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January,

14th Jan we had an attempted theft of our 1999 Mazda familia from our driveway. The car was in very good condition with only 72000 km traveled. It was a fresh Japanese import bought in Feb 2008, odometer certified at 48000 km, VTNZ and AA inspected. The car never missed a beat or failed a warrant and has only ever required its oil change

Door locks and window trim were damaged, the steering column exposed and the ignition lock ripped out and lying on the floor. The insurance had the car repaired by the local panel beater with a $300 excess paid by me.

Now I have a car which on two occasions has left me stranded with what appears to be an ignition fault. On two occasions now the car engine will start but immediately dies when the ignition key is released. The ignition lights were sometimes there sometimes not but the engine always fired up and then died. On the first occasion in April I was stranded at my daughter’s house in Te Atatu at 10 pm at night and had to borrow their car to get home. The next day I went back to the car but before calling the towing company nominated by the Insurance, I pushed together all cable joiner blocks I could access in the steering column area. This was because the panel beater had told me that morning that all they do electrically is to plug together cable joiners. Low and behold the car started and I assumed I had rectified a loose cable issue. Then last Tuesday it happened again, this time miles from home up the Coromandel, engine starts but dies immediately. Tried 10 times or so, erratic ignition lights, again looked, pushed together accessible steering column cables etc to no effect. Had some lunch, got the AA card out to ring for help, gave it one more try and it started normally again and thank god later that day when we had packed the car.

Next day I rang the insurance and we agreed that the Panel beater should take the steering column cladding off and check all connections, failing that an electrician would be needed.
The panel beater could not find any loose connections. I had assumed my old ignition lock had been wired up again and put back in but the panel beater explained that it’s a second hand one from a wrecker. This is because the Insurance will not approve them putting new components in. An electrician has now been called by the panel beater but hasn’t turned up yet.

My son in law had said right away in April that it was a faulty ignition lock, my regular garage mechanic says that given the history and symptoms that that would be his first guess too. I quickly found on the internet an article that said the exact same starting issue is a sign that the ignition lock is starting to fail.

The car has started OK since last Tuesday so the fault is going to be difficult to diagnose Given the ignition system is the only engine related component tampered with during break in and repair, what is your opinion on the most likely cause of this sporadic fault.

I don’t think it is acceptable to be left with a car that has let me down twice in the 2000 or so km it has traveled since “repairs” were completed end of January. What is the best approach with the Insurance, are they entitled to put potentially worn out electromechanical components into a car with only 70,000 km on the clock?
Does AA car insurance take the same approach ?

Regards Stephen

The mechanical part of the lock is unlikely to be the fault but it could be a problem with the switch located at the rear of the lock or a wiring problem. If this is the problem it is easy to diagnose and fix and a good auto electrician won't have a problem solving this.

The best approach is to contact the insurance company and request they have an auto electrician have a look at the vehicle as a panelbeater isn't the best qualified to solve this problem.

Thanks, electrician took switch out this morning and opened casing, a broken small central plastic cam that must have been still turning most of the time but then randomly not. Probably the low life trying to steal the car being too aggressive with the screw driver and sheared it. I must say I was shocked to see what cheap low quality devices the mazda ignition switches are.Steve