Reaver

iTrader: (1)

I drove my car for 3.5 hours yesterday in the rain, got it home, parked it, everything is fine. It was cold out last night, the coldest it's been in a long time, I wake up this morning, go about my business, go to take the car for a ride and it won't start. I put the key into the ignition and go to turn it, I don't hear anything, when I take the key back out the needles on the gauges do something a little funky (up and then down back to normal resting position) and that's it. It won't start. I pressed the lock and unlock buttons on the keyfob and although they work they do seem a little bit sluggish. I've got a friend coming over to help me jumpstart the car...if that's the issue. Any other ideas? I did a quick search on these forums and couldn't quite find anything that fit exactly what I've got.

https://www.rx8club.com/series-i-trouble-shooting-95/04-rx8-wont-start-212858/

https://www.rx8club.com/series-i-trouble-shooting-95/red-key-light-dash-keyless-entry-antenna-location-165856/

and some others, but my car didn't just die, it ran perfectly fine yesterday. I didn't have a blowout or any weird noises or anything.

Additional details: the little red car light with a key in it is the only one that comes up, at first it's very faint, then it brightens a little, then it blinks rapidly and it sounds like I can hear a 'tap tap tap tap tap tap tap' under the hood, as the light blinks.

ShinkaEvo

iTrader: (3)

Sounds like dead battery, cold weather will drain out battery.
My oem battery would need to jump start if I leave it in cold weather more than 3 days...

Reaver

iTrader: (1)

Ok I'll give that a try (when my friend gets here), I called the mazda dealership and he said that's probably it but if it isn't then I've gotta get it towed in If jump starting it doesn't work I'm gonna check all the fuses, it's the only thing I can do before I take it to the stealership

09Factor

Sound like a almost dead batt. when the batt voltage drops around 6-7 volts the guages will go up, down and bounce in between. Also you may have seen the immoblizer icon (car sillouette with key) be steady and be very dim before trying to start with the key out of the ign.

Replace the Battery.

zoom44

have you ever tried to start a car with a mostly dead battery before?

is this a manual or at car?

Reaver

iTrader: (1)

It's an AT and I know I've seen the immobilizer light up before start up before I just don't know if it's behaved this way (flicking on and off and on and off rapidly).

I'm still waiting for my friend to get here but I will say this, I just went and put the key in the ignition and let it sit for a second and the gauge cluster actually came up like everything was fine and as soon as I pushed on the brake it went completely dark, so I'm guessing the little bit of juice the battery had was used in trying to light up the brake lights which obviously caused the gauge cluster to go dim, so I'm definitely leaning towards dead battery but I've gotta wait for my friend to get here.

shadycrew31

iTrader: (6)

make sure yrou battery terminals arent loose or dirty then give the battery a good charge.

zoom44

is it fully in park?

Reaver

iTrader: (1)

I'll check that but I'm pretty sure it is. My friend couldn't come over last night, he'll be here in a few hours so I'll let you know if it is in fact the battery

Is there any danger in putting it in drive and then putting it in park while the car is off?

shadycrew31

iTrader: (6)

No that will not cause any harm

09Factor

None.

Reaver

iTrader: (1)

Ok it was the battery, now what do I have to do to get dsc back on? I've tried restarting the car, do I need to do something special?

zoom44

well you read your manual.






































































































turn the key to on turn the wheel all the way to lock left, then all the way to lock right then back to center.

Reaver

iTrader: (1)

Yeah that did the trick, thanks. What's weird, and I'm not really looking for a solution to this but just thought I'd bring it up: Since I disconnected the old battery and put the new one in there are some new things I've noticed: Whenever I hit the volume up or volume down on the steering wheel I now here little *beeps*, I'm pretty sure it's supposed to do this but never did this before. Also, now the cd player doesn't skip and before it skipped pretty bad...although I haven't tried this in a while and it may be due to the cold weather, I'm really uncertain about this but I'm not complaining.

RX8Soldier

iTrader: (24)

you can turn the beeps off. Follow the directions in your owners manual...

tami123

I also had the same thing happen - gauges inside car going back and forth quickly but not many lights on dash. Keyfob was working but barely. I had parked my car outside the garage while on vaca for one week and it was minus 8 degrees. Even though it had a new battery, it turned out to be dead. After a hookup to a charger for one hour, the car was back in service as usual.

Thanks for the posting - I was worried it was something more serious!

usethenetforbetter

i don't have a solution to fixing the root cause but i have a solution to get you on the road whenever this happens.
put the embedded key or plastic adapter into the ignition then press and hold it.
while holding press and hold any button on the smart key.
now release the key and repress it.
the key should be recognized now and you should be able to start the car.
i posted a tutorial video here