1. Home
  2. Mazda Miata
  3. UK Mazda 3 Sport battery draining.

UK Mazda 3 Sport battery draining.

Our 2002 MX-5 used to get a flat battery if not driven regularly. Fixed by getting a battery conditioner.

Our 2004 3 Sport suffers from a flat battery unless it gets regular long journeys. Does not seem to be a problem if we turn the alarm off.

Last week the car was used for about 10 3mile trips over Monday to Friday. Not used over the weekend when we used our 2007 MX-5 coupé:-)

Today Monday the 3 turned over about twice with the dials and dashboard lights going berserk. Just over 2 hours on a 0.6amp and it started with no problem.

Anyone any ideas? Battery had it? Any ideas on how to test? Alarm drain excessive? Any other drain ideas? Only extra on the car is a multi CD player dealer fitted when new. Is there a regulator that cuts the power when the voltage drops? Seems to go from virtually dead battery to OK to start the car with very little charging indeed.

We had the same problem about 6 months ago which seemed to disappear if we always turned the alarm off. 10 days parked at the airport was no problem.

Started using the alarm again when back window shattered in suspicious circumstances.

TIA for any ideas.

Reply to
Invisible Man
Loading thread data ...

Typical symptom of low voltage.

After four years of service, the battery would be my first suspect--not dead yet, but no longer able to take and hold a good charge. Dunno about in the UK, but here any shop that sells batteries would be able to test it in five minutes, for free.

Reply to
Lanny Chambers

I feel dumb for asking, but is the Mazda 3 Sport a Miata??? If so, I would never trust leaving a Miata at an airport, especially with an alarm and any other current draining devices. I just starting using a battery charger/maintainer, cause I got tired of hearing the battery slowing down during these colder winter months. Apparently Miatas are tough on their toy batteries>>LOL.

Reply to
S K

Lanny> To properly test the battery with a current draining test set, does the battery need to be removed/disconnected from the car???

Reply to
S K

No but there are a few (very few) that can't test in the car, some parts houses come to mind, they need the battery removed and brought into the store.

Reply to
XS11E

No. It's a Mazda3. They have lead-acid batteries of normal size.

Reply to
Lanny Chambers

So with a normal size battery, unless the battery is defective or old, I can not imagine them having the same situation as the Miatas have, and me with my charger/maintainer out there in the garage keeping me and my Miata's battery happy :-).

Reply to
Jazz_Azz

MotorsForum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.