2013 CX-5 Traction, Tire Pressure, Master Warning, Engine Light, Trouble Starting

sreiman55

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2013 CX-5 Touring, 1999 BMW 330 CI
My girlfriend has had her 2013 CX-5 for just over a year, ~72K miles, and has been blessed with no major issues untill today. On her drive home the traction control, tire pressure light came and master warning light came on all at the same time. About 20 minutes after that, the engine light came on as well. I drove it around the block when she got home and the car performed normally with no lapse in power or concerning sounds. When I got home, I turned the car off, and tried to start it back up but it would not turn over. The brake was fully pressed and pressing the start/stop button a few times would only turn on all of the elctronics. Went back out 30 minutes later and still would not start. Another 30 minutes later I had my girlfriend come out with me and turn the lights on for a minute while I popped the hood and hooked a voltmeter up to the battery, which read a little over 12 volts. I had her try to start it and it actually turned over and started, but the voltage dipped to below 9 volts, which seems a little lower than it should go. We drove around for a little bit, everything seemed fine, and it started again after we parked.

I suspect the battery could be bad as she had less than 2 mile commute for over a year but recently changed jobs and is now driving around 40 miles each way. Battery has not been changed since we bought the car in Nov 2016, and I doubt her short commute was sufficiently recharging the amps lost to starting. But would a bad battery cause the traction control, tire pressure, and check engine lights to turn on? She has to leave around 530 AM tomorrow morning so no chance of getting it to autozone to replace the battery or pull codes before she has to leave. It seemed to be driving fine, so as long as her oil, coolant, and brake fluid is good i'm going to give her my jumper cables and hope for the best until we can get the battery tested/replaced and the codes pulled. I know if the engine light is blinking to not start it/pull over and get it towed, and she has AAA just in case.

Any thoughts/advice? Thanks in advance
 
If it dropped to 9v during start battery should be changed, could be battery cable if you were measuring on wire and not on battery post. Low voltage will throw codes, disconnect battery for a bit and maybe it will reset some of them...
 
Here's you're chance to get in good with your gf. Drive her to work yourself tomorrow, and then deal with it yourself! (boobs2)

High likelihood it's a bad battery. Get a load tester [they're cheap]. A 12V battery under no load, fully charged, should be 13-13.5V, and it should never drop to 9V. (headshake

Or just replace the battery. If it was the original in a 2013, it could be ready to go. Even if it's newer. Why take a chance? (nailbyt)
 
Likely that battery is bad, or you have a bad connection at battery. Easy to clean and tighten the connections.

A good battery that is charged up will show 12.6V or above at rest. Less than that indicates it either needs a good charge or the battery is dead/dying.

If yours is the original battery then wouldnt be surprising for a 2013 to need a new battery now. These modern cars with all their electronics are tough on batteries.

If the battery is not sealed/maintenance free model, you should check the electrolyle level every 4 or 5 months and add distilled water if necessary, it helps maintain the battery condition and maximise life.

Have the battey load tested at a battery shop ASAP.
 
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Yes, I agree, sounds like a dry cell in the battery, or a defective cell.
 
Thanks for the tips. She got it started this morning after pressing the start button repeatedly, and fluids were good so shes on her way. I didnt even think to check if water needs to be added as Im used to having maintence free batteries in my cars. Is there an advantage in total lifespan for a maintenance vs. maintence free battery?
 
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Thanks for the tips. She got it started this morning after pressing the start button repeatedly, and fluids were good so she’s on her way. I didn’t even think to check if water needs to be added as I’m used to having maintence free batteries in my cars. Is there an advantage in total lifespan for a maintenance vs. maintence free battery?

The battery is "Maintenance free", however, you will get an extended lifespan if you decide to maintain it. :)
 
Replaced the battery and car started up strong. Check engine went off but traction control and tire pressure lights are still on
 
You can reset the tire pressure light with the switch on lower left of dash, see owners manual. The other light may go off after a certain number of drive cycles...
 
Car wouldn't start at first again this morning, even with new battery. Another development of note, at times the shifter is "sticky" and will not shift out of park into drive. Engine light came back on, and is throwing a P0571 code, BRAKE SWITCH A CIRCUIT. Traction and tire lights remain on and the reset buttons adjacent to the steering wheel are dutifully ignored by the car. And of course snow is predicted for the GFs commute tomorrow morning.. (toilet)

Seems like a bad sensor that is not reading the brake as depressed and is preventing the starting sequence and the transmission from shifting?

Much thanks to those who have replied!
 
OK guys now i really need some help..

I replaced the brake light switch last night, and car starts up fine. but when the GF tried driving to work she said couldnt get above ~40 MPH and was complaining that her car would stop as soon as she took her foot off the gas.. she turned around and came right home and said the brakes were smoking when she got out of the car. You can see some evidence that the pads were gripping the rotors pretty aggresively and smell that burning brake smell. Luckily my boss is very flexible and I was able to drive her to work and am now preapring to wrestle with this thing the rest of the day.

I'm going to investigagte all of the ABS sensors, fuses, brake lights, anything in the brake elctrical circuit really and reinstall the old brake light sensor to see if that makes any difference.

Does anybody have any ideas what could be going on? I'm trying to avoid dropping big bucks at a dealership
 
Very odd behavior!

Any warning lights?

What brakes were hot and smoking, the Front, rear, both?

Just to be sure, it was not the parking brake left on?
 
Tire pressure light and (as a correction to earlier posts), the stability control light. I was just able to replicate the phenomenon and measured the rotor temepratures; over 500 F on each of the front rotors and under 300 F on the rears. Im concerned that something is telling the ABS system to engage and it is applying hydraulic pressure to the brakes without mechanical input from the pedal. Parking break is definietly off.
 
After the battery voltage has dropped or the battery has been changed, it all needs to be initialised which is probably best done by a dealer.
 
I would try disconnecting the battery for 15 minutes, reconnect and see if it goes away. Sounds like the vehicle stability control has gone nuts...

Did you disconnect the battery when you were changing the brake switch? If not you may have shorted out something...
 
So due to lack of diagnostics ability I had to take it to a shop. He claims he pulled four codes out of the ecu (dont have them), but also reported the front left caliper was seized. He also said that when driving the car completely cold, both TPMS and stability light were off and only came on when things warmed up i.e. the caliper started to stick. Hes also claiming the rear dust shield is untangled in the rear caliper which is causing the pads to fall prematurely? Maybe I didnt understand what he was trying to say, but itd have to have been hit by something pretty weighty to mangle it like that, or he did it himself. Either way, Ill be spending the weekend installing a full new set of calipers, pads, rotors and hydraulic lines. Hopefully that chases these error codes..
 
Replaced all calipers and hoses, new pads and rotors... and the same problem persists. Front brakes are smoking after not much driving, left and right. Would the abs sensors be somehow to blame??? At a total loss here
 
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