Well done! You know whats funny. Only mazda seems to have issues with their relays. Thats why I now have 3 so if I need to troubleshoot I can exchange parts between them lolol. Other than relays these mazdas are pretty decent cars.

 

I agree as I've never had to replace a relay in any vehicle in over 34 years of owning many different vehicles now, and we're talking extreme heat and cold, and wild temperature swings where I live. I've also never had to replace an engine due to a blown head gasket, which soured me on Mazda right off the bat, especially after only 110,000km.

To update this sordid tale, I had my son take it to my brother in laws shop where he lives for school and they checked everything over (starter, wiring, etc.) and couldn't get it to NOT start. I talked to him about it, they pulled it out into the parking lot, and my son went to get the keys and pick it up. Got in, and it wouldn't start! This is after installing the new ignition relay.

I had told him to carry the 'old' relay around in his jacket to keep it warm and to switch out the MAIN relay if he ran into a no-start again. He scoffed (as kids do) because the car was starting, but he did it anyways. Swapped that warm relay into the MAIN, and it started right up. It had only been sitting in the (cold) parking lot at the shop for about 3 hours, but that's all it took to freeze the relay again when it goes from warm to cold. It's been starting fine every since (this was about a week ago). I got him to order another relay as they are very hard to come by these days for whatever reason (had to order from the dealer again), but they're cheap, so may as well have another on hand.

I'm thinking now it's got to either be both the main and ignition relays, or just the main relay (as the TSB states), but that wouldn't explain the starts when swapping the ignition relay out. Why Mazda never just did the right thing and recalled this issue...actually they have probably made a small fortune charging people for service at their dealers, running through their 'checklist' at $145 an hour🙄.

 

Further update to those interested. In August my son was heading back to school in Saskatoon and stopped to get lunch with his friends on the way. Came out, car wouldn't crank over. This is in 30C weather, so not a cold thing. After contemplating setting the car alight, I drove to him and started going through my usual checklist to try and get it going.

There is a button on the left side of the steering column underneath that you press to bypass the alarm. This would have saved him some cash in the winter had we known this. Press the button in, the car starts when the alarm has locked you out. Unfortunately the dealer and two other mechanics didn't seem to know this...morons! I had to google it to know this as I found the button when I was looking underneath the dash. That wasn't the issue this time, but when I tried one last thing by grabbing the starter wire from above and wiggling it, it fired right up. I now knew that the other TSB was also an issue (starter cable corroded).

My bro-in-law recommended the mechanic here (Kal Tire) where we live in Prince Albert (he used to work in his shop). Lo and behold this guy was the first one to actually know what he was doing. Had I known, I would have gone to him first. I didn't tell him what I thought it was. The first thing he did is check the TSB's in his system (the ones I also found in Google that the dealer said didn't apply to my son's car!). Took him 2 minutes to find the relay and the starter cable TSBs.

Long story short, the starter cable end also needed to be replaced (spliced in at the starter). The dealer and two other mechanics told me the starter cable was fine! This was a $30 part that I ordered from the dealer. The mechanic installed it (didn't charge us), and the car has run fine ever since. It's -38C as I type this, and it's been starting perfect (knock on wood). The moral of the story I guess is that dealers are useless (still), as are most mechanics. Do your research and trust your instincts. By that I mean do all of the TSB's that apply to the issue that you're having first. Had we done that it would have taken 1 day and cost a grand total of $55. Hopefully this helps someone else!