well below the glove compt. To access it:

-Look under the glove compt/ at the roof of the foot well
-grab the black plastic shield and pull down to remove it
-turn the two black thumb screws until they pop free (just 1/4 or 1/2 turn IIRC)
-the whole PJB will hinge down from the firewall.

I'm not sure where the lock fuse/relay is so you might be able to access it without "dropping" the PJB down as there are slots on that side as well.

 

[BrianG]

I did a little hunting this weekend and still could not positively locate those pesky relays. I removed the glovebox and anything else I could to be able to get at everything and repeatedly fired the door locks so I could locate them. The clicks seem to come from inside the fuse panel unit (passenger side below glove box). I don't feel the relay clicks if I grab the fuse box, but they certainly sound like they are coming from that unit. I don't see any way to open it up, at least without messing with a ton of wires (one of which is the pass air bag which makes me nervious). So, I guess I'll either have to live with it or pay exhorbitant prices for the dealership to fix it.