I dissected my broken SSU. There was nothing obvious wrong visually with the PCB components. The on-board relays and motor all worked when a 12v feed was supplied. I’m too fairly sure it was a mechanical issue, but it’s impossible for me to say as I had to drill through the lock tenon to remove the unit. In the UK I think a new SSU is £480 + VAT
£480 + VAT, my God… It’s almost my (lousy) monthly retirement pension in Poland. @mx5IOW please tell me - was yours also intermittent and temperature-dependent?
Intermittent, yes. Didn’t notice it being temperature dependent. The grease in my unit looked the same as in the Youtube video - It doesn’t look good, but in reality it’s OK.
My symptoms were different to yours - I had the beeps and flashing orange on the start button, but my car wouldn’t start as the steering lock wouldn’t disengage regardless of banging/waggling the steering.
My ThinkCar code reader didn’t show any fault codes. However, there were numerous historic SSU fault codes showing when it came back from Mazda - I assume these were from when the unit failed totally - I think maybe it blew a driver chip from the lock being continually mechanically stuck.
I bought a used unit (Same part number) on ebay complete with the steering upper column for £30.00, but it still had to be configured by a Mazda dealer (As would a new unit).
Sure thing…Gotta love today’s cars! I remember when - being at my best 20s - I single-handedly replanted the whole engine-clutch-gearbox assembly to my Polski Fiat 125p, which - originally with just a 1.5L engine - wasn’t poweful enough for me (BTW the engine I planted-in was also from Fiat, the 2L 132 model - and the tine difference of 75 vs 115 PS was a goal worth enough for me. Nothing needed to get registered/configured after the swap; pure joy of an analog car of 1970s!!!
3 Likes
I’d like to ask all the participants of, and the lurkers into, this thread: if your experience with intermittent failure of the steeering lock system is the same as mine and @mx5IOW’s and you DID get the Mazda diagnostic computer connected:
has the computer shown any concrete and relevant error codes?
Asking because - trying to make to total cost of repair, should I decide to achieve it the most official way, and strongly suspecting a purely mechanical nature of the problem - I wonder whether or not I should do my best to avoid the high initial cost of the Mazda authorized repairer’s proceedings by asking them to bypass the diagnostic computer use and going straight to disassemble the Start Stop button subsystem and searching for some potential reasons of such a malfunctioning. Of course I realize the Mazda computer will have to be used on the later stages of diagnosing and repairing the system.
As the OP, I’d also like to apologize for allowing the thread to evolve in a different direction that its Header would imply. However, this is not a total change of the subject; those five double beeps AND the intermittent steering lock failures might be drastically different results of the common reason:
stamina-lacking battery
I DO have my very specific reason to suspect the battery as the ultimate source of both anomalies discussed in this thread; however - even though it’s very interesting, and cost me a lot of problems during the entire Warranty period (the battery was replaced 4 times in the years 2019 - 2023, and yet the anomaly I mean has never been gotten rid of - I will refrain from describing it just yet… Will do so definitely, but probably in a separate thread with appropriate heading.
Cheers,
Piotr
Unfortunately those days are long gone!
At least Mazda ‘allows’ the use of used modules to help keep the repair cost down. Many manufacturers VIN lock modules, forcing you to buy a new one…
FWIW, I had the authorized Mazda shop diagnosed my car. Even though the steering lock was working properly on my appointment day, the diagnostic computer found the error code (96, for DTC B1026 - status 8A) stored in the memory. Also, using the testing procedure (locking/unlocking many times) it was able to re-create the 96 code. Unfortunately, the only solution the shop offered was replacing the entire START STOP UNIT - for a price I’m not in position to pay right now 
Also, they replaced the secondary immobilizer battery which solved my “warning beeps” problem (even though I had installed what was supposed to be a fresh battery just several months ago). All in all - even though the issue being mentioned in this thread’s header has been resolved - the amount of cash I left there for diagnosing - but not solving - the much more serious problem is rather frustrating…
Thanks to everyone, nonetheless
Piotr
2 Likes
Secondary immobiliser battery?
What/where is this?
Hi @ChesterDog;
I don’t know about the US or UK Miata, but here in Poland (and possibly in the whole EU) Mazda MX-5 comes with the thin, rectangular, black plastics box attached to the main key fob. Inside there is a 3.3V battery identical to the one inside the fob. Of course when my steering lock problems begun I replaced the sais battery with a fresh one.
That said, it’s funny that you mentioned the immobilizer thing, because as of just yesterday I witnessed a development here having much to do with it. My steering lock went unresponsive again right after I had it “diagnosed” at the Mazda authorized shop (for a hefty price); I was sitting in my car last morning watching this yellow warning light on the S/S button and playing with the sequence of things we normally do before starting the engine in hope to do something different enough for this yellow light to turn green upon depressing the clutch pedal, when - low and behold - something extraordinary happened:
- when I depressed the clutch WHILE touching the S/S buttonn with the immobilizer box thingy, the green light came on as it should, and my steering lock system became fully operational!
