Weird Battery Issue - Battery Replaced, check engine light still on. HELP!

My battery died last night. It was really weird as when we walked up to the car the interior lights were still on (normally they'd time out wouldn't they?) The car unlocked normally. I pushed start and nothing, red key on dash, flashing push button (orange). We tried to jump it but the key was never turning green so it wouldn't even try to start, just flashing ignition button and I did try touching the fob to the button RFID thing....weird thing was that everything else was more or less working in the car (radio, lights, window, horn.) We ran to the nearest store and I got a new key fob battery, replaced it. No luck. We tried jumping it again, no luck. I then noticed a whine from the engine compartment (that same noise it usually makes for a few minutes when ignition is on/off) so we disconnected the battery and waited a few minutes. Connected the battery and the dash lit up like a Christmas tree with almost every light imaginable. But I had the green key! So I pushed start and the engine went "whirr" but couldn't turn over. Obviously a dead battery, it had the classic signs. Got the jumper cables out and tried again (red key - wouldn't start) so now we're guessing that we're somehow fighting the security system (since that is the only other light that was illuminating/flashing) so we disconnected the battery again. This time we waited 5 minutes and then hooked jumper cables back up. I got my friend to rev up his vehicle so we'd get max voltage. I stepped on the brake and green key (getting excited at this point) -- push start and Vroom, the engine zooms to life! OK, this is great it is running! With at least 40 km to home on highway that will charge it back up too. Problem is I still had the check engine and TPMS light on and the ignition start button was flashing orange all the way home. Got it home, parked. I turned the car off and started it again. Now only the TPMS and check engine light are on. So, I pushed the TPMS button and it went out. Stopped and started the car. Only check engine light on. Went inside, deal with it tomorrow -- a few minutes later I hear a car alarm and its my damn car going off (really quietly too) so I disarm it. Rearm it, and almost immediately is starts honking again. Disconnect the battery (its now midnight and I'm ready to trade it in, set it on fire, give it away I'm so mad!) I went to bed very unhappy.

This morning, I checked the battery, voltage was under 12 volts (prob around 11.5) so I replaced it with a brand new battery - easy install and the car immediately came to life. Other than losing all my settings, radio stations, etc. I am happy EXCEPT, the damn check engine light is still on.

Anyone have any advice on this? I'll probably swing by my dealer tomorrow on my way to work to see if they can pull the code, but is it just a case of driving with the new battery to get the light to reset? Anyone have a similar experience to me?

Very frustrated at the moment with my ride. A dead battery should be a non-event. I've replaced many a battery over my decades of driving and never had a car this stubborn about being jumped and returning to normal after a battery swap.

Car parts store, doesn't read codes for free?
I had similar issues, but eventually it started after a couple of tries. Like two times, a had to put the charger on the battery. I still don't know, what happened.
Sometimes, the key is in my car and the key light still blinks red, but a restart fixes it.

Might consider investing in a $10 obd2 reader, available for iphone/ipod touch/ipad or android smartphones, available in wifi or bluetooth versions.

Reads and can clear most trouble codes.

Can be found on eBay and Amazon for as low as $10 shipped, or sometimes even less than that.

Do a search for ELM327

Several different free apps available, I use xtools and works great for me.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/iobd2/id528881858?mt=8

Certain codes will clear after x drive cycles. Of course, without knowing what the code is no one can say. The guy above is spot on with his recommendation

Less than $7 shipped ( you dont need to use the cd it comes with). The app "torque" (android) is free as well.

https://www.ebay.com (commissions earned)

I drove the car for several small trips and also check the new battery under load and no load and its all good. The check engine light went out after about the 2 or 3 start/stop cycle. All is good. Been meaning to get an OBDII reader, guess I have an excuse now!

Had a similar weird experience today too, after shutting car (14' CX5 GT) off the key fob was left in the car. When we went to restart it would not start and the start button was blinking yellow. If you tapped the button over and over again you could could get the green light to flash but it still would not start. I put the back of the fob on the button as instructed but still nothing. So I took the battery cable off and waited a while and replaced it, same thing. No matter what we tried from the book, the forums and/or Google results nothing worked. So I decided to put a charger on the battery and to my surprise it was almost dead. After a while I was able to start the car and every warning light on the dash stayed lit, not sure what happened but I think the key left in the car made it stay on somehow. It was left for about 6 hrs and really should not have killed the battery, it was daytime so I didn't notice if any dash or interior lights were on but leaving the fob in the car shouldn't cause a problem like that! When you Google the problem there are a lot of owners with the same or similar problem. Not sure if after the battery voltage drops below a certain point if that's what causes this, going to see if they will replace the battery under warranty. Also some Towns, like mine, don't allow auto parts stores to do free diagnosis of problems, and as an aside 11.5 volts by itself is not reason/low enough to replace a battery.

