Issues Starting

[little_wheelz]

I've got a Auto '05 with ~ 80 K on it. Just the last few days I've had some issues starting. Basically, the car doesn't think it is in park. When I turn the key the starter doesn't fire (makes sense if the car doesn't think that it is park...i think). All the accessories go on (lights,radio, ect...). I have to turn the key to ON and with the car off move it to neutral and back to park and it starts fine. The battery is fine.

I'm going to assume that there is some sort of electrical contact or relay that closes when the car is in park allowing the starter to fire.... true? Anyone else have this issue?

[mazda lover]

I've got a Auto '05 with ~ 80 K on it. Just the last few days I've had some issues starting. Basically, the car doesn't think it is in park. When I turn the key the starter doesn't fire (makes sense if the car doesn't think that it is park...i think). All the accessories go on (lights,radio, ect...). I have to turn the key to ON and with the car off move it to neutral and back to park and it starts fine. The battery is fine.

I'm going to assume that there is some sort of electrical contact or relay that closes when the car is in park allowing the starter to fire.... true? Anyone else have this issue?

I have no problems like you describe, have you tried to start it while its in neutral? not sure what it will prove but just curious..

[little_wheelz]

I didn't try neutral yet, but if it happens again I'll try it. I'm going to assume it would work fine in neutral but I'll see.

[thesober]

Yup had this same issue, make sure you can start in N if it doesn't start in P.
Mine got so bad that i had to go out of the car and start rocking the car while in P. I didn't know I could start it in N, till i read the link below.

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080107071218AA9OHNk

I had my starter and P/N switch replaced already and it hasn't occured again.

[little_wheelz]

I had my starter and P/N switch replaced already and it hasn't occured again.

thesober, Thanks for the reply and link.

Happened again today. It starts in N just fine.

How much does a P/N switch cost? Is it something I can replace myself?

[thesober]

Went to downtown mazda and it cost somewhere aorund $160, parts and labour. You might want to try cleaning the connetions/switch, not sure how though. I couldn't be bothered and just had the dealership replace it.

[pinoy_eh]

This is an old topic and I will provide my experience.

This also happened to me with my 2006 Mazda 3 with 80k kms. sometime April 2010. Car won't start in park postion after a few dozen tries. I checked the starter relay, starter fuse and they looked fine and no corrosion in the contacts, battery voltage are also fine and the battery terminals are all tight.

So I left my car in front of my house and used my aunts Honda CRV. The next day while I was ready to call a tow truck to bring my car to the dealer, I tried to start again also in park position and still nothing, so I moved the stick to N or neutral position and gave it another try and the car started. Let the car warmed up and turn off the engine. Started the car at Park position and it started flawlessly. Nevertheless, I brought the car to my dealer to have it check-out thoroughly.

The dealer did not find anything wrong at that point. They just found out that the connection to the solenoid switch on the starter have some corrosion. They changed the connector, cleaned the terminal and connected the new terminal and spayed some anti-mointure compound. Total cost for me is $ 120.00, ouch......

Yesterday, it happened again while I was taking a break from work. After a 2 or 3 tries of starting the car, it won't crank. I moved the stick to the Neutral position and it started. I checked again the starter relay for corrosion build-up and it is still clean.

I'll keep an eye on this and try to find out where the connections are and check if there are some corrosion too.

[Timmy]

I've got a 2006 as well, started seeing this problem a couple of weeks ago. Will only start in neutral now. Haven't taken an in depth look at it since it starts fine in neutral.

[TheMAN]

This is an old topic and I will provide my experience.

This also happened to me with my 2006 Mazda 3 with 80k kms. sometime April 2010. Car won't start in park postion after a few dozen tries. I checked the starter relay, starter fuse and they looked fine and no corrosion in the contacts, battery voltage are also fine and the battery terminals are all tight.

So I left my car in front of my house and used my aunts Honda CRV. The next day while I was ready to call a tow truck to bring my car to the dealer, I tried to start again also in park position and still nothing, so I moved the stick to N or neutral position and gave it another try and the car started. Let the car warmed up and turn off the engine. Started the car at Park position and it started flawlessly. Nevertheless, I brought the car to my dealer to have it check-out thoroughly.

The dealer did not find anything wrong at that point. They just found out that the connection to the solenoid switch on the starter have some corrosion. They changed the connector, cleaned the terminal and connected the new terminal and spayed some anti-mointure compound. Total cost for me is $ 120.00, ouch......

Yesterday, it happened again while I was taking a break from work. After a 2 or 3 tries of starting the car, it won't crank. I moved the stick to the Neutral position and it started. I checked again the starter relay for corrosion build-up and it is still clean.

I'll keep an eye on this and try to find out where the connections are and check if there are some corrosion too.

because your dealer sucks
the range sensor or the lever where the shifter cable hooks up to it is the problem! there's even a TSB for it!