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After fitting new battery my DSC light stays on continuously tegardless how many times i press the DSC button.

Battery was fitted by racq while i was elsewhere.

Help.

Novice1

Look in the owners' manual Ron. I think you have to have to start the car, turn fully right then fully left then centre. Switch off then the light should be out when you switch on again.

Ignition ON, turn wheel fully clock wise and the fully anti clockwise then start the engine. (not to be a smart arse, I dossconnected the Ipod but left my head unit on, a week of that will flatten the battery .
Greg.

I suggested starting it (and moving forward and/or backward slightly as you turn the wheel is a good idea) to save a lot of stress on the steering system, unless you have the front wheels off the ground of course.

yep start it up

turn wheel lock to lock

switch off

start up again and the light should be gone

Thanks guys, worked a treat.

Novice1

JBT wrote:I suggested starting it (and moving forward and/or backward slightly as you turn the wheel is a good idea) to save a lot of stress on the steering system, unless you have the front wheels off the ground of course.

Unless Mazda have started making the control arms out of glued together coke cans in an effort to save weight and cost, I doubt that a dry turn lock to lock will stress anything beyond it's design intention.

"Dry turns" as you put it are never good - and it's not just the steering arms, it's also the input system that gets loaded up unnecessarily. Just something about mechanical respect that was impressed on me before I learned to drive.

JBT wrote:"Dry turns" as you put it are never good - and it's not just the steering arms, it's also the input system that gets loaded up unnecessarily. Just something about mechanical respect that was impressed on me before I learned to drive.

That was back before power steer was common I would guess.

Dry turns are common place and a requirement if you own a big car in the city. Steering systems will cope with it, they are designed for the average person which is also a person who will dry turn.


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Sorry JBT, that line of thinking was only relevant a long time ago. The 'no dry turns' was mainly due to the style of tyres used and also as others have pointed out, it was to save some backbreaking work with no power steering. There were also old wives tales of flat spotting the tyres and other such beliefs.

Steering linkages are designed to handle a lot more stress than a dry turn. The only times this will cause damage is if there is existing EXCESSIVE wear or accident damage causing items to bind.

Most factory manuals have procedures which require you to do this for various different things.

You both mention no power steering. When the power assist is working, a small movement of the steering input shaft causes the hydraulics to move the rack etc.. However, with the engine off, there is no power assist, so wouldn't that put excessive loads on the steering input shaft during a stationary turn?

I guess old habits are hard to break, but stationary turns have much the same effect on me as finger nails being scraped down a chalk board.

We're not talking about stress mechanically with no power steering. More the stress that nanna feels because it's harder to turn, hence why power steering was mainly invented, not to save mechanical components.

When the engine is off you are correct, there are no hydraulics working to assist. It then becomes basically just a manual rack. Power steering wasn't really developed to save mechanical components though, it was developed to aid humans in steering effort.

We could also go into electronic, or electro-hydro steering, but it's all to the same purpose. To aid the driver.

Your steering and suspension is designed to cope with far more stress than dry turns. If you've ever actually stood and felt through a rack, kingpins and everything moving as someone dry turns it, you'll feel there's hardly any stress through components as someone dry turns the steering. The main resistance is just the friction from tyres on the surface they rest on, not anywhere though steering and suspension.

This only applies if your system has normal wear and tear. If you have a tie-rod that's bent ferociously and rubs against other components for example, then of course there's going to be more stress. But if you have that, you have bigger problems to think about anyway.

Back to the OP, the Mazda Handbook clearly states,
1.Turn the ignition switch to the ON position.
2. Turn the steering clockwise fully, then turn it anticlockwise fully.
Greg.

'To err is human,' but a human error is nothing to what a computer can do if it tries.”

JBT wrote:"Dry turns" as you put it are never good - and it's not just the steering arms, it's also the input system that gets loaded up unnecessarily. Just something about mechanical respect that was impressed on me before I learned to drive.

I'm with you JBT, I have an engineering background and I would never dry turn a car if It is avoidable. If the car is moving you have rolling momentum which reduces the stresses on the rack and pinion. Just good engineering practice to not put unnecessary strain on mechanical parts.

Cheers
Dale