Mazda Fender Grounding: UPDATE

Posted on 18 July 2024 Print

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:

Related I-CAR Courses

Course Electrical Damage Inspection

Course Electrical Theory

Course Electrical Troubleshooting Fundamentals

Course Mazda Collision Repair Overview

Course Mazda Electromechanical Repair Overview

Course Troubleshooting Electrical Circuits and Parts


Original article published February 1, 2019

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