my 5 died....

[808mz5]

Sorry guys.... its been a while...

I had a problem with the battery last week... my wife was driving out of her parking structure and all the lights on the dash went on... the car then died... I switched out the battery and all was good... till the next day.. damn batt light came back on. The service guys took it in and mentioned that the screw was loose.. my bad. The next day the battery light came on again. The batt light came on and off over the weekend..... till tonight.. on the way home all the lights came on again and the car died... sucks!

Well, it's at the stealership and should be seen first thing in the morning. Has anyone experienced this?

 

[skyhawk]

alternator will be one of the suspects.. if the belt is ok.

 

[MikesMazda5]

Pretty much all the battery is used for is starting, after that the alternator runs everything while the car is running. If there is a problem with the alternator, then this will keep happening. Could be the wiring to the alternator as well. I suspect it just needs a new alternator. The serpentine belts are typically good for 60,000+ miles, so shouldn't be a problem there unless you have that many miles on your 5.

 

[Esprit]

alternator I agree. Is not your battery

 

[cboe's_mp5]

I maintan heavy duty pision vehicles and i often find that the altinator will cause symptoms like this. the vehicle will be running then all of a sudden the rpms drop and the vehicle engine will shut off. the problem could be the altinator and it is unable to perform what is desinged to do. the battery would only be effected by this because the altinator wouldnt charge it. think of the battery as a glass of water every time you start a car you are pouring a little out the altinator is like a pitcher of water that fills the glass back up but when the glass reaches a certant point the glass of water(your battery) will not recharge. your altinator will cause your maintance free battery to go bad after a point but if it has been only a couple of days you shouldnt worry so much about your battery. i would suggest that the dealership aka stealership as you called it first test the altinator then check the grounding wires and the altinator belt. i wish you the best i hope yout MP5 is better after its check up.

later

(eekfu)

 

[808mz5]

yup.. the alternator went... wife's not too happy with a 3 yr old car with 25k miles breaking down... We've had all kinds of issues with the dealer and quite honestly... I think we are going with a toyota or honda next...

 

[coolmazda5]

Damn, those 06s built in 05

that sucks...

Warranty at least? 2006 still has the 4yr/50k one for the US

 

[AIMWO4]

You may as well... Moving from Mazda will not help. All electrical crap is built by the same dorks. Getting a Toyo or Honda can get you into the same position... Most of them are US-made anyway. (rei)

yup.. the alternator went... wife's not too happy with a 3 yr old car with 25k miles breaking down... We've had all kinds of issues with the dealer and quite honestly... I think we are going with a toyota or honda next...

 

[jandree22]

You may as well... Moving from Mazda will not help. All electrical crap is built by the same dorks. Getting a Toyo or Honda can get you into the same position... Most of them are US-made anyway. (rei)

While it shouldn't have failed already, alternators are a work horse and prone to fail some time or another. If you have a lemon of a car with a chain of stuff failing like this, then ditch it for a new ride. But that being said, while my wife's 04 Toyota Solara is relatively reliable and well built, we've still had our own share of issues in it too. Furthermore, I was more leaning to a new 07 Civic instead of an 07 Mazda5, but was scared away from the Honda because of the crap those owners were dealing with already. Kia to Porsche, cars simply break. (shrug)

Anyhow, sorry to hear about the PITA situation. Hopefully a new alternator sets you straight... sounds like the answer to me as well.

 

[808mz5]

It's been workin fine so far... thanks for the comments... most likely be keeping the 5 for me... i can deal with the problems... owned a 84 vette for over 18 years and never failed and had something go wrong every year. Probably getting the wife a Toyota Venza in the next year or so...

 

[jandree22]

Probably getting the wife a Toyota Venza in the next year or so...

Yeah my mom leases a Camry SE and it's up next year. Checked out the Venza at the local auto show recently and it is a nice car. So much about it is just, 'right'.

 

[coolmazda5]

I think we are going with a toyota or honda next...

Probably getting the wife a Toyota Venza in the next year or so...

I was a Honda owner before and I had a couple of scary mis-haps with a recall and an exhaust defect. For a 1999 car that had 50K miles when traded-in in 2007 it doesn't really call for superior quality, although the finish was better than the Mazda5, I admit

Anyway, for any new car my only suggestion is to wait for the 2nd-3rd year model regardless of the brand so to give it time to fix bugs. I can tell that you by experience