Second Dead Battery in 2 months?

[zilch321]

Thought I would share this story since I couldn't find anyone else with a similar issue while doing a forum search.

In the middle of August I returned from a week long vacation to find that my MS3 wouldn't start. Since it was only a week undriven i feared the worst but decided to give a jump start a try anyway. To my surprise the car jumped to life right away.

Now I keep my car in a garage and i usually leave the keys in the ignition. I've done it for 18 years and never had trouble but I figured this might be the cause of my dead battery and so since then I have kept the keys sitting on the dash instead.

I was shocked to hop in the car this evening and find that it wouldn't start. Unlike my previous encounter with this problem I did still have a bit of juice left. I could power the flashing alarm warning light and get a very small clicking from the starter (or starter relay) but nothing else.

Even stranger, I drove this car two days ago, it started like a champ and gave me no indication that I might be low on amps needed to start the engine.

I call the dealer tomorrow to arrange having it looked at. Checking Finish Line Performance I don't seen any relevant TSBs and yes, the battery terminals are tight.

I figured I would pass this on and continue the thread through the service attempt.

Feel free to take a stab at what you think might be wrong. I've never seen an issue like this kill a battery so quick that didnt involve leaving headlights or interior lights on. (Headlights set to auto on/of so thats not the case here)

 

[NRRfrogmanP5]

do u have any subs or amps hooked up? i had this problem with mine. my amp wasnt turning off for some reason and draining my battery at night. i figured this out after buying a new batt and then checking every wire coming to the battery that could be pulling power.

 

[zilch321]

I should point out I have no car modifications at all. Also when this happened the first time I replaced the battery with a brand new one.

 

[NRRfrogmanP5]

hmm thats odd. well scince u have no mods...take it to the dealer let them find whats draining ur batt.

 

[HotHatchRacer20]

if you dont lock the car with the key fob or the switch the CEM (central electronic module) will stay on or active drawing a little bit of power over time, but once you lock the vehicle all the modules shut down so no power draw. I would reccomend if you want to leave unlocked while parked just invest in a good trickle charger. Or you could just have a bad battery.

 

[AutoXRacer]

I always leave my keys in the car... I've done it for up to 3 weeks with the car parked without being turned on once... No problem starting up.

 

[shadow1077]

Might be Alternator is not doing its job. Try to start the car, when the engine is running, remove the negative terminal battery. If the car shuts down then your alternator is not providing electric current to engine. So basically the whole car is just relying on the Car battery till the batt runs out with no charge at all from alternator.

 

[Bravnik]

Yah but if that's the case then the car will drain the battery very fast and that would be noticeable. It's probably a relay not turning off like it is suppose too.

I know for a fact that some of the relays in the fuse box in the hood turn on and off when the car is off. I use the 2 empty fuse location in the fuse box for my Boost/Oil pressure gauges. After you turn the car off they stay on for about 30 secs then turn off. However, there has been many times when I return to my car later in the day or even the next morning, my boost/oil gauge is lit up. Strange huh?

 

[zilch321]

So this afternoon I took the car over to the dealer. To get the car to the dealer they suggested I try and jump the car and bring it in. I did so and they took the car in right away and inspected it on the spot.

After waiting 45min the tech returned and indicated that after letting the car sit for 45min it started fine. They said they ran a full diagnostic on the car and nothing in the electrical system came back bad. I asked them about the current state of the battery which they said was working fine - load tests returned normal.

They reflashed the computer but said they didn't really have much to go on based on the current state of the vehicle. Cant say I was shocked to hear them say that.

Anyway they asked me to not attempt to jump start the car if it happens again and instead to call them and they would have the car flat bedded so that they could work with it in its broken state. Looks like this wont be solved quickly.

I'll continue to update this post as things develop.

 

[paylew]

yike, that sucks. I had a problem with that in my RSX only not nearly as bad. My driver's window motor was on drugs and would roll up down up down up down up down then not roll back up. I asked Acura about it but they couldn't fix it if it wasn't happening when they had the car.

Good luck dude!

 

[jon619]

Even stranger, I drove this car two days ago, it started like a champ and gave me no indication that I might be low on amps needed to start the engine.

Did you drive a long time 2 days ago? I mean if you didn't go very far, the alternator might not have fully charged the battery. The battery might have had just enough juice for that one start.

