Broken Mk1 Mx5 PCM signal - help required please!

[ali_kat]

OK, how the hell am I supposed to get to it to get the fuse out & replace it??

I'm squeezed into a tiny space, holding a (tiny) torch with one hand, and no room to get my other hand in to pull at the fuse.

Suggestions please?

[ali_kat]

Combover said:

There's one under the bonnet and one on the interior (driver's side) underneath the bonnet pull towards the bulkhead.

Tis the one under the bonnet pull




The indicator fuse went this morning, at least, I'm hoping that is all it is, the RPM and Oil gauge went at the same time, reading the manual they are all the same fuse, so fingers crossed

[ali_kat]

ciderminx said:

Fortunately i'm a short arse

I carry a box of mixed fuses about with me now.

Where did you say you were again?

Don't have any 'spares' places in walking distance of work, so went into Lister's (next door ) where the nice man took pity on me and gave me a fuse

Now to 'charm' my co-worker to help me change it later - no tweezers on me

[ali_kat]

Wigeon Incognito said:

If you're having trouble physically removing the fuse, find a co-worker with a Porsche (a BMW would probably do too, maybe other German cars).

They all have fuse pullers in them, either in the tool kit or clipped in the fusebox like mine.

He has a BMW

[ali_kat]

Pah - no fuse puller and he couldn't get in the gap to pull, but did tell me that VW had given me the wrong size fuze

Ended up having to drive to the parts shoinn Kenilwroth - cue lots of angry horns

They lent me a pair of pliers, and sold me the fuses (I now have spares) thumbup:

[ali_kat]

Argh

The damn thing has blown again - good job I have some spare, but anyone have any ideas as to why it is suddenly blowing when I turn the key please?


ETA - off to a funeral, so no reply from me til later

Edited by ali_kat on Tuesday 23 September 10:56

[ali_kat]

Cheers Guys

It goes the moment I turn the key

Tis a UK not an import

It affects the Rev counter, Oil Temp and warning lights too.

10amp fuse, and no, am not going to put a 15 in

Am a girlie, don't have a garage or equipment

Looks like she is off to the Garage then

[ali_kat]

Ok, so the garage have fixed the problem of the indicators, and said that the alternator was fault, and I needed a new one.

Because I have the all singing all dancing cover with the AA, (which covers Parts!) I said I needed to call them out to her before they can replace it. So please park her on the road and I can call them out when I get home

However, when I got there, it was no longer running and they couldn't find the probem, although the indicators are still working, so I had to call the AA out.

Mr Garage Man waited with me for the AA (well past his home time explained all they had done to save Mr AA Man some time, and then left, worried about the car, and asking me to call him tomorrow to let me know how she is.

After an hour, Mr AA Man gave up, said that he thinks he knows the problem, but suggests that it goes to the nearest Mazda main dealer, as if it is what he thinks, it will be cheaper in the long run

So, she is now with Mazda Leamington.

Mr AA Man tells me that he thinks that the ECU has been blown, whilst the garage were 'fixing' the other problem

He is not sure that this will be covered by the AA Parts thingimajig, he hopes so, but because the Garage have 'played; with the car before I called the AA out, he told me not to hold my hopes up

He has no idea how much an ECU is for a Mazda, but he is ex VW and they charged £750 plus labour 5 years ago.

Help!!!

Do I have ay recourse on the Garage if needed?

[ali_kat]

Cotty said:

Do you have any breakdown cover? like home start or push/tow it down the road then call them.

I recently killed a battery. Rather than just sling a new one in I called the AA who did a full check confirmed all is fine but confirmed that the battery was dead. If your a member it will not cost you to call them out.

They should be able to check and see what is causing the problem.

Done that mate

[ali_kat]

spikeyhead said:

lots of stuff

Kev, read whole thread

[ali_kat]

dan101smith said:

I have no expereience of Mazdas at all, however I just had a replacement ECU fitted for my M3, and it cost me £125.

I got it from here.

Part cannot be found

But thanks

[ali_kat]

spikeyhead said:

Arse,

I started my reply before you added the latest info in. Got very distracted on the way so took far longer than it should have done.

Hmmm, so car did have a minor electrical fault, garage repairs that and in the meantime it develops a major fault. This may or may not be the fault of the garage that were fixing the fault and its not going to be easy to prove whether it was a random failure that occurred whilst the car was in their care or if its down to their actions. Your AA cover may help with this.

Not quite my words

Mr AA Man said that the AA will (obviously) try to wriggle out of paying, and who can blame them

Personally, am kicking myself for not calling the AA out in first plave - but seriously, who wood for a fuse/Short circuit??

I need to get the Mazda garage to make a clear blame in their report - age, or Garage. Personally, I would prefer age, but that is because I like the garage guy

See what tomorrow brings, alhtough I do still want to know the legal implcations if anyone can help?

[ali_kat]

Munter said:

MX-5 Lazza said:

if it doesn't fox the problem you can return it -

Ah the old method of "fox"ing a problem.

