Expert: Sean Halliday - 4/21/2009

Question
Hi i dont know if you can help or point me in the right direction but i have a Mazda 626 its a 2000 model and the problem is that it turns over ad fires but the rev counter goes up to 1000 then the car dies and the key light comes on briefly this is with the original key i got with the car i have had a new key cut but have not yet had it coded to the car but if i use this uncoded key to try to start the car i get the same reaction it turns fires but dies almost instantly

Answer
After further investigation into your problem, i discovered these cars are  not allowed to have new keys unless they are coded from the dealer.If you use a key which isnt coded,the symptoms will be exactly what you describe.The cure for this is have the car taken to the dealer to have the transponder reset.Sorry,there is no other way as its a security idea to stop people stealing these cars with copied keys.I assume this all started with a copied key?