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A major issue that faces many collision repair technicians is comebacks. With modern vehicles, many of those comebacks are due to electrical problems, bad grounds being a huge contender. Mazda has identified this as a common problem and originally issued a technical service bulletin (TSB) on the subject but now includes the information in vehicle-specific procedures.
When researching Mazda vehicle-specific repair procedures you may find the Front Fender Stay Paint Procedure [Paint Procedure]. This procedure is located in vehicle-specific Bodyshop Manuals ➤ Body And Accessories ➤ Body Structure ➤ Paint Procedure ➤ Front Fender Stay Paint Procedure.
Per Mazda vehicle-specific repair information:
- "For the front fender stay, if paint gets on the shaded area shown in the figure, it could cause a poor ground and the powertrain control module (PCM) may not function normally causing a malfunction such as engine stalls or cannot be restarted."
- "...always use a ground bolt for the bolt used in assembling the shaded area."
- "Paint the front fender stay with the masking tape left applied."
- "Apply touch-up paint to the exposed base material area on the seating surface after tightening the ground bolt to prevent rust."
If there is a ground issue, changing out parts does not necessarily fix the problem. To prevent creating a bad ground connection, attention to detail, and following OEM procedures is required.
For additional Mazda information, check out the Mazda OEM Information page.
Additional I-CAR Collision Repair News you may find helpful:
- Back-To-Basics: Painted Grounds
- Collision Information Website Access: Mazda
- Identifying The Correct Body Repair Manual: Mazda
- Step-By-Step: Accessing Mazda Repair Information