I have performed many start/stop cycles ever since and the locking system is still working properly both ways (locking when I get off and unlocking when I set off). So - since the Mazda shop’s incompetence has been obvious, and they charged me for nothing - I’d like to expand my knowledge to be solid enough before I return to them and ask for refund (or replacing my immobilizer unit free of charge as a minimum). To this end, I’m kindly asking those of you more knowledgeable than myself to help me and answer the following:
1. Do your Miatas come with this extra box attached to the key fob chain (which Mazda Poland call “secondary immobilizer”??
2. Could you please find and share with me a relevant repair handbook fragments (2019 ND2 model, B1026:96-8A-SSU error condition)?
I’d very much appreciate your help, as without having a deeper understanding of the situation I won’t be able to even engage those guys in a discussion - not to mention convincing them they don’t know what they’re doing. Because - let’s be serious:
- Mazda has charged me almost GBP 200 for merely hooking up the computer to my car, and their advice was to pay them GBP 1,000+ for replacing the entire SSU
- it’s enough to touch the S/S button with the immobilizer box to make the problem go away!
Piotr
I see. Thank you.
UK and US MX-5s don’t have that device.
I think this is different to your initial problem where you say the start stop button was green, but an orange light would still indicate a fault (other than a low key fob battery) according to the OWNERS HANDBOOK (Expand the ‘starting the engine section’)
SSU DTC list HERE
Hi @mx5IOW - could you please elaborate? Perhaps due to my limited English, I did not grasp the idea behind your first sentence… Anyway:
1. Do you have this additional immobilizer box?
2. The method of forcibly starting the engine by touching the SS button with the main key fob when the main key battery is low (as per the User Manual) is known to me of course - but what I described in my last post is how touching the SS button with the additional immobilizer case (black, rectangular box in the thin ledger “glove”) can reanimate the steering lock (can be felt and heard) as well as change the SS button indicator from amber to green.
3. Also, couldn’t find B1026 in your second link - please help!
@mx5IOW - since DTC B1026 isn’t present in the SSU DTC list you linked us to - is it possible that the DTC my Mazda shop read from my car is in fact connected with the additional immobilizer (the box I mentioned), and not with SSU? Considering it was that “extra immobilizer” thingy I was able to reanimate the steering lock with…
What do you think?
I think this may be different from your initial problem, as you said the car wouldn’t initially start (in post 4) when you were sat at the gas station even though the s/s light was green.
Mine’s a UK car, so no additional immobiliser.
After much searching I’ve found a reference to DTC B1026. This is from an Australian workshop manual for a 2019 ND. (I suspect most online manuals are for US cars which don’t have steering locks)
Thanks a lot, my Friend - although I’m not any less confused than I was before. Is the table hyper-linked, so that - clicking this DTC - it’s possible to find the course of action when the error is read (or is there any other way to do so)? Just wanted to check whether the only remedy (by an authorized Mazda shop) is indeed to replace the entire SSU, like they told me - when in fact, touching the SS button with the immobilizer case does the job?! And yes - the battery inside this case is a fresh one and checked @3.3V…
Regarding the miscommunicaton between us, originated by my post you mention: yes - the strange, thin green, SS button status light happened to me, but at the very onset of my steering lock intermittent problems. When it happened the steering wheel was tightly locked, and I couldn’t unlock it and start the engine until a lot of forcible efforts to turn the wheel both ways (this happens with cars with fully mechanical lock very often, so I wasn’t very alarmed yet). All further instances of the malfunction have actually been not locking the steering after swithcing engine off and leaving the car - so that the next time I entered it, the SS button indicator light would be amber instead of green (blinking upon the cluth pedal depressing, then turning solid amber after starting the engine).
Cheers.
Piotr
DM’ed
Hi, this is the OP again. I hate reheating old cutlets, but have noticed something potentially meaningful in my intermittent steering lock problem. Namely - when it’s not functioning, and the SS button indicator is yellow instead of green - each time I open the driver’s door from outside to get in or from inside to get out, I can hear 3 (three) faint clicks. They sound like an electrical relay trying unsuccessfully to do its job, and I could bet they’re coming from the door (or the car body) around the door hinges - but not from the SSU! Please help me deduct from it some possible path to repair the steering lock malfunction - possibly way cheaper than replacing the SSU as per my Mazda authorized repair shop’s recommendation…
Are there any sensor, relays etc. inside the drivers door, possibly feeding the SSU the information on the door status? Or am I dreaming? TIA
Piotr
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