Weird Battery Failure.

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A co-worker of mine has a 2008 Mazda 3 with a 4 year old battery in it. He had an intermittent no crank issue for a few months, typically happening once every couple of weeks. He would stop at a variety store to pick up something, come back out and the starter solenoid would repeatedly click when the key was turned to "start". A boost from another car would always start the car and the Mazda would be perfectly normal for another couple of weeks. He once did not use the car for a couple of weeks and it cranked properly when he started it afterwards.

The only issue with the car that would be related to this is that the rad fan would blow at high speed all the time the engine is running. This has been going on for years and he has not yet fixed the rad fan issue.

I tested the battery with my conductance tester and it read over 500 CCA. He was going to buy a booster pack and I suggested his money would be better spent on a new battery. He could keep the old one in the trunk for boosting in case the no-crank issue reoccurred.

The new battery resolved the no-crank issue.
 
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Batteries do get intermittent internal problems.

It could also be bad connections at the battery. Putting jumper cables on moves the terminals slightly and makes it OK again, for a while.
 
Originally Posted by Chris142
The old battery has a broken bar between the cells and one of the posts.
4yrs is on borrowed time for a replacement battery. It may just be the 4yr accumulation of crud on the terminals too. I would start by cleaning the top of the batter and prying open the cvrs to check for water level. clean terminals and pray. Then start looking for a new battery
grin2.gif
 
Broken bar would account for all the symptoms. The battery was removed and reinstalled a couple of months prior for some body work done on the front fender.

I had an unusual battery failure on my Sierra a few years ago and posted here about it. The 5 year old battery was perfectly normal and had cranked the engine well through a cold winter. Without any warning one day in April I had a no crank. The starter solenoid would not even click. An internal bar must have broken completely inside the battery.

It was then that I decided that I would prophylactically replace a battery when it reaches five years of age. These are basic flooded cell batteries, not AGMs or any thing fancy
 
This thread is useless without voltage readings. Assumptions of broken parts inside a battery are plausible, but not validated.

Get a free hf multimeter and read voltage when it happens again, fresh battery might be able,to source more current at lower voltages, but don't be convinced it's all fixed. Though I hope it is...
 
The battery was replaced about a month and a half ago and I waited this long to post to ensure that the new battery solved the occasional no crank situation. So "read voltage when it happens again" might not be possible since it looks like it is not going to happen again.

I never did witness the no crank actually happen because it was so intermittent. I was just told about it.

JHZR2, I think you work with batteries a lot and I take it you find a battery internal connection issue implausible since you have never encountered it.
 
It's very plausible. Just wait until a battery decides to arc or reconnect itself during or shortly after being charged! Hope you're wearing a face shield, gloves, and clothes you don't like very much! BOOM!
 
Originally Posted by George7941


JHZR2, I think you work with batteries a lot and I take it you find a battery internal connection issue implausible since you have never encountered it.


On the contrary, I said it is plausible, but you need data to help diagnose. Both internal shorts and broken internal connections can happen.
 
Originally Posted by bubbatime
A 4 year old battery is on borrowed time. Replace the battery first thing. See if the problem is fixed.


In hot FL perhaps. Not necessarily in cooler Canada.
 
I have not encountered broken internal battery connections before the two episodes I mentioned. It makes me wonder if battery manufacturers are focusing their efforts on AGMs and letting the quality of the flooded cell batteries slide.
 
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