car died on me last night

2

204vividPro5

Member
:
2002 Mazda pro5
Hey I was cruising for the evening last night made a stop and went to go start back up to leave and the usual lights go on and I turn the key to start and it kills all power. Only way I was able to get power back was if I wiggled the positive/negative battery cables underneath the battery. We got the power to stay on enough to get it push started but as soon as I park it and shut off its completely dead. Battery isn't dead, works great....is my issue with the starter?
 
sounds like your issue is with the cable(s) itself (as you said, it starts if you wiggle the cables).

Check them for clean/tight connections both at the battery, and at the fuseblock / grounding point(s) on the chassis and engine block.

You may find something loose in checking the connections.
 
Go to auto zone and buy new connectors for the battery. The oem ones are junk anyway. I had the issue a couple years ago
 
...

It gets power for all lights to work but as soon as I go to start I loose all power. Would this be the ground or power off the starter kicking the power out completely. I'll try replacing most of the wires
 
Check them before replacing them - visually and with a multimeter. May be just a loose ground that breaks when current starts flowing through it (aka - my ground was loose on the block and everytime I'd try to start it - it'd break that connection).
 
...

Where exactly is the ground on the block located? One of my ground wires are going to my strut tower brace. Most of my grounds visually are starting to corrode
 
I had the same problem. Oem connector didn't tighten down on the positive post. So I took a piece of sheet metal, wrapped it around the post, and retightened down the connector. Problem solved for me lol
 
Glad to find this post. I have a '08 Speed3 that is currently having this problem. My dash lights etc. work until I try to start, then entire electrical system turns off including dash, interior lights, etc. I have found people saying if the ECU does not have enough power it will reboot, causing everything it controls (everything electrical in new cars) to have no power for as much as a few minutes. My battery tested good. I did notice the positive battery clamp is tight enough to stay on, but loose enough to be able to wiggle. Will try replacing that tomorrow, if it doesnt work I'll take a look at the ground wire.
 
Yes

Replace both terminals and make sure the ground contact points are cleaned up. My issue was with my ground and I've replaced all and haven't had problems since. Battery terminals should be snug
 
Glad the Ground wire suggestion was the correct one.

Even a dead clock is correct twice a day.....lol.
 
glad you found it...

for future reference...if you have power before cranking, and everything goes out when you attempt to start...its usually a bad ground at the battery itself...or a stuck relay for ignition, starter, or fuel pump...or potentially all of them...had that on a previous car...the relay has a control circuit, which will keep everything 'on'...and switches to a power circuit for cranking the engine...if that switch doesn't happen, the circuit breaks and everything goes off...the starter power circuit will route power from nearly everything (oddly enough, accept the head-lights), so it can literally remove power from every accessory and mimic a dead battery...

both are easy fixes, and cheap...but glad you got it taken care of...
 
Please log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

E
New PCM, Strange Issue - Turns over, no start - Flickering lights
Replies
2
Views
2K
EastonCO
E
WJV03MP5
Intermittent engine light. Only on startup code p2009
Replies
4
Views
3K
pcb
P
J
Protege5 voltage nightmare. Help!
Replies
8
Views
2K
pcb
P

Latest posts

Back