Battery test: Failed.

"mazda616" (mazda616)
11/08/2019 at 12:55 • Filed to: Mazda6

Did a battery test at the local shop and she failed. They said they were surprised it was starting at all. I bet...first super cold day, I’d be calling AAA if I didn’t go to the battery shop today.

Yay new battery.

DISCUSSION (19)

PartyPooper2012 > mazda616
11/08/2019 at 13:07

Hmmm.... You went to a battery shop to see if you needed a new battery?

Next up: go to a barber and see if you need a hair cut.

Busting your chops a little but were you having problems with battery or just went there on a whim?

If they were sur prised it was starting at all, is it possible they don’t know how to test in the first place?

Chariotoflove > PartyPooper2012
11/08/2019 at 13:10

He was having trouble and did exactly the right thing. Another option would be to buy a tester and do it at home, but he already kind of knew what he was gonna see.

PartyPooper2012 > Chariotoflove
11/08/2019 at 13:12

ok... This is oppo so I feel silly asking obvious questions, but why did the battery fail? Was the alternator not alternating? Were connections corroded? How old was the battery?

In any case, a running car is always better than non running car and I am glad he got it fixed.

Chariotoflove > PartyPooper2012
11/08/2019 at 13:16

Not silly, the car is only three years old, and I was wondering the same thing . I wonder if Mazda has a habit of putting underpowered batteries in their cars. My RX-8 needed its battery replaced every other year, and they did it under warranty, but we could never find the source of the problem. That’s an entirely different engine, I realize, but a mechanic did remark to me once that it really should have had a higher rated battery.

mazda616 > Chariotoflove
11/08/2019 at 13:40

The battery didn’t fail, per se. It was just on its way out. Cold starts have been getting weaker and weaker. The car is just over four-years-old (it’s a 2016 model built in August of 2015) and we have wild temperature swings here in Kentucky (100° in the summer and 0 ° in the winter). I also do a LOT of short trips. So, it’s not unusual, really, that the OEM battery was on the weaker side.

Chariotoflove > mazda616
11/08/2019 at 14:14

makes sense.

PartyPooper2012 > mazda616
11/08/2019 at 14:18

When you say short trips... like half a mile short or less?

I live in north east where in summer we have heat of 100 easy and in the winter we go in negatives. All batteries live just fine.

Do you know how many Cold Crank Amps (CCAs) your old battery advertised? What did you replace it with (Same?/Moar?)

My wife drove a Mini Cooper for a while. She got a job not far from home. Say 2 miles. That is all she would drive to and from work. Went on vacation once for about a week. Came back to a dead battery. I explained to her that the short trips plus car sitting made the battery discharge more than charge. We replaced the battery and it was fine. Car also didn’t have issues with low CCAs. Just a matter of short drives and not being used much caused this issue.

PartyPooper2012 > Chariotoflove
11/08/2019 at 14:20

Dang. 4 year old car needing new battery...

I wonder if they are trying to cut corners all over - instead of all season tires, most dealerships throw on summer tires. Now it seems instead of proper battery, throw in a low CCA battery because its cheaper.

They probably filled the gas tank with water too but that hasn’t come up yet

Chariotoflove > PartyPooper2012
11/08/2019 at 14:23

And yet I don’t know for sure if you could up the amps beyond OEM without causing warranty problems.

mazda616 > PartyPooper2012
11/08/2019 at 14:30

You’re a lot more stressed about this than I am. It was $99.00 for a new battery and it took 20 minutes of my lunch break to have it changed.

I have no idea of any cold cranking amps or anything like that. And yes, some of my trips are shorter than a mile because many fast food joints I visit on my lunch breaks are across the busy street from my workplace and I can’t walk to them.

All I know is the car started slowly on first-time cold morning starts recently and now, it fires right up. Works for me.

gmporschenut also a fan of hondas > Chariotoflove
11/08/2019 at 15:13

I have buddy that drives less than 4k a year and he went through 2 batteries in 4 years.

PartyPooper2012 > mazda616
11/08/2019 at 15:16

I am not stressed at all. In fact the opposite.

It’s friday and I’ve been at work since 2 AM. Tired, Delirious and bored mostly since I did all my work early in the AM

PartyPooper2012 > Chariotoflove
11/08/2019 at 15:19

All the battery is doing is turning over the starter. See how many amps that uses. Potentially AC and lights and radio could use a bit more but not much.

Chariotoflove > gmporschenut also a fan of hondas
11/08/2019 at 15:28

Huh. That seems excessive.

mazda616 > PartyPooper2012
11/08/2019 at 15:46

I get that ! I’m similarly bored. I just went with a 550 CCA base model type battery.

PartyPooper2012 > mazda616
11/08/2019 at 15:59

wow. That seems way low. Mini I think took 700 or 800

Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo > PartyPooper2012
11/08/2019 at 16:29

Username continues to check out

gmporschenut also a fan of hondas > Chariotoflove
11/08/2019 at 20:03

He lives, works, and shops in @3mile radius, and once joked he hadn’t used his ac in 2 years as he never drives long enough for his car to cool down.

His drives are so short, when we had a week of 0 temps. He got a check engine light and oil warning. So he had the car towed to the dealer, They drop the oil pan only to find ice was blocking the pickup tube. because the engine would rarely get up to temp, he had a crazy amount of condensation build up, the eventually froze.

404 - User No Longer Available > PartyPooper2012
11/09/2019 at 07:52

Not that surprising, I had to go and jump my friend’s 4-year old ILX the other day. There’s also that time we had to help a dealership demo stall to jump their brand new RDX.

Maybe it's a Japanese thing.