But has been taken to Mazda, so this option not available

[ali_kat]

MX-5 Lazza said:

If you give them a 2nd hand part to fit instead of new they will have to fit it. They can refuse to fit it but they shouldn't as they will still be charging labour which is where they make most of their money anyway. If you make it clear you can't afford to pay for a new ecu that should help make up their minds

I may have to pull that one

Diagnosis => Labour = £70/hour + VAT

Senior technician has been working for an hour, and is stumped. Has sent out for technical help from other Mazda dealers

AA say, if a valid claim, they will pay for diagnosis, and repair, upto £475 (value of BRC)

If not a valid claim, I have to pay

Interestingly, Mr Garage Man has rung me this morning to ask after the car - good customer service, or guilty conscience?

[ali_kat]

Ok, Mazda hope they have found the problem!!!

They say there is no signal from a PCM to an RPM or the Cat so I need a new Crank Position Sensor, which hopefully will solve the problem

Tis coverd by AA BRC, as if this is the problem, it has gone due to age and just a coincidence that it went in the Garage If not, then back to the drawing board

[ali_kat]

Me too!!

[ali_kat]

The new sensor hasn't fixed the problem

But it has used the AA donation up, so now this is my money being spent

I now have 2 Mazda technicians looking at my car @ £70 per hour

There is no signal coming from the PCM - anyone got any ideas please?

They haven't tried the ECU, as rare that they go and they don't keep them in stock.....

Edited by ali_kat on Friday 26th September 11:15

[ali_kat]

Mazda have now said that the ECU has blown - a new one from them will be £2.5k


Anyone know where to source them cheaply please? Don't object to second hand so long as it has a guarantee on it!

[ali_kat]

Munter said:

franv8 said:

This has gone into p*** poor fault finding mode on the part of the Mazda garage. They're changing parts without diagnosing the problem properly, and will go on changing parts until either

a) you have a 100% new car

or

b) it starts working again.

Bearing in mind the original fault was blowing fuses, was there any conclusion on the root cause of that?

It looks that way.

But they are the 2nd person to suggest it, and for all we know at the other end of a keyboard they might have run some tests against the ECU and found it was the fault.....possibly. I mean they have had enough time.

My suggestion would be a 1.8 ECU for as little as you can spend on it from a scrapy or parts supplier. If it doesn't fix it flog teh ECU on e-bay....

The problem Mazda have had, their diagnostic tools weren't talking to the car

The part they have changed was blown, crank shaft sensor, and the car wouldn't start without it, they had to replace that, to ensure that nothing else blew the ECU if they needed to put a new one on.

AM going to get an ECU 2nd hand, but still will have the problem of who is going to pay for the work - the AA, or the Garage (who are denying responsibuility!)

The only think that would blow the ECU is a power spike - the chances of that comeing from changing a 10amp meter fuse, is rare, unless they did it with the ignition on.

[ali_kat]

franv8 said:

Allow me to suggest another hypothesis,

There is an electrical fault somewhere on the car.

This blew the ECU and the crankshaft sensor.

Fitting these two parts again may see them go the same way.

Sorry to say this, and I may be wrong (I was shocked to have found that I have been in the past...), but whoever is looking at it needs to go back to basics and check that there is not another fault before they potentially write off two more fairly expensive bits of electronics.

Is the fuse still blowing?

Does the fuse continue to blow if the ECU and crankshaft sensor are disconnected and the ignition turned on?

Be careful that if you are now paying for the garage to practice on your car at your expense, it may be time to take it elsewhere, maybe even to an auto electrician?? I will reiterate, alas I can be pessimistic on these things, they may be completely on the right track in which case I will apologise.

I'm assuming this is what Mazda have checked, as they haave gone through every option before they looked at the ECU, as they have had no diagnostic tools, they have had to go back to basics.

No, the fuse was no longer blowing when it left the original garage, but then, the car wasn't running either, so it was all that was working PLUS, the original gfarage had told me that they couldn't fix it without replacing the Altenator, and then viola, they had,......

It was the AA whoo recommended Mazda over an Auto electrician, as if it were the ECU, it would need to go to the main dealer anyway.

I agree with your thought process, however, this is a car that cost me £2.5k, it now needs a £2.5k part, how much more money do I throw at it?

I guess I will know more once I've been tot hhe Dealer todayy, as I will ring the AA from there. I will also speak to my insurers today about invoking my legal cover, and see if they cover criminial damage to the car?

I spoke to Andrew at Autolink last night...... The only parts place to list having a MK1 ECU. This ECU is the only one with the imboiliser built in. And he has never been able to get one when required. Most of the MK1 cares pre '98 in the scrap/breakers yards won't have a working ECU, because of this rarity.

He also told us that in his opinion, the only ways for the ECU to be burnt out are if thhe ignition was left on withou the engine running, has been known t burn out the coil pack. Or a poswer spike.

I cannot recommend this guy highky ebnough for the knoweldge he gave us last night - at 7.30 on a Friday Really, really helpfuul guy

Am going to see if there is a local independent Mazda specialist locally that can visit the car @ Mazda/think of anything else that it could be. Because as Andrew pointed out last night, it may be that the Mazda techies haven't worked on a car of this age before, few take them back to Mazda after the warrenty has run out.

Edited by ali_kat on Saturday 27th September 07:06