Hello everyone,
In need of HELP!


I have a 2004 Mazda 3, had it for almost 5 years now and haven't had a major issue with it thus far. Until this week. Driving it to work yesterday morning and went to make a left off a hwy ramp and when I turned the wheel, my power steering cut out for a few seconds and came back. As I drove a few more feet, when I hit my brakes, the abs light and ebrake light flashed, my radio went out and I lost steering, only for a split second then it came right back on. As I continued to drive, it continued to happen. Drove to my mechanic, parked it and shut it off. Left it there and went to work. All day the mechanics took it out to try and duplicate the problem and couldn't. So they cleaned up all the wiring reconnected it all and charged me 200.00.


This morning on my way to work, about 2 min from my house, it happened again...and then again...and then again...and then the entire car just stopped working. I restarted it and drove it directly to the mechanic, took him for a drive and couldn't get it to duplicate....I am a mom who drives with a child in the car and I am terrified to drive it for fear this happens when I'm in the middle of an intersection. I called Mazda and they said it could be a junction box problem, however, they want 1000.00 to fix it. 350.00 just to hook it up for a diagnostic. Has anyone else had this issue? Any help would be appreciated.

 

While impossible to say without the car in front of me, it sounds like a bad contact in the electrical portion of the ignition switch. At least that is where i would start looking. A wiggle test of associated wiring should yield results. The fuse/relay box under the hood can be taken apart at least enough to look for any loose or overheated wiring. I would assume that the tech that looked at it last made sure the battery post clamps and associated wiring is corrosion free.

 

My mechanic advised that they checked all the battery wiring and pjb wiring. Cleaned them all up and sprayed them. That didn't seem to work as the same problem happened the very next day.