CEL is on strike...no really, it wont work.
 

Hey guys, like the title says. Having some issues with the CEL. The dealer I bought it from had to have disabled it in some way, as its never came on since the day i bought it. Even when I turn the key to "ON" every single warning light illuminates, but the CEL does not.

I know for a fact the car is throwing a code because I've had it pulled (no cat), but it doesn't illuminate when driving either.

I'm at a loss. I know the dealer had to have tampered with it, because when I went to pull the cluster, the only thing holding it in were the retaining clips.

Does anyone have any information or insight? I need to get this fixed because I have emissions inspection coming up, and even when I do put the cat on, i'll still auto fail because the CEL wont illuminate when the key is in the ON position.

You'll have to get a new cluster installed and synced to your VIN through an official Mazda dealer. The good news is that it's possible, the bad is that it will cost well over $1k.

Having torn apart my own gauge cluster I can tell you that it would be unbelievably difficult to disable that light completely (nigh impossible to do it without damaging most of the other instrumentation). I doubt that the dealer did it, but it's just as feasible that it died by itself (no matter how hard that is to believe since all the little lights are LEDs).

It may be possible to get a cluster from a donor vehicle and have it synced to your VIN, but even if that's possible they will still charge you many hundreds of dollars.

You're basically screwed.