Battery Issues
 

Hi all

I have a really weird issue so I'll give a bit of background in case it's relevant.

I replaced my battery in May. The replacement battery's positive pole wasn't a good fit. After having to jiggle the cable a few times over a couple weeks, I picked up a battery shim to help the fit. I didn't have a problem with the negative pole so I only put the shim over the positive side.

Everything seemed fine for a couple weeks. I was in the path of Hurricane Isaac so the car wasn't driven for 2 or 3 days. After the storm passed, the car wouldn't start.

I took the battery back to the parts store where they tested & recharged it. They said the battery was good. Everything was fine for about a week when the car again wouldn't start due to a drained battery. Took it back to the store & had it recharged/tested. Battery was completely drained but otherwise good. They completely recharged it.

I put the battery back in this morning (with the shim on the positive pole). I left it sitting for about 45 minutes while I took a shower. I cranked the car up but forgot to reset DSC, so I reset it, & turned off the car. When I tried to restart the car, the battery was completely drained. No dash lights when I open the door...nothing seems to be getting power at all. I triple checked everything (neg/pos connected correctly, good contact, etc.) and it all looks good to me.

Rather than have the battery charged yet again, I'm probably just going to have it towed to the dealership's service department.

Sorry for the novel but I didn't want to leave anything out

TL;DR Fully charged battery completely drained after 1 start.

Thanks!

do you by change have a volt meter? check voltage to be sure its the battery. if it was capable of cranking the engine over, it could not be drained in 30 seconds without exploding

I have the exact same issue. I don't usually drive my RX-8 every day, but I've noticed it helps to go on longer drives, say 30-40 minutes to charge up the battery. It stays charged for about a week but if i don't drive it for longer than that I usually have to jump it :/
I've probably gone through about 4 batteries in the last year... I'm at a loss

Have you had your alternator output checked?

My issues turned out to be equal parts operator error and mechanical problems. (Well...if I'm honest it's more like 90% idiot operator 10% mechanical.) One of the battery terminal clamps was cracked preventing the alternator from keeping the battery charged. Couple that with a slow drain from the trunk not being completely closed and that seems to explain why I couldn't maintain a charged battery for more than a week. The battery was not dead earlier this week after one start. I'm still not entirely sure what happened there. My best theory is that the battery shim was loose. It was making good contact for the first start but the vibrations from the car running shook it loose. My problem was solved by a $7 battery cable. Thanks for all the views and replies.

It's always the battery clamps....