What have you done to your P5 today?

the first coil pack failed this morning as I left the driveway to head to work. dead on cyl 2. In the diag for that I found a lean code and stumbled across the leak at the same time. the no. 3 injector is leaking vacuum where it goes into the port. got the pack out and noticed some oil on the ceramic of the spark plug so there are a few things added to the to-do list. Merry Christmas y'all!
If that coil pack is dead and you like your car, consider buying Hitachi. Rock Auto has them for $45 and they last a long time. Years ago, I got a coil pack with a lifetime warranty from Autozone. They certainly honored the warranty, but that coil pack left me stuck in an REI parking lot with a flashing CEL and at risk of dumping unspent fuel into my cat. No such problems with the other coil pack, a Hitachi. Mazda uses Hitachi as their OEM coil packs.
 
If that coil pack is dead and you like your car, consider buying Hitachi. Rock Auto has them for $45 and they last a long time. Years ago, I got a coil pack with a lifetime warranty from Autozone. They certainly honored the warranty, but that coil pack left me stuck in an REI parking lot with a flashing CEL and at risk of dumping unspent fuel into my cat. No such problems with the other coil pack, a Hitachi. Mazda uses Hitachi as their OEM coil packs.
good to know, I don't like getting aftermarket but in this case two 10s and they carry the part locally, I will order that one to replace the other one before it fails. how long did the replacement last 😂. these look oem with 228k on em.
 
good to know, I don't like getting aftermarket but in this case two 10s and they carry the part locally, I will order that one to replace the other one before it fails. how long did the replacement last 😂. these look oem with 228k on em.
I don't know how long the OEMs should last, but I think you'll find on this forum that they usually fail before 228k miles (or kms). Since you mentioned how your parts look... After I replaced my original coils (with one Hitachi part and one Autozone generic part, as the two parts stores in my neighborhood only had one unit in stock apiece), the new coils worked great. After 30k miles or so, the Autozone looked rough in terms of paint coming off, etc. The Hitachi looked new after being wiped down. I later replaced both with Hitachi, tossed the Autozone part in the trash and kept the used Hitachi part as a spare. My JDM replacement engine came with one generic coil in it, so I yanked that and put my used Hitachi part in there.
 
Got in my car this afternoon and turned the key to start it. The moment I bumped the starter, the entire car lost all power. Absolutely nothing, no accessories, no lights. As if I tripped some sort of breaker or momentary fuse. Did not see or smell any signs of wiring issues. Disconnected/reconnected the battery and all was fine again. Definitely going to be keeping the tool set in the car from now on. Anyone have any clue why this would happen?
 
Got in my car this afternoon and turned the key to start it. The moment I bumped the starter, the entire car lost all power. Absolutely nothing, no accessories, no lights. As if I tripped some sort of breaker or momentary fuse. Did not see or smell any signs of wiring issues. Disconnected/reconnected the battery and all was fine again. Definitely going to be keeping the tool set in the car from now on. Anyone have any clue why this would happen?
bad connection at the battery most likely. Voltage drop test the power wires if the connections are clean.
 
bad connection at the battery most likely. Voltage drop test the power wires if the connections are clean.
Thanks for the suggestion, I appreciate it. I don't want to rule that out, but my battery terminals are brand new and don't have a spec of corrosion on them. Everything was stone dead until I disconnected the negative terminal and put it right back on. It was tight when I took it off, same with the positive. I didn't have a volt meter on hand but if it happens again, I will probe around and see where the problem is.
 
Got in my car this afternoon and turned the key to start it. The moment I bumped the starter, the entire car lost all power.

I think you've got a worn out ignition switch.
When they fail your car can die.
Sometimes the car will die when it's running and you wiggle your key around.

There's a whole bunch of little switches inside the switch and they wear out and fail.
It's a safety issue too.
They're not much money and it might be prudent to just replace it regardless.

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It's pretty simple to replace.

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Testing the switch can be misleading because the switches tend to have intermittent issues.
 
The backside of the ignition key cylinder connects to this point of the switch.

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When the ignition key cylinder starts to get sloppy it starts wobbling at the connection point and wears out the plastic making the ignition switch sloppy too.
 
It's pretty simple to replace.

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Testing the switch can be misleading because the switches tend to have intermittent issues.
Gotcha.
Maybe I'm just not understanding you, or my explanation was poor, but from looking at the diagrams, it seems like the only ignition switch-related thing that would cause my issue would be a short.

