RotaryP7

Yes, it's happening I don't know how. I've bought 2 car batteries the past 2 years. The car has just completely died. Clicking sound; dead. The first one I thought well, bad battery. The second was confusing, another bad battery? I took my car to Advanced Auto Parts to see if my alternator was messed up or something and no. The battery was just dead-dead. The issue is, the car is still using power while it's off. There's something that is wasting the battery, every day/night it's off.

I just bought a battery 2 days ago. And it still tends to start sometimes on the 2nd try.

I don't have any aftermarket installs or anything. The only thing I use is a radar detector but well, I unplug that overnight and it still drains battery. So that isn't the problem.

I'm lost. I'm going to take it to a dealer probably next week after this storm passes by.. Anyone ever heard of this? Couldn't find anything on search.

jasonrxeight

is your trunk light on when its closed and you look at the trunk through the rear seat tunnel?

EDZRIDE

iTrader: (1)

Real common, do an advanced search on Dark Current

RotaryP7

I checked. It's off.

Thanks I did. I mean, people have had the same issue but no help in getting it fixed? Or what the problem is..

EDZRIDE

iTrader: (1)

You need to isolate the problem by checking for draw, 1 circuit at a time. Try this: BATTERY INSPECTION

monchie

One mechanic told me that if you live in a hot and humid environment, your battery will drain faster than usual, I don't know. Anyway, I've noticed that my battery only last for less than 3 years, and I live in Las Vegas...very hot and sometimes humid.

RotaryP7

Well, for sure it isn't the battery. I just bought a new one the other day. The past 2 batteries have died within the year.

Maybe. But mine hasn't lasted 2. I got a new warranty exchanged Interstate battery last June. It died this month. The past battery lasted about the same.

Haven't had time to take the 8 in but will have to soon.

Bladecutter

What you need to do is to test it the correct way.
First thing you should do is clean up the other ends of the battery wires.
The positive connects to the starter, and the negative connects to the frame.
Find those points, and clean them up.

Then, put an meter between the positive cable and the battery post, and read how many amps its drawing while off. Then start pulling fuses from the fuse box one at a time, and watching if there is a large decrease in the draw with one specific fuse.

When you find it, you need to trace that circuit down, and find the culprit.
Maybe its a frayed wire that's grounding out.
Maybe its corrosion in a connector.

The easiest thing is to start with any parts of your car that you know stay hot after you turn off the car. Then go from there. Chances are, a burnt out tail light bulb is not going to drain your battery while the car is off, but if there was a problem in the hazard circuit, or the brake light switch, that might cause an issue.

BC.

NotAPreppie

^^^ What he said.

paimon.soror

iTrader: (15)

Make sure to take note of the most important part of BC's statement here : when off. Do NOT try turning on the car with the circuit set up this way unless you have some industrial ammeter or you will find your meter blow sky high lol.

HiFlite999

iTrader: (2)

So how long does it have to sit unstarted, before it won't crank?

Ishmael RX

I had same issue, and i realized the problem was that my brake light stayed lit. when i checked everything related to it, I saw that my sensor on the brake pedal was hanging off. check that because that will definitely drain the battery quickly like yours.

DavidJessup

This is a design aspect of this car
The dealer has tested it yet again with no fault found--nothing to pay sir [good?]
I am told "Modern cars are made to be driven not left"
"You cannot leave it for more than a week or so without it losing enough charge to prevent starting" [In 30 years I've never owned another car that ran down in a week!]
"That's a bit difficult if you bought it to use mainly at weekends" [Wasn't warned on sale that it was not suitable for that purpose!]
"Its the security and other background systems that run it down" [Ironic as it is pretty theft proof with no charge!]
"You cannot turn off the background systems"[So extra technology is killing basic functionality]
"You could always disconnect the battery or charge it up the night before"[Every week!]
So my advice is buy a charger and accept the inevitable...they cannot fix it beyond other contributing faults.

Tony22

Hi my name is tony , i saw u writed in 2006 about baterry life in mazdarx8 i have the same problem what did u do then , how did u fix it pls tell me at my Email artonkamberi@hotmail.com

Harvis

Im passing by the same issue.

dannobre

iTrader: (3)

If you don't drive it the battery will die....nothing secret about that.

If you are leaving it for more than a week...just disconnect the neg battery cable...that way Battery just needs to be reconnected when you want to start it

Steve Dallas

Mine does the same thing. I traced it to the security and keyless entry systems. It takes about 2 weeks to drain the battery to the point of not having enough juice to start the car. I normally just drive the car on weekends and track days, so it has a battery tender on it most of the time. Problem solved.

Darkning

Keep in mind that little things like an ODB connected device draws power even when the engine is off as well. All those things add up to suck it out more, especially if your battery is already getting old.

I believe I saw on here somewhere too that one of the AC/Car Charger ports is always hot, maybe the front one below the radio? So that could be doing it if you leave a GPS or phone charger plugged in.

michael Dombrowski

iTrader: (2)

I have the same issue, if my car is locked. If I leave my car unlocked, I can leave it for months. So I would agree that it is the security system causing the drain.

9krpmrx8

iTrader: (46)

I don't know about months unlocked, I don't lock mine in the garage and it will die after a week or so with my odyssey battery and before the battery relocation and smaller battery, maybe two weeks with a decent Group 35 battery. The RX-8 has a draw of about 160-170Ma when off, that is high, most cars are in the 50Ma range depending on the car. Mine sits at 177Ma or so but I made a lot of wiring changes to the car. But I have a charging port in my car so it is always hooked up to a float charger during the week when it is not driven.

gwilliams6

Yea I learned that early on in 2008 when I first bought my RX8 and left it during a two-week vacation and I was driving my Mazdaspeed3 GT for more luggage space for my group. Mazda replaced one factory battery under warranty. The charging system was fine. I cleaned the grounds and installed the RX8 battery post kit long ago so that wouldn't be another battery issue and I keep it driven every week now since it is my DD. As others have said, the standalone systems on this car will drain the battery if not driven regularly.

New Yorker

Have had my 8 over nine years now. Weekend car, regularly sits undriven a couple of weeks; occasionally for a month or so.

Always fires right up.

gwilliams6

Hey that is great New Yorker, but many have had issues with battery draining when left sitting. The alarm system or other electric accessories hooked up, even the trunk lid ajar, will drain the battery if not driven and kept charged. And a lot of that also depends on if it is garaged or kept in colder weather which will lower the available juice when needed. Not a constant problem for most with strong batteries, but the OEM battery in my Series 1 was weak when I bought it new. I guess the few people that had test driven it coupled with sitting on the dealer's lot and folks going in and out, before I bought it , helped make the battery drained. Mazda replaced that under warranty. Since it became my daily driver I have not had a problem .

New Yorker

Good points, all. I'm in NYC and my '05 is always garaged, so sits parked underground all year at around 60ºF. Plus I had the Mazda upgrade to a stronger starter shortly after I bought the car. And I usually do highway driving with few stops, so that helps, too.

I did drain the battery once; I had left the trunk like ajar. And I had to replace the original battery about 5 or 6 years ago. (Bosch 35-640B great replacement, came out on top of all 35 series batteries in their tests. But that was over 5 years ago).

But still, my 8 usually gets driven only once every few weeks.

lgilbert50

iTrader: (1)

Completely normal its a parasitic draw due to keyless system being on all the time. Had a Corvette if not driven for 10 days the battery would be dead. My RX8 is about 15 to 20 days before dying. If the car is going to sit just hook up a GOOD maintenance charger to keep the battery in top sharp.