CEL P0138 and car not starting??

[sumrandomguy]

Hi guys,

Recently picked up a 2006 2.3L hatchback in automatic. The CEL came on few days ago so I pulled the code with a scanner and its P0138. Did some research on the board and found that the oxygen sensor is likely the culprit: http://www.torontomazda3.ca/forum/sh...-Oxygen-Sensor
Not sure if its the front or rear sensor at this point.

After that, I went out to the car and cleared the code, hoping that it wouldn't come back on, but of course it did. The weird thing is that when I try to start the car, it doesn't start. I put the key in the ignition, turn to "ACC" and all the lights will turn on etc and then the CEL will flash a few times and stay on. When I do the final turn of the key to "ON", nothing happens.

I called Mazda and the service advisor said to put the car in Neutral and start the car and I was able to do so. Has anyone experienced this? Is this some sort of a security feature that prevents the engine from starting if there is a CEL?

Any help is greatly appreciated

[aarnone]

P0138 is the rear oxygen sensor which is after the catalytic converter underneath the vehicle

As far as the car only wanting to start in neutral I would think that the neutral safety switch has gone bad and needs to be replaced

[sumrandomguy]

P0138 is the rear oxygen sensor which is after the catalytic converter underneath the vehicle

As far as the car only wanting to start in neutral I would think that the neutral safety switch has gone bad and needs to be replaced

thanks for the reply!
i'll get the rear oxygen sensor looked at and make sure it gets replaced. is it something that I can replace myself if I buy the part?

I would it starts half the time in Park, and half the time in Neutral. I also did a little digging on here and lots of members have mentioned its the cable lever being too rusted, but those members are having that issue b/c the Park indicator isn't lit up when they put the car into Park. I'm not experiencing that issue on my end, as Park lights up as normal if I am in Park. I didn't find anything specific about the Neutral Safety Switch on the board...I will continue my search.

[TheMAN]

it's not the switch that's the problem, which is the common blame
as you have found, it's the cable lever that's rusted.. mazda released a countermeasure part with better galvanization to "prevent" this problem from happening... it is only available at the service level, not factory installed.... the rusted cable lever causes misalignment of the positioning enough that the switch never registers the position correctly... replacing the switch is expensive and isn't necessary because when you mess with the switch, you mess with the cable lever and you get it realigned to the correct position anyway.... it'll obviously work thereafter with the new switch, and I bet you it'll also work with the old switch if you realigned it... the question isn't a matter of if it'll happen again, it's when... the true fix is to just replace the lever and it'll be fixed... much cheaper than the switch

the countermeasure lever part number is B2YE-46-310
you need to also replace the nut and washer that secures the lever as that's obviously going to be rusted too... 99922-1400, 99971-1400

see US TSB 05-012/08 or Canada TSB 05-12-03 for details and replacement instructions
this only affects 2004 to early 2011s... anything built during 2011 has a different part and is not supposed to be affected

[patryk_83]

Hey guys,

So I just went in to Mazda today to get the new lever (B2YE-46-310) put in with new cable and nut. The car went from intermittently not indicating the park light to completely never indicating the park light. The tech said that the sensor was rusted and needs to be replaced too and that while replacing the lever they must have "disturbed" the sensor to such a degree that it fails 100%. Does this sound like I'm getting scammed?

Thanks!