The battery was connected but the car acted like it wasn't until I disconnected and reconnected it. Think of tripping the main breaker for your entire house...that kind of thing.

With an ignition switch short, I would expect to hear a spark or see/smell smoke or other signs of electrical damage. I'm assuming the main power to the rest of the car (chassis harness) does not run through the ignition switch? If it did, I could see how a faulty ignition switch would kill power to the car. Then again, that does not seem to be how it works.

The car was dead for several minutes while I looked for my tools, and in that time nothing seemed to be happening, so I don't know that a complete short was the culprit.
 
I wonder if my battery has some sort of internal protection for overcurrent or short situations. It's some kind of fancy Optima battery that was in the car when I bought it. Hmm.
 
It's not a short, it's an open circuit.
It would be like unplugging the electrical connector from the ignition switch.

The switches in the switch are supposed to connect (or "short") and they aren't.

There's not much power running through the switch.
It only switches relays on and off, so not much for sparks and smoke.
 
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When you turn your ignition to "start" the ignition switch is supposed to switch off acc 1 and 2 while the starter motor is powered, then switch them back on when you release the key to run position.

If the ignition switch fails to reconnect acc 1 and 2, your dash will be black and your car may fail to run.

The ignition switch turns off all unnecessary electrical loads while cranking the starter motor to reserve as much power as possible for the starter motor.
 
When you turn your ignition to "start" the ignition switch is supposed to switch off acc 1 and 2 while the starter motor is powered, then switch them back on when you release the key to run position.

If the ignition switch fails to reconnect acc 1 and 2, your dash will be black and your car may fail to run.

The ignition switch turns off all unnecessary electrical loads while cranking the starter motor to reserve as much power as possible for the starter motor.
That makes more sense, but I'm still not completely convinced. The car turns everything off except for the starter (and presumably ECU) to start the engine, yes? Would that include headlights, for example? Interior lights?

After the car died when I turned the key for the first time, I tried to turn it again several times with no change. I don't understand why disconnecting/reconnecting the battery would fix it though, if the problem is the ignition switch.
 
That makes more sense, but I'm still not completely convinced. The car turns everything off except for the starter (and presumably ECU) to start the engine, yes? Would that include headlights, for example? Interior lights?

I just went out and started my car, and both the headlights and interior lights stayed on.
I didn't have the interior fan or wipers going though.

I'm almost positive the wipers stop when I have to restart my car. (I still occasionally stall it. lol)


After the car died when I turned the key for the first time, I tried to turn it again several times with no change. I don't understand why disconnecting/reconnecting the battery would fix it though, if the problem is the ignition switch.


Perhaps it was just coincidental and still an intermittent failure?

I remember LankyKiwi and another member had very similar symptoms and a new ignition switch fixed the problem.

I believe LankyKiwi would turn his key to start and nothing would happen but when he wiggled his key the starter motor engaged.

And I think the other member had his car just die and go black when he wiggled his key while it was running in his driveway.
 
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When the car is "on", 2A feeds through to 1D and 1C, and 2B feeds through to 1B.

When you turn it to "start", 2A disconnects from 1D but 1C remains connected, and 2B disconnects from 1B and connects to 1A.

I think that 1B or 1D isn't reconnecting after "start".
 
Thanks for the suggestion, I appreciate it. I don't want to rule that out, but my battery terminals are brand new and don't have a spec of corrosion on them. Everything was stone dead until I disconnected the negative terminal and put it right back on. It was tight when I took it off, same with the positive. I didn't have a volt meter on hand but if it happens again, I will probe around and see where the problem is.


I should have added to that reply, on your voltage drop you would need to check across one end of the wire ( at the battery post ) and the other end wherever it connects to if accessible, voltage should read below one volt. any voltage here is resistance and power being converted to heat in between where your leads are connected to. I would start at the bat (-) post on the battery to the first piece of copper you can touch past the terminal, if that's good go to the body and then to the engine while having someone try and crank it. try and get the big picture and remember, just because you hear hoof steps don't think "unicorn" I have had new terminals produce a voltage drop of near three volts when cranking. they were the cheaper ones that had a plate that bolted down over the copper wire. that thing got HOT.
 
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You could also probe your wires of the ignition switch with everything connected and check to see if the voltage is going through the switches properly, but your car would have to be dead again to test it effectively.
 
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