Generally the ecu needs to pass through three drive cycles (cold start to operating temp) consecutively and will then clear itself of present codes but could be seen as stored depending on your scanner. Here's my scanner...yawn... ; )

SoulArmored said:

Generally the ecu needs to pass through three drive cycles (cold start to operating temp) consecutively and will then clear itself of present codes but could be seen as stored depending on your scanner. Here's my scanner...yawn... ; )

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You got ripped lol

Chris_Top_Her said:

You got ripped lol

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If you know what I paid for it you would certainly say the opposite.

tibimakai said:

Car parts store, doesn't read codes for free?
I had similar issues, but eventually it started after a couple of tries. Like two times, a had to put the charger on the battery. I still don't know, what happened.
Sometimes, the key is in my car and the key light still blinks red, but a restart fixes it.

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Problem is that you don't always have a charger and access to AC. We shouldn't have to do this at all....hopefully we will find out what is happening sometime in the near future.

SoulArmored said:

If you know what I paid for it you would certainly say the opposite.

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When you put it like that, probably not. Those things retail at ridiculous prices though.

So a week after replacing the battery I'm having random security alarm going off at 4am etc. Battery was a bit low but not critical. Car runs fine. I got a code reader and there were no active codes. Some stored codes from the previous week mostly about lost communication with various control modules. It's at the dealer right now. So far they've ruled out alternator and battery problems. They think there is a power draw somewhere but can't find it. Hopefully they do better tomorrow. Of course this happens just after warranty expires.





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Bcdad182 said:

So a week after replacing the battery I'm having random security alarm going off at 4am etc. Battery was a bit low but not critical. Car runs fine. I got a code reader and there were no active codes. Some stored codes from the previous week mostly about lost communication with various control modules. It's at the dealer right now. So far they've ruled out alternator and battery problems. They think there is a power draw somewhere but can't find it. Hopefully they do better tomorrow. Of course this happens just after warranty expires.

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That's weird man. I would get a second opinion on the alternator (or whatever), from another dealer maybe in the meantime. That's a lot of draw to drain a good battery overnight.
It could be that the connector to your ecu is loose somehow, if you look by the battery and take that plastic cover off you can push on it. I had something similar happen after I got a new engine and it was as simple as that.

They can't find anything wrong with the car other than the battery running a bit low. They did find new PCM software from Mazda to address charging issues in cold weather (of which we've had for the last two weeks) so basically they're hoping that the new software will allow the battery to get a better charge. They also reflashed the TCM to newer software as well and got it all covered under the engine/emission warranty which I still have some remaining. I guess I'll just have to see after it's picked up if that works. At least there's no charge. I just wish they had something more definite.


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Just a follow up, its been a couple of days now and so far I haven't had any phantom alarms and the car seems to be driving well. I'm cautiously optimistic that the software update helped. Seems weird that a software update could fix something like this, but as long as it works (and I didn't have to pay anything) I'm not going to complain!

Bcdad182 said:

Just a follow up, its been a couple of days now and so far I haven't had any phantom alarms and the car seems to be driving well. I'm cautiously optimistic that the software update helped. Seems weird that a software update could fix something like this, but as long as it works (and I didn't have to pay anything) I'm not going to complain!

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So the alarm went off this afternoon. I went and tested the battery and it was at 12V and the car started normally. I'm beginning to think whatever controls the security system has gone a little screwball. Will be calling the dealer after Christmas.


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**Update Towed to dealer, Dec 27, car totally non-responsive and battery down to 10.5 Volts. Got a code P1260 THEFT detected, Vehicle Immobilized, along with repeats of U0131, U0140, U0151, U0214, U0100, U0115, U0121 - I asked the dealer to check the connectors for corrosion as there is a TSB on it, but they are reluctant as its a USA TSB and says its not applicable to Canadian vehicles. C'mon dude, corrosion can happen to any car - especially with all the snow and salt its been exposed to this last month. Asshats! If they don't find the problem this time, I'm taking it to an independent mechanic that I know.

Problem diagnosed. Bad connector in door. There's a TSB for this but since I'm out of warranty, Mazda Canada won't fix. If there's a problem they should stand behind their vehicles not hope that the problem occurs after you're out of warranty.

It seems the folks having this issue primarily live in northern and colder regions. The TSB (if I found the correct one) indicates MY 2013-2014 US spec. I haven't experienced this issue. Nonetheless I'm going to do an inspection of the CX-5 as to prevent this from happening.

Apparently the domino effect starts at the rubber boot on the driver (left side US spec) front door. Moisture gets through the rubber boot and damages wire connects located in (left side US spec) driver side lower kick panel. This affects the door connector and the system may think there's theft thus sounds the alarm, battery drained, ect.

Since I don't have any electrical problems I'm going to skip to the TSB section that deals with applying butyl tape in the door hinges as per step 41. To think of it that section looks different from the early models compared to the 2016's so it looks like Mazda took notice. That said I routinely wipe my door seals clean and actually applied a second door seal around my doors as to keep sound suppressed (water too) as I wash cars often. So just step 41 for me.



http://am.mazdaserviceinfo.com/libr...ervice Bulletins/en_us/pdf/09-041-15-3096.pdf