 

[oaklandopen]

Might be Alternator is not doing its job. Try to start the car, when the engine is running, remove the negative terminal battery. If the car shuts down then your alternator is not providing electric current to engine. So basically the whole car is just relying on the Car battery till the batt runs out with no charge at all from alternator.

that would be extremely bad if you did that to a new car. do not disconnect battery with the car running! besides, the alternator isn't supposed to power anything in your car, it merely keeps your battery charged so the battery can power everything

you could do a parasitic drain test. if you have a multimeter, set it to read amps, take off the neg cable, then complete the circuit again with your meter. if you're reading anytying more than 5 mA then something is staying on in your car, draining the battery overnight. if youdon't have the equipment just make sure you're not leaving anyting on when you walk away from your car at night. you might want to check the vanity mirrors to make sure those lights aren't staying on, and especially the light in the trunk. i could definatly see myself coming out one morning to a car that won't start cuz i left the trunk light switched on

p.s. the dealer should know about a parasitic draw test, ask them about it if you decide to take it back there. the odds of having 2 bad batteries is not that great

 

[zilch321]

Well back it goes to the dealer this morning. I drove the car on Friday then left (in another car) for a weekend trip returning Sunday evening. When I got home the first thing I did was start the car and of course no juice. Battery showed 2 volts on my Multimeter. Battery showed 11.5 volts Friday morning.

Roadside assistance took it to the dealer 5min ago.

 

[zilch321]

Did you drive a long time 2 days ago? I mean if you didn't go very far, the alternator might not have fully charged the battery. The battery might have had just enough juice for that one start.

Agreed, unfortunately I drove it several times over the 24 hour period that followed the first trip to the dealer and had the battery checked under load which came back fine.

Now its been run dead twice which means the battery well on its way to being garbage. Plus I'm going to need to work on getting reimbursed for the battery i purchased on my own. I figure I wont approach that subject with mazda until after they find a cause.

 

[zilch321]

Ok, Sanity check time.

Dealer calls me, says they put a new battery in the car and ran a draw test on the system and found a small draw. According to them this draw was coming from the light in the hatchback.

According to the manual (page 6-66) if the light switch is in the on Position then the light will be on when the liftgate is open.

According to the dealer the light comes on and stays on which was causing my draw.

I seem to recall testing this myself and seeing that the light did NOT stay on when I closed all the doors. This was easy to test by simply putting a seat down and looking inside while the doors were all shut. Someone else want to confirm for me?

I'll be checking this when I go to the dealer this evening as well. I suspect this is far from over with the dealer.

 

[MikeHTally]

Ok, Sanity check time.

Dealer calls me, says they put a new battery in the car and ran a draw test on the system and found a small draw. According to them this draw was coming from the light in the hatchback.

According to the manual (page 6-66) if the light switch is in the on Position then the light will be on when the liftgate is open.

According to the dealer the light comes on and stays on which was causing my draw.

I seem to recall testing this myself and seeing that the light did NOT stay on when I closed all the doors. This was easy to test by simply putting a seat down and looking inside while the doors were all shut. Someone else want to confirm for me?

I'll be checking this when I go to the dealer this evening as well. I suspect this is far from over with the dealer.

Mine is not switched -- if I turn it on, it's on. I discovered that by accident. I'd turned it on and forgot to turn it off. No harm done, but I did discover there's no door switch.

As for disconnecting the battery while the car is running, NEVER do that. That was a good diagnostic step many years ago, but now it will do significant and expensive damage.

 

[zilch321]

Ok, that's very encouraging to hear. I ran a test for this a few weeks back but it was during daylight hours so maybe I just couldnt see it. I'm going to pick the car up today and i'll most certainly double check that.

It's aggravating that this whole issue might be related to one line in the owners manual but I think I can deal with that Vs some intermittent electrical problem.

 

[oaklandopen]

i have a manual right here and in a way it confirms what you originally thought....when the liftgate is open the light comes on, when it's closed it goes off.

although it doesn't specifically state that, there is a little chart that gives the on/off switch position, and says when it is off the light is off, and when it is switched on the light is on when the liftgate is open. intersting.

like i said before, when you get the car back you can try it out yourself with your multimeter doing a parasitic draw test if your battery drains again. im gonna check on that luggage compartment light switch to see if the book is right or wrong

 

[oaklandopen]

just checked, works like the manual says. when the switch is in the "on" position, the light only comes on when the liftgate is open

 

[zilch321]

I hit the dealer and did a quick check while in the parking lot. This was an easy visual inspection test, lift the hatch, turn on the lap, close the hatch, drop the back seat. Light goes on and off when the gate is lifted. This is a simple troubleshooting task that takes all of 15 seconds to complete.

Before doing this test I talked with the customer rep who informed me that there "was no switch". Obviously this was bad information from the tech doing the work. The tech found the light in the on position and simply assumed he knew what was wrong. Honestly I have expected that to happen but gave the car to the dealer exactly as I had it.

Now that lamp could still be the problem. I could easily have a bad switch that isnt turning the lap off every time I close the trunk. Either way the service rep seemed embarrassed that I had been able to perform this simple test that his tech missed and asked to keep the car so they could call the mazda tech help line.

Ah the drama.