Protege5 intermittent shutdown and no start

My 2003 Protege5 (AT) has the weirdest 2-factor problem:
1. It will randomly - and I mean unpredictably - shuts down, as if I had turned off the ignition, when, after sitting at a stoplight I take my foot off the brake hit the accelerator. It will restart, sometimes on first try, sometimes on 2nd or 3rd try. So far it has always started back up. This was happening with a frequency of days or weeks, but hasn't happened for a few months now. It began after I had the tranny swapped out with a replacement used tranny.
2. Also after the tranny swap, it began intermittently not starting. It will only give that relay click (the one that shuts off power to other stuff for the start) with the dash lighting up. When it first started happening, it would start back up within 2 or 3 tries. Over the months it is taking longer and longer, requiring messing with the tranny selector, touching the brake and even pulling the parking brake (which is what it seemed to take the last time). I have tried staring it in Neutral, and it doesn't always work. - it didn't the last 2 times, anyway,
It might go a week without doing this, it might go a couple of months. But this ALWAYS happens after sitting in the parking lot at work all day in the southwest sun.

You're ignition switch may be worn out.
Does wiggling the key in start position help ??

You're shift lever or your transaxle range switch may be out of adjustment.

I'm pretty sure the shift lever or TR switch being out of adjustment wouldn't kill the car once it's running. They should only prevent the starter from working.

A bad ignition switch could show all the symptoms you have.

Thanks pcb, ill test the ignition switch. I expect the voltage readings will tell me if its bad.

How is the tx range switch "adjusted"? I thought they could only be replaced.

watsontcbc said:

Thanks pcb, ill test the ignition switch. I expect the voltage readings will tell me if its bad.

Click to expand...

That should work unless the switch happens to be behaving at the time.
Try wiggling the key and turning it slowly through it's range.

watsontcbc said:

How is the tx range switch "adjusted"? I thought they could only be replaced.

Click to expand...

You may also have to have your foot on the brake to get the starter to kick in ?? (I'm just guessing about that one..)

In which case you may have a faulty brake switch.

The best thing to do would be to test the ignition switch in the parking lot when the car won't start.

The power goes from the ECU to the TR switch, then to the ignition switch then back to the ECU.

If the power isn't getting through the TR switch (out of adjustment or broken) then you won't get that power up to your ignition switch.

A new ignition switch is about $30 American.



There has been a bunch of people here on the forum who have needed to replace it.

It might be worth it to just put in a new one because they can be hard to diagnose if they have intermittent failures.

The way your car died as if the key was shut off suggests a bad ignition switch... The way your cars starter won't engage unless you play with your shifter suggests a bad or misadjusted TR switch.

You could have both problems.

The Transaxle Range switch isn't too expensive either if you find that it's faulty and not just out of adjustment.
(the fact that it seems to be getting worse, suggests a bad switch.)



Don't forget to check your wires and connectors.
Everything was fine before the tranny swap before the wires and connectors were messed with.

Rockauto is really good for delivering the correct part.
You might find it cheaper on eBay or Amazon but these are the kind of parts they can make mistakes with.

Thanks for all the help pcb. Ordered the part and will test connections during replacement.

If you're replacing your TR switch you'll need to adjust it during installation.

Here's a link to the factory service manual for full details..

https://www.mazdas247.com/forum/sho...actory-Service-Manual-PDF-download&highlight=

You'll want to read Transaxle 05-17-20.