'04 Won't Start...replaced the battery, still nothing....
 

Ok so I know 3/4 of the people who click this thread are looking just to blast me, but believe me, I've searched this forum and google for my issue for quite a while and I haven't found quite the right thread to help me.

I have a 04 that I purchased in April with 95k on it. I live in Iowa and the first time I went to start the car after we had our first snow, the car wouldn't start. All dash lights come on, headlights, radio, ect. The car makes a clicking noise when I turn the key, so I figured that the battery just wasn't good enough to start the car with as cold as it is. So I purchased a new battery and hooked it up, but the car does the exact same thing. I also tried jumping the battery, and she starts up with no problem.

I'm really at a loss here (I'm no mechanic, so that's no surprise, but my family (who have rebuilt multiple engines but are unfamiliar with rotaries) are all stumped).

P.S. I have no idea about how old the coils and plugs are. And it's a manual.

What kind of battery did you buy, did you buy one that just fit in there from one of those rebuild shops or did you buy the proper one? If it starts with a jump then that seems to say your current battery is not giving enough juice/amps.

Have you actually checked your battery voltage? You say your family/friends are mechanicly inclined so maybe one of them has a volt meter and you can check it. I think it should read about 12.8-ish when the car is off and when its running should be around 14.4 I think but at least over 14. You said it is a manual, so have you tried to push start it? If your battery was lacking a good charge and you push start it your alternator will charge it back up if you take a little drive.

It sounds like your battery terminals are loose.

Too me I know on older farm equipment that the cold will kill my starter.
I would think to check the starter or connections to starter. I think too that on our 04 models that mazda produced a faster turning starter to help engine start.

Starter issue
 

It is important to note for us to assist whether it makes a SINGLE CLICK when you try to start or if it makes a bunch of clicks (something more like a buzz). In the meantime, maybe this will help:

WITH SINGLE CLICK:
Assuming your battery is OK, your problem (or voltage drop) is one of the following- bad main battery cables or terminal ends including earth cable(s), connections at battery, bad solenoid contacts, or actual starter motor.

Test power to starter- Place one of your test lead probes on the stud on the solenoid that your positive battery cable attaches to and the other probe to bare metal on the engine block or other solid ground point on the vehicle. Have your helper turn the key and read off the measurement. Note that when the key is not in the crank position you will read battery voltage on your volt meter (approx 12.6 volts). This is of little help and should be ignored for the time.

-roughly 10.5 volts or so- your cables and ends are fine and you may suspect the contacts in the solenoid next. To test them leave one test probe on the block and place the probe that you had on the solenoid stud with the battery cable to the other stud on the solenoid. There will normally be a heavy wire attached to this stud that goes into the starter motor body. Turn the key again and read off the measurement. if you have a very low voltage reading here there is a good chance at this point that the solenoid contacts have failed. If you have the same reading, about 10 volts, than the starter motor must be repaired or replaced.

-less than ~10 volts- you have a voltage drop and fun begins. First the positive, it's easier. Place one test probe on the + positive battery post and the other at the solenoid stud that that the battery cable attaches to (yes your test probes are at either end of the same wire). now turn the key to crank. a measurement above 1 volt is not satisfactory. it may not be THE problem, but should be corrected before continuing. to pin point the bad section simply place the test probes at any two points along the + positive path. Start with the center of the battery post, and 2 inches away where the bare wire slips into the battery terminal end. one tenth (0.10) of a volt is acceptable per connection. any higher than that (under load, which is to say while the key is held in the crank position) and the connection should be cleaned or repaired. Poke around and make corrections until you have under 1 volt from the battery (+) all the way to the solenoid stud.

Testing the ground path is basically the same with a few exceptions. There is no negative wire for the starter, it gets its ground from being bolted up, and relies on a good ground from the battery to the engine or transmission. Cars with remote mounted batteries often have no negative cable directly to the engine or transmission. They use one cable from the battery to a point on the frame, and then another cable from the frame to the engine / transmission. Both cables and all connections should be scrutinized. This method of grounding is not optimum. A piggy back, large gauge cable can be added with minimal effort.

To test the ground path start with one probe on the negative post on the battery, and the other probe on bare metal at the engine block or cylinder head. If you have already tested and repaired your positive cable the odds are that you'll measure more than 2 volts while the key is in the crank position. Use the same method as above to pin point the trouble section.

I would start with the easiest thing first, its possible that the connections ned to be replaced atthe end of the cable, or try cleaning out the inside ove the parts that contact the terminals. I was going to say your starter but you said when you jumped it, that it turned over. Like previously said also make sure it is the correct battery for the car bro.

Excellent post ... thanks for the hard work. I'm not having this issue but I found this very informative, interesting and well articulated.

Sorry to everyone that took the time to reply - I did finally get the car to start. It was a repeated clicking while turning the key that I experienced, so I thought to check the connection...my idiot brother who insisted on installing the battery instead of letting me do it didn't tighten the cables properly. After tightening, the car started fine.

I do have another question, however. After tightening the cables, my brother started it about half a dozen times in order to make sure it started (I didn't know he was doing this before he did it.). I went today to get my alternator checked because he claimed the car died at a stop sign when he was driving, and the guy at Autozone told me my battery was too drained to check the alternator. Could the battery be drained because my brother started it so many times without actually driving?

Yes, starting is a huge draw, and the alternator was never designed to charge a low battery, only maintain.

A charger will do the job and save the alternator from an early death.

Sureves, DONT let your brother touch your car again . :)

haha I will keep that in mind. He's valuable somewhat for troubleshooting, since I can usually fix stuff as long as I know what is wrong (and where a step-by-step guide is available, lol!) but as a girl that wasn't really interested in cars until recently, I'm useless at figuring out what is wrong.

That's what I kind of figured. Thanks for the info, and I'll hook up the battery to the charger now. :D

Ohhh, sorry about that, didn't realize your gender, my bad . And, as you probably know, after disconnecting the battery the PCM/ECU needs to re learn, it may idle a little erratic for a few drive cycles.

Eh, no worries. Probably don't get a ton of girls around here, and anyway, it's not hugely relevant. :D

Thanks for the reminder about the ECU! I had read about that when I first purchased the car, but haven't needed to think about it in a while.

Yeah I had a problem when my rx8 wouldn't idle after a battery change and had to "re-learn" took various driving cycles(even though people said it would only need few) so let one of your brothers drive it lol it gets dangerous when your car dies because you're cruising in neutral lol

lol after I charge up the battery and make sure I don't have an alternator problem (which I never actually experienced it dying randomly while started, so I'm not convinced I do have an issue), I'm sure I'll be good driving it. Despite letting my brother troubleshoot issues, I don't usually trust him to drive my car. Last time I did that (with my previous car) he thought he could handle more power than he could and slid my car right off the road and into a tree. :\

And my other brother turned 16 on Thanksgiving...so that's a HELL no. :)

Your brother has good intentions but is a poor mechanic.

yeah, he's only a grease monkey at Walmart...guess that's why I have you guys to back me up. :D

Be careful..............the leg humpers shall be along shortly once they figure out you are a girl! :)

lmao! I get the same thing in my fantasy football league!