I have a 2015 Mazda CX 5 that's been a good vehicle until two days ago.

I'm not some dumb vehicle owner that's clueless about cars. I worked for my dad at his gas and service station from the 70's until the 90's. My hub is also knowledgeable about cars and trucks. Just retired from driving his car carrier. He has a mechanic friend who he regularly helps out. I've owned a Mazda for the last 22 years, last car was a 2002 Tribute which got totaled in 2017, have had a 2015 Mazda CX5 which we bought then.

For the last 2 or so weeks, I've had a service engine now error on the right side of my dash. We looked the error up, it was a general error that could have been for the 80,000 mile service. My daughter has a dash error reader, she plugged it in, it was an error saying something about a spark plug wasn't firing right. I called Mazda, got an appointment in 2 weeks. I grabbed two bottles of FIC (fuel injection cleaner) Basically ignored the error because the FIC seemed to work. The dummy error went off but would come on every now and then.

Thursday, I ran around the corner to the store, I was on a side street around the corner from my house, I turned right onto the main road, I was a few feet into the road, my car was still almost straight, when a big bang happened that felt like the wheel axle broke. My dashboard went black, the car locked up, would not go forward. I threw the car into neutral to coast backward to get off the main road. A brake error flashed on the dash along with a few other errors, wish I got a picture, but I didn't.

I got paper out, wrote car broke down, called my hub who didn't pick up so I decided to walk the few blocks home. I had walked about 20 feet when he called back. The call dropped, I went back to my car, started it to throw the AC on. The dash was now looking like I had a dead battery which was just replaced two weeks ago. My car had been dead a few times, put the battery charger on it. I had no errors on the dash, so I tried it, it drove forward so I slowly drove home the 3 blocks. Backed the car in. I had my daughters code reader, wish I would have plugged it in when the car had all the errors but I didn't. I was focused on getting home.

I called AAA yesterday to tow it to Mazda. I had an appointment Tuesday anyway. Called them the night before to explain what happened, apparently they didn't note my account. My hub went to Mazda with the key to tell them why it's there. The woman at the counter said she would call me. When I spoke to her yesterday, she was short with me because my hub wanted to speak to the mechanic. I told her there's too much for me to tell her, put the mechanic on. She said something like "sir, I'm trying to figure out what's wrong with your car" I said if you're talking to me, I'm not a guy. She threw me on hold without telling me, I was about to hang up when the service writer got on the phone. I can't stand this guy, he's not a mechanic but tries to diagnose cars. I dealt with him after buying the Tribute, I had an air bag error for a few years that never went off.

Service writer is trying to tell me the service engine error was due to needing an oil change. Yeah ok, it just had one. Then he said it was due to my hub clearing maintenance errors when it went to his mechanic friends shop. Then he's trying to tell me my hub didn't install the new battery right. Whatever. I tell him no, the code reader said the engine has a miss. Told him I'll drive over with the code reader, he said no, we'll hook ours up which is what I told him when he first got on the phone. Told him our code reader said no codes, not even engine miss, it said no errors in memory. He claims their code reader can read more, no I didn't need to drive there. We ended the call when he said they'd call me after it goes on their diagnostic computer.

Has anyone had something like this happen with their Mazda or posted to the forum? I've never had something so bizarre happen to me. So weird there's issues then there isn't. The service engine error on the right would be on one time, not the next leading me to think the FIC worked when I originally used it. I figured it was an 80,000 mile service dummy code but it's just a general error that google said could be nothing or something big.

 

The Mazda shop has no idea what occurred during the previous scans, if those doing the scans were properly trained or if they may have inadvertently deleted information. If your engine oil was just changed, as you say, then whoever changed it did not properly reset it or there is an error in one of your sensors.
As I stated in another post to you, you should've had the vehicle towed when the problem occurred on the road.
You disagreed, saying you'd go broke if you did that every time.
You now state here that you finally had it towed after you drove it home.
Two bottles of FIC will not solve the issues you now have, and you can now see why you should've had it towed in first place.
Guessing what is wrong with a vehicle is not the same as actually diagnosing what is wrong.
The general adage on vehicle maintenance still applies: "You can spend money and get the problem fixed now or wait and spend more money later".
It's in proper hands now and no doubt the issue will be solved though it's likely to end up costing you more at this point.

 

Imo, alot of people panic and lose the ability to think when that engine light comes on, especially at night. They dont want to be stuck where they are at, they dont want to wait for a tow or pay for a tow, and think they can make it home. Unfortunately, it usually means an expensive repairs bill or engine failures. In the past, i've told coworkers , friends, family to wait til i can pick them up and for them to get it towed... Very few ever listen.

 

Ok so a lot of writing but unfortunately does not give the information needed for anyone to conclude or consider a course of action.

The engine check light is an indicator that something is not communicating correctly to the ECU. It is a cautionary warning to have your ECU CORRECTLY checked to fond the trouble codes in a few areas. NOT just ONE area whcih is what most inexp[erecned mechanics and almost ALL do it yourself locate and find.
So without the DTC at least I could not start a plan of action on what may have happened.
As for the battery not being installed correctly well it subjective without seeing pictures, knowing what the electrical system was doing and again knowing what the DCT were.
As for your experience with the dealership, cant help you there and really no one should be siding one way or another unless they were their or unless some of what you say happened as far as what they found in the service department was documented. I am not siding but often emotions tends to muddy up what really happened.
What should have been done:

Check DTC using a[u] professional quality scan tool connected to the OBDII dignostic connector
Check Pending and permanent files for any and all DTCs
Check the Monitors

Note all DTC and monitors for readiness.
Clear all DTC
reset Monitors.
Check all files history

Load test the battery
Charge and retest if necessary

Start engine let idle for 10-15 minutes to see if check engine light returns.
If check engine light returns turn off engine and retrieve all DTC.

DO NOT CHANGE ANY PARTS WITHOUT FIRST CONFIRMING THAT THEY ARE FAILED OR FAILING. Doing so can cause false diagnostic evaluation and could cause other unexpected problems before the original problem lved.


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KIlroy I think you are confusing the check engine light yellow (get engine system checked ASAP ) with the RED (trun opff engine NOW)engine indicator. Over history the majority of people will tend to ignore a "yellow" check engine light and often driving and endless amount of time until the engine just start to develop problem that make it almost or totally undrivable. Where as the RED engine light a high percentage historically speaking will continue to drive the vehicle thinking and hoping they can make it home.

Anyone that has **worked in an automotive service shop can tell this ^^^^^^^^ **We have great stories of destroyed engine because of that thought process most who drive think!