2013~2016 Battery problem!

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2019 CX5 Reserve AWD
This post is related to my 2016 Touring.
This morning went out to start car, would not turn over, cranked a little bit then went dead. Keep in mind this is a new battery (replaced 8/2021 at dealer). In Nov went out to start, dead. Charged it up, took about 5 hrs. Started fine. Took it in to dealer, they had it couple hrs, checked charging sys, said everything was fine.
No problems until today. I checked battery voltage before putting a charger on it, 12.5v, after couple minutes it jumped to 12.6v. Have a charger on it now.
I checked the voltage after the Nov dealer check for a couple weeks. Voltage was always 12.6v to 12.8v. Gave up checking figuring something didn't shut down properly and drained the battery. Thought it was a one-time occurrance.

Car is kept in an un-heated garage. Temps last night were in the mid 20's, garage temp was in the 40's, maybe low 50's.
?Do I have any options with dealer as far as replacing the battery, even pro-rated is fine by me? If I can upgrade it to a higher CCA (if possible), I will pay the diff.

I have no aftermarket add-ons or anything that could cause a parasitic drain, in fact I have the dome lights set to off so they never come on. I turn everything off before I kill the engine.
 
Very possible for a new batt. to be crap. That has happened to me twice before.
Have you checked the terminals to be clean and tight tight?
 
iirc, within the 1st year it's a full replacement, not pro-rated
But first they have to determine the battery is bad, that is going to be hard for me to prove. I checked the CCA rating and it's one of those 500 series which may not be enough CCA for this area.
 
This morning went out to start car, would not turn over, cranked a little bit then went dead. ....
Keep in mind that no one here is looking over your shoulder, so we only know the information that you provide. So exactly what does 'cranked a little bit' mean? Our Mazdas will fire up after within 4-5 cranks (~3 seconds) max, even around 0F. So about how many crank sounds did you hear before the battery died? Did you check the voltage once it wouldn't start?

Also, what was the ambient temp at the time this happened? And did you either have a few VERY short trips, or a number of consecutive days where your vehicle didn't run, prior to this happening?
 
As long as you drive the car at least 15 miles, once per week or two the battery should stay charged. However, as edmaz mentioned, short trips may not be enough to keep the battery close to fully charged.

I recently noticed that my MX5"s starter seemed to be turning more slowly than usual, so I connected my charger to the battery on the 2-amp setting for a total of 8 hours. Now it is back to normal.
Cold temps really tax batteries; sometimes you need to give then a helping hand "boost of juice".
 
Keep in mind that no one here is looking over your shoulder, so we only know the information that you provide. So exactly what does 'cranked a little bit' mean? Our Mazdas will fire up after within 4-5 cranks (~3 seconds) max, even around 0F. So about how many crank sounds did you hear before the battery died? Did you check the voltage once it wouldn't start?

Also, what was the ambient temp at the time this happened? And did you either have a few VERY short trips, or a number of consecutive days where your vehicle didn't run, prior to this happening?
Did you not read my post?
 
Did you not read my post?
Sorry, I missed the temp info that you posted, but I don't see the answers to the other question I asked.

EDIT
Ok, you had lots of voltage info there, and I missed the part about you reading 12.5V after the no-crank, before charging. Sorry about that.

I believe you have a bad battery, because 12.5V should never fail to start any vehicle. Battery testers will miss certain battery problems, and I think that's what's happening in your case. Perhaps a different battery test tool might diagnose the battery fault
 
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Sorry, I missed the temp info that you posted, but I don't see the answers to the other question I asked.

EDIT
Ok, you had lots of voltage info there, and I missed the part about you reading 12.5V after the no-crank, before charging. Sorry about that.

I believe you have a bad battery, because 12.5V should never fail to start any vehicle. Battery testers will miss certain battery problems, and I think that's what's happening in your case. Perhaps a different battery test tool might diagnose the battery fault
I thought 12.5v should be good. It cranked weakly two times then died. All dash lights lit up.
Charger brought it up to 13.1v in about 60 minutes.
I'll see if the dealer will replace it on my word unless they want to test it again. Last time they found nothing. Frustrating.
I have a 750a battery pak in the back in case I get stranded somewhere.
 
