2013 Maxda CX-5 Wouldn't Start, Crazy Instrument Panel Displays

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Muhnamana

Member
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2014 Mazda CX-5 Touring w/Tech
So last night, my wife took my son to T-Ball practice. Upon returning to start the car, it obviously wouldn't start.

The brake pedal was stiff as a board, you couldn't press it anymore. Tried starting, wouldn't turn over. Received the following messages: TPMS Inspection Required, SCBS Inspection Required, Keyless System Inspection Required. The display for the radio/nav wouldn't power on pass the start up display graphic, the needles for RPMs and speed went wacky, moving left to right very fast. Interior lights flickered and dimmed.

So we eventually called AAA, thinking this was more of an electrical/start up issue. I ask the drive to try and jump the battery. Upon doing so, the car started right up. Drove it home last night and parked it.

I can out this morning to fear the same thing from last night, no issue. Car started right up. Drove my car over to a local garage to check the battery, alternator, diagnostics, etc, no issues found.

Has anyone else had a similar issue like this?
 
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My check off list would be:

1. Get battery tested (you said you have already completed this)
2. Check for corrosion at the terminals.
3. Follow ground lead from battery to chassis and verify connection to chassis.
4. Verify water level in battery. (You say it is a 2013, so the battery could be hitting 5 yrs old now..)

Is it possible that the radio got played with ignition left on or perhaps light left on?

Unlike older cars, that would crank slow and then finally start when the battery is weak, modern cars need to enough voltage when you turn the key (or push the button), to run all the electronics in order to get the car to fire.
 
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My last cx-5 failed to start twice, jump starting it sorted the problem, garage checked the battery and said it was ok, so now I always look at the plugin voltmeter I have, a couple of pound from amazon.

I also had problems with the smart charging system not putting enough power into the battery, garage had to reinitialise the system twice before it sorted itself out, after that I regularly got 14 plus volts.

The other thing I think could have been an issue was a dodgy brake light switch, car will not start if this fails to make, so check your brake lights come on.

Mechanic did say 12 volts should be enough to start the car, but I don't agree.
 
CX-5um said:
Sounds like a dome light was left on all night.
Click to expand...

I'd say the same but even if one were left one, don't they eventually go out automatically? I've found them left on the next morning when I started the car, to only find the back 2 were left on from the night prior.

On the other hand, I had driven the car earlier in the day without issue, just last evening the issue happened.
 
Muhnamana said:
I'd say the same but even if one were left one, don't they eventually go out automatically? I've found them left on the next morning when I started the car, to only find the back 2 were left on from the night prior.

On the other hand, I had driven the car earlier in the day without issue, just last evening the issue happened.
Click to expand...

When the water levels in a cell inside the battery are CRITICAL LOW, parking on an EXTREME angle can also affect the batteries available voltage. (RARE but possible) Was the car possibly parked in such a way when it would not start?
 
Muhnamana said:
I'd say the same but even if one were left one, don't they eventually go out automatically? I've found them left on the next morning when I started the car, to only find the back 2 were left on from the night prior.

On the other hand, I had driven the car earlier in the day without issue, just last evening the issue happened.
Click to expand...

Wait 2013 model, are you on the original battery? If so then yes a dome light left overnight (yes it could be left on, my wife did this in accident) can drain the battery faster.
 
mazdadude said:
When the water levels in a cell inside the battery are CRITICAL LOW, parking on an EXTREME angle can also affect the batteries available voltage. (RARE but possible) Was the car possibly parked in such a way when it would not start?
Click to expand...

No, the car was parked on a slight incline, nothing to the extreme.
 
CX-5um said:
Wait 2013 model, are you on the original battery? If so then yes a dome light left overnight (yes it could be left on, my wife did this in accident) can drain the battery faster.
Click to expand...

Yes, 2013 model. No, I just replaced the battery within the past year.

Hmmm, very odd. I know for a fact the kids hit the dome light by mistake, however the light does go off though because went I get in the car the next day, I see it on, but only after the car is started.

At this point, I guess anything is possible.
 
I'd say most of all electrical issues with modern Mazdas are battery and battery connection-related issues. When I worked at Mazda, we had probably 2 appointments every day where the customer would experience weird issues(much of the time, the issues were all different, like some had power seats not working, while others had funky gauges, and some just had no power and the transmission wouldn't shift). Every single time it was just a bad connection or bad battery.
 
Muhnamana said:
Yes, 2013 model. No, I just replaced the battery within the past year.

Hmmm, very odd. I know for a fact the kids hit the dome light by mistake, however the light does go off though because went I get in the car the next day, I see it on, but only after the car is started.

At this point, I guess anything is possible.
Click to expand...


Clean and reseat battery connections. If that doesn't work, check ground for loose/dirty connection. Multisystem issues are generally always this because its the one place everything comes together. It's possible when your battery was replaced the connection was a little off and has worked its way loose.
 
I had the same issue today...multiple error messages on board (including empty fuel tank :) ).
The problem was one of the parking lamp. A few days ago I had replaced the originals lamp with some aftermarket led lamp, and one of them stop working 2 days ago. Since then i had issue with the rear camera (it's working only when it wants :) ), and now with this error mesages.
After replacing the led lamps with the originals, all the error messages has disappeared...remaining only the rear camera problem (hope that tomorow morning this will disappear to)
 
CX-5um said:
Sounds like a dome light was left on all night.
Click to expand...

+1 my bet...i think my kid turned/left on rear light and like lionel it was on all night long i was like wtf is going on..jumped it and has been fine since..4 year old 14 orig batt
 
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