Help....abs, traction control and handbrake lights all came on!
 

Hey guys,

I was just driving normally today and casually glanced down at my gauge cluster and I saw that my ABS light, my traction control light and my handbrake light had all come on while I was driving! Since I was close to my house, I pulled in at home, shut the car off....waited for a few seconds and turned it back on....strangely enough, the problem went away, and everything was back to normal! I even drove around for a bit and it didn't come back!?

Has anyone heard of this issue or know what this issue is? Please let me know if I should be concerned. I thought I'd check with you guys before I take it in and have the Mazda guys see $$$ bills in their eyes ya know!

Thanks so much for your help and God bless you guys. :)

Ben.

What do you mean by driving normally?

Check your battery connections.

Driving normally as in just driving. I've never had this problem before....loose battery cable you think? But then I would think all my other electrical devices such as radio would get affected, but nothing did?

True but it is an easy check.

Next is to check the cable connection to the ECU and clean it.

The owner's manual says that if the ABS light and the brake light come on together there's a problem with the braking distibution system. They don't describe all three lights coming on.

The most common reason for the brake light to come on (other than forgetting to disengage the parking brake) is low brake fluid. Worth taking a look. ABS light by itself could be anything in the ABS system, from the controller down to a bad connection at a wheel sensor.

If you have access to a code scanner, it would be worth seeing if any codes got stored.

Ken

I'll check the brake fluid levels, but other than that if the levels are fine and it never happens again, could it be a one-off thing where I can leave it, or should I pay Mazda their $60 or so to diagnose and check the problem instead?

Depends how obsessive and/or paranoid you are. If it was me, I wouldn't go to the dealer unless it happened again.

I would check the brake fluid level and the battery cables. That's stuff you should look at every now and then anyway.

Ken

While I agree with you on that, my only concern is my brakes or DCS crapping out when I'm on the highway!? :SHOCKED:

In that case you need to balance the $60 diagnostic fee against whatever the deductable is on your collision insurance. :naughty:

Also on whether you're still in warranty and how much time is left on that. If this happened with only a little time left on warranty, I'd bring it in for a look.

If you take it in for diagnosis, let us know what they find. I don't think anyone else has reported seeing all three of those lights at once.

Ken

I would wiat it out and see if it comes back again then take it in to the stealership

Similar issue here. Cruising along ~40mph and DCS & TC and I forget what other lights came on and TAC & MPH dropped to 0 all at the same time. Just for a second, then TAC back to normal, then to 0 again. Did it two or three times, and hasn't done it since. Should I be worried?

Bull you have a different issue.

Your car almost died so it is serious.

Check the electrical connections and battery.

Thanks, will do. Dealer replaced the battery a couple months back. Engine felt fine, didn't sputter or anything that I noticed. I even accelerated during one episode to make sure it was running ok.

Thank God no problems so far....it never happened again! :)

They check codes for free at places like autozone, advance auto parts.

I don't know if they can see a "stored code" although.

SAME! exact thing just happened to me about 3 days ago... Did anyone figure out what it was?

Have you checked the battery connections? 97% sure it's that.

ill check today when I get home. Thanks for the response! if it helps here is my dash. The engine light stays on, but the others come off and on while I'm driving.
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx8...6d60ca513b.jpg

If anyone ever has this problem in the future, my solution was something really stupid easy. Bought the car with these lights on so no idea about what happened to it to cause it, but one of the tires had a small puncture.

Got a Forscan reader and pulled this code from the ABS lights
Code: C1250 - Left rear inlet valve coil circuit failure.

Simply filling it up back to 32 resolved the issue on the next startup about 30 minutes later (didn't try to start it earlier than that so maybe worth trying).