Well i get into the 8 today & try to start it up as usual, but NOTHING happened.

there is NO noise from the engine bay at all. No ticking, the gauges DO NOT illuminate, some of the warning lights illuminate as normal (door ajar, brake, seat belt, engine immobilizer), but not all of them...

Now the immobilizer should turn off with the key in the ignition right? I cant tell for certain if its the battery or the immobilizer.

After checkin the manual, it says errors are possible so the immobilizer doesnt recognize the key. Nnote that i tried all 3 keys that came with the car & none of them started it & all of them had the immobilizer light on after attempting it.

Now is it because the battery is low/dead that this would happen (i.e. cause the immobilizer system to freak out & consequently a new battery would fix it) or is it because the system has encountered a random error?

Any advice would be helpful, I'd get a voltmeter if i had car to actually reach an auto store. I'd call Road Side Assistance but the dealership's service dept is closed today (sunday). If nothing else i'll have to wait for one of my friends to come home before the store closes & hopefully get a voltmeter. Failing that im left with calling Mazda RSA on Monday morning.

Thanks for any advice or feedback!

 

Check your e-shaft position sensor. Driver's side of the engine, near the front, where a timing tab would be if it were a small-block Chevy. One bolt holds the bracket on and one connector is plugged into it.

 

battery flat dead or immobilizer hosed, I would charge/load test the battery first

 

load test the batt (you can do it with a voltmeter by hooking the voltmeter up to the batt and trying to crank it, watch the volts drop), but if you read it with a voltmeter first and it comes in at less than 7 then that's obviously you're problem
DO NOT use a load tester on a dead/drained batt or you will kill that batteries life!

 

Sorry, guys, I misread and thought he said it did crank. My bad.

 

well after a whole lotta hassle, it was indeed just teh battery being uber dead...

fortunately, it was an easy fix! Thanks a lot guys for all the input!