Does it have caps that you can pop off and check the fluid level?
 
Checking the resting voltage of a battery is a waste of time. What matters is the voltage under load. Take the battery to one of the larger auto parts stores like Autozone, they will perform a load test for free. That will tell the OP the actual condition of his battery.

It is certainly possible to have a bad battery, a poor charging system, too cold for the CCA, etc. but it’s cheap and easy to load test the battery.
 
Checking the resting voltage of a battery is a waste of time. What matters is the voltage under load. Take the battery to one of the larger auto parts stores like Autozone, they will perform a load test for free. That will tell the OP the actual condition of his battery.

It is certainly possible to have a bad battery, a poor charging system, too cold for the CCA, etc. but it’s cheap and easy to load test the battery.
Isn't having the engine running and some accessories on the same thing as "under load"?
I've checked the battery voltage with the engine running and headlights on and the voltage was around 13.4v.

I'm gonna assume Mazda did a load test when I had it in in Nov.
 
Isn't having the engine running and some accessories on the same thing as "under load"?
I've checked the battery voltage with the engine running and headlights on and the voltage was around 13.4v.

I'm gonna assume Mazda did a load test when I had it in in Nov.
No. Batteries are rated for Cold Cranking Amps. Starting your vehicle places the largest load on the battery.
13.4 volts indicates that your alternator is sufficiently charging the battery. Did you mention how long your twice-weekly trips were?
 
No. Batteries are rated for Cold Cranking Amps. Starting your vehicle places the largest load on the battery.
13.4 volts indicates that your alternator is sufficiently charging the battery. Did you mention how long your twice-weekly trips were?
It's more than twice weekly but the majority of them are less than 10 miles. I try to take the long way around especially in winter to give the battery some time to charge.
 
I thought 12.5v should be good. It cranked weakly two times then died. All dash lights lit up.
Charger brought it up to 13.1v in about 60 minutes.
I'll see if the dealer will replace it on my word unless they want to test it again. Last time they found nothing. Frustrating.
I have a 750a battery pak in the back in case I get stranded somewhere.

12.5 is almost normal, depending on the temperature, I guess. I always have more than 13.1v after an hour.
Driving around I would expect 13.8 or more, sometimes quite a bit more. I don't think the headlights draw too much. The alternator should easily keep up.
Maybe the dealer gave you a bad battery or there is something else wrong with the Mazda.
Probably the easiest thing to do is take it to a third party to test the battery.
 
Isn't having the engine running and some accessories on the same thing as "under load"?
I've checked the battery voltage with the engine running and headlights on and the voltage was around 13.4v.

I'm gonna assume Mazda did a load test when I had it in in Nov.
Think about it. Just because the car doesn’t start tells you nothing about the battery health, just that it won’t start your vehicle. The root cause could just be a poor charging system, a loose battery cable or a bad starter. The load test tells you the battery’s health, not that it will or won’t start your car in its pressent state of charge.

I cannot believe someone would assume a dealer did anything. Good luck with your problem.
 
It's more than twice weekly but the majority of them are less than 10 miles. I try to take the long way around especially in winter to give the battery some time to charge.

Its not how many miles but how much time and the type of driving that matters most for recharging the battery. Charging takes time not miles.
 
Its not how many miles but how much time and the type of driving that matters most for recharging the battery. Charging takes time not miles.
Generally, more miles = more time. (but not necessarily the other way around if you get stuck in heavy traffic.) My comment assumes little to no traffic. In the Winter, 10 miles of total distance may not be enough. It's not very cold here in Southern California but I still drive a minimum of 10 miles out and 10 miles back to charge the battery. With a 4 year-old battery, even that may not be enough, as I have recently learned.
Odds are that your battery is good; it's just not getting fully charged.
 
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