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2012 Mazda 3 starts and dies, won't restart

14K views 8 replies 5 participants last post by  Zippy123 
#1 ·
Hello everyone, newbie to the forums here. I apologize if this is a repeat thread, I tried searching for the issues and did not see a comparable thread.

My daughter has a 2012 Mazda 3 with about 55k miles on it. We have had zero trouble with the car thus far ... until yesterday. The car started as usual, then revved itself up and down for about 15 seconds, then died. Trying to restart it yielded a turn over and then nothing. It seems like it is flooded to me. I let it sit overnight, got the 15 seconds of running and revving the next morning then the flooded behavior again.

I replaced the battery because after a few cranks the battery ran down. After charging it tested bad at Autozone.

She had not gotten gas in the last several days, but I drained the gas by jumping the relay (using these instructions, a GREAT tip!) down to about 1 gallon left and put 5 gallons of premium in it. I primed that in the same way, put everything back together, and got the same 15-sec run then flood result.

I have a new relay coming in tomorrow but thought I'd get on here and see if anyone has a suggestion. ANY suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Here's a video of the behavior: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X77J55tSTfY
 
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#4 ·
Update: the car finally threw a CEL (or I finally left it on long though to see it). P0101 and P0172, which point to the mass airflow sensor. I unplugged the MAF sensor and the car started and ran fine. I shut it down, plugged it back in, and previous behavior resumed. I have a new MAF on the way hopefully this fixes it!
 
#7 ·
I got the new MAF sensor in and installed today, problem fixed! Thanks for the input. For some reason I was unable to buy one locally as the connector on mine was about half the size of the MAF that people kept in stock. Amazon had one that matched the part number and it works just fine.
 
#8 ·
MAF sensor covered by Mazda Factory Warranty

i just wanted to add that i just experienced this same issue and it was covered by Mazda. Both the diagnostics and parts and labor. falls under the emissions category of the mazda factory warranty.

i made a thread about it but initially it was this thread that i read/saw that prompted me to do some testing myself. hopefully it helps others. :grin2:
 
#9 · (Edited)
I had the exact same thing happen on my Mazda 3 2012. Started up one morning and it died. Wouldn't start. It had no previous issues that would indicate a failure. Drove the previous night and was perfectly fine. The engine light came on and P0101 and P0172 was pulled. Cleaned the mass airflow sensor as others had suggested as a first step to the P0101 code. Eventually just replaced the sensor since that what my friends recommended and it was a Sunday and no one was open. Also, had the same issue that DS42025 had with local stores kept matching a different MAF for my car which didn't fit. Luckily I had a friend who could find the exact part number. That seem to have done the trick so far. Crossing fingers.
 
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