Replacing the battery on my MX 3 today, I think I blew the main fuse. Of course, all the other ones pop out easily, this sucker is BOLTED in. I took out the wiper bottle to undo the one bolt, which let me remove half the bloody thing. Is there another bolt hidden somewhere?
Have I mentioned lately how much I hate cars?
Lesley wrote: Have I mentioned lately how much I hate cars?
My Pappy said: I hate people, I hate cars, and I hate people that drive cars.
Lesley wrote: Replacing the battery on my MX 3 today, I think I blew the main fuse. Of course, all the other ones pop out easily, this sucker is BOLTED in. I took out the wiper bottle to undo the one bolt, which let me remove half the bloody thing. Is there another bolt hidden somewhere? Have I mentioned lately how much I hate cars?
Can you take a picture of the one you're talking about? This is one of those parts i didn't save off my MX3, but it's pretty possible there's another bolt there. I know on the V6 MX6s there's two of them for the main fuse. On the MX6 it was easiest to unbolt the entire fuse block so you could move it around a bit, because the second bolt was impossible to get to otherwise.
Get a picture up, we can figure it out. 
Lesley, there should be a bolt on each end ('leg') of it. I'm not at work at the moment so can't access Alldata, if you still can't find the bolt as of tomorrow morning I can get a pic off of that. IIRC it will be an 80 amp.
OBTW: the bolts need to be pretty snug. Loose bolt = poor connection = melted connector = Lesley REALLY hates cars. 
Curmudgeon wrote: Lesley, there should be a bolt on each end ('leg') of it. I'm not at work at the moment so can't access Alldata, if you still can't find the bolt as of tomorrow morning I can get a pic off of that. IIRC it will be an 80 amp. OBTW: the bolts need to be pretty snug. Loose bolt = poor connection = melted connector = Lesley REALLY hates cars.
Yep, this. In typical Mazda form, one will be not that hard to get to, and the other will laugh at you while you scream in rage. (unbolt the fuse block)
OK, thanks guys. Will unbolt the entire thing, wasn't sure if it was okay to do that. Tried to remove the relay using pliers, of course it ended up in pieces. That's when I realized that there was a bolt on the side of the relay block. I'll get some pics.
Did I mention this was my fault? Fecking simple battery change turned into a pain-in-the-patoot, plus $$.
OK, here are a couple of pics
In the bottom pic, you can see where I've removed a bolt. It allowed me to take out half the relay... the other half (copper) is still firmly attached.
You'll definitely need to remove the fuse block to get to the other bolt. Those two nuts on the plastic legs are what hold the fuse block to the body. remove those, then flip the fuse block over. When you turn it over, you'll see a 'bus bar' that the fuse 'leg' is bolted to.
[Bentley manual] 'Assembly is the reverse of disassembly.'[/Bentley manual]
OK, thanks. Glad cars don't have ears. 
Gee... that relay box looks awfully familiar. 
Curmudgeon's got ya covered! Same basic design as mx6. Same pain in the ass the first time.
Lesley wrote: OK, thanks. Glad cars don't have ears.
My wife disagrees. I was looking at a 944 last week and the clutch crapped out on my Miata. Wife thinks it got mad about possible replacement conversations held inside the house while it was in the driveway and decided to E36 M3 on me.
She's probably right. I always slap the dash of the car and say "Good boy" after a track session, reflex action from years of riding horses I guess.
"Good boy" wasn't among the words I used tonight though.
In reply to Lesley:
Maybe you should give it a feisty slap on the arse to make up for it?
Lesley wrote: She's probably right. I always slap the dash of the car and say "Good boy" after a track session, reflex action from years of riding horses I guess. "Good boy" wasn't among the words I used tonight though.
And to think people look at me strange when I do that. Even my son thought I was weird to pat the dash on the work van and give her a "good girl" after towing the T-Bird 2 hours home. I guess I'm just hanging out with the wrong people.
they bolt in fuses?
My cars always get encouraging words at the end of a good run, track or otherwise. I hope it makes up for the language I use on them while in the garage, which can border on psychotic.
Put me in the ultraclyde camp. If you have ever watched 'The Gods Must Be Crazy', I'm a lot like the 'native mechanic' who put rings in the Land Rover.
novaderrik wrote: they bolt in fuses?
On both my Mazdas they do. Just the main relay it appears. The others pop out easily.
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