Intermittent Turn Key - No Crank Condition

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For the past month or so I’ve been having random trouble starting my 2011 Mazda6. I will get in to start the car, turn the key and the dashboard lights come on but there is no cranking. Sometimes a couple key turns later it will start immediately, but other times I’ve had to try at least 20 times. This happens about twice a week.

Since the vehicle has 151k on it, I replaced the starter with a Carquest reman. However this morning the car had the same issue.

The vehicle has a manual transmission. Could it be a switch verifying the clutch is depressed?

The battery is one year old. I cleaned the terminals with coke and baking soda but that has not helped. Should I look for bad ground? Could the battery be bad?

Any help would be much appreciated. Thank you.
 
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Probably the clutch switch or ignition switch. Check and clean the battery and ground terminals anyway.

10-4. Looking in the Haynes manual for the starting system I just see battery, starter, ignition switch, starter relay, starter interlock switch, transaxle range switch (looks like it’s for an auto transmission because is shows P,R,N,D) and connection to the PCM. I’d like to try simple things first. I will double check battery connections.

I assume in this case the clutch switch would be the “starter interlock switch.”
 
Yes, that is very easy to test. The next time it does this just jump the 2 wires that go into the switch. If it starts right up you found the problem.

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Yes, that is very easy to test. The next time it does this just jump the 2 wires that go into the switch. If it starts right up you found the problem.

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Excellent. I see the part just above the clutch pedal. It looks like it’s attached and engaged properly but next time I have the issue I will try jumping the wires.
 
Trav, I had an issue this morning and car wouldn't start. I tried jumping the clutch switch with a piece of wire - no start.

I managed to start it after about half hour and 10 seconds before calling a tow truck. I brought it to the dealer.

The dealer said they ran a network test on the vehicle, and the Ignition relies on the PCM, and the PCM must communicate with the instrument cluster. They said the network test showed the instrument cluster was failing to communicate with the PCM, and that's the reason for the vehicle failing to start. They are asking for $1,700 for a new instrument cluster and re-programming of both keys. Does this sound like a legitimate issue/repair?
 
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Trav, I had an issue this morning and car wouldn't start. I tried jumping the clutch switch with a piece of wire - no start.

I managed to start it after about half hour and 10 seconds before calling a tow truck. I brought it to the dealer.

The dealer said they ran a network test on the vehicle, and the Ignition relies on the PCM, and the PCM must communicate with the instrument cluster. They said the network test showed the instrument cluster was failing to communicate with the PCM, and that's the reason for the vehicle failing to start. They are asking for $1,700 for a new instrument cluster and re-programming of both keys. Does this sound like a legitimate issue/repair?

It helps to do this. @Trav

He will get a notification.
 
Trav, I had an issue this morning and car wouldn't start. I tried jumping the clutch switch with a piece of wire - no start.

I managed to start it after about half hour and 10 seconds before calling a tow truck. I brought it to the dealer.

The dealer said they ran a network test on the vehicle, and the Ignition relies on the PCM, and the PCM must communicate with the instrument cluster. They said the network test showed the instrument cluster was failing to communicate with the PCM, and that's the reason for the vehicle failing to start. They are asking for $1,700 for a new instrument cluster and re-programming of both keys. Does this sound like a legitimate issue/repair?
I was going to say that it sounds like a problem with the car's anti-theft chip key system. I have run into this problem before on Ford products. Mazdas from this era have a lot of Ford components in them (even though they were divorced by then). If the instrument cluster contains the associated electronics for this system, then the mazda dealer's diagnosis and fix could very well be the case. The tip-off is that they have to reprogram the system to accept your chip keys.
 
I checked the wiring diagrams in my Haynes manual and there is indeed security system components embedded in the instrument cluster that communicates with the PCM which I assume controls ignition.

I am proceeding with the replacement of the instrument cluster. Thanks for the help!
 
Did you check power and grounds to all of the components on that circuit as well as check to see if you had any power on any signal wires that might go to the components.

Did you do a voltage drop test from the positive battery cable at the battery to the positive connection at the starter?

I guess the real test will be if the dealer ends up replacing more than just the instrument cluster to fix the problem. If they end up replacing some other component in addition to the instrument cluster, more than likely the instrument cluster was not really the problem. Rarely do more than one component or module fail at the same time.
 
New instrument cluster was installed and vehicle so far starts up every time. The new odometer read ‘1’ mile when I picked the vehicle up. It’s odd having a 10yr 150k mile vehicle with 1 mile on the odometer.

The dealer added a sticker to the door sill that just says “previous mileage 151174”.
 
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