Hello everybody, I came back from a trip and tried starting my rx8 but all i hear are a series of fast clicks. The car sat for about a week or so. Is this a sign that the starter is bad? Is there any trick to start it so I can drive it to the dealer? Any help would be appreciated. Thank you.

 

batteries dead

 

You sir have a dead battery. First I would make sure the terminals are clean. Make sure the terminals on the battery are not full of corrosion and thus a bad connection.

 

^first things first! do that and make sure ur connections are good, if all else fails, take the batter to autozone and get a new one, you should be fine after that

 

That does sound exactly like a dead battery. I've had two Mazda batteries fail (with the same symptoms) although on a 6, not an RX8.

 

thanks everybody. you were all exactly right. i really didnt think it was the battery because the radio and lights still worked. but i jumped it and all is well now.

how long can you drive on a jumped battery before replacing? if i start it everyday, can i wait a couple of weeks/months?

 

ahh the battery

 

is it s2? cause s2s are still new cars so shouldn't have any battery problems.
I left my s2 for about 40 days and started with no problems at all.

 

If you didn't damage a cell within the battery, then you will be fine. Once it's jumped and brought back to life, that first time you should take it for a nice long drive. Then starting it everday will probably be enough. I'd suggest that you might want to go to an Autozone or something and let them check it(usually for free), but since you jumped it and all is okay.......I'd just be cautious and try not to let it drain down again.
If you take trips of length often, you may want to invest in a float charger or at least remove the battery when you go on these trips.

 

Thanks Dude. It looks like I don't have a choice. I tried starting it today and the same clicks happened. Didn't turn over at all. I will be getting a new battery this weekend and installing it. I am not real surprised that the battery died though. I am in AZ and the summers really take a lot out of the batteries. Most people here get em replaced every two years.

Any tips or tricks I need to know beforehand or is it pretty straight forward as far as battery changes go?

 

Pretty straight forward..............make sure you get an adequate replacement(CCA) and that the terminals are right(think it's an R35 type).

Well, after you do change the battery, you may have to do the 20 brake pedal stomp.
If not familiar then................
1.) Turn car to "on", but do not start.
2.) Tap the brake pedal real quick about 20 times or until the oil gauge needle sweeps to the right and back to the left.
3.) Turn the car "off" for 5-10 seconds.
4.) If the gauge didn't sweep, then start over at step one. Keep doing these steps until it does sweep.....maybe tap brake pedal faster.
5.) When done, start as normal. Now...........you just performed a reset so the car is going to re-learn the fuel trims, so don't be surprised if it doesn't want to idle real well(and even stall), this will go away in just a few drive cycles.

 

I drained mine once with the ol' overnight trunk lid ajar light. After jump, it charged back up just fine via alternator and I'm still on the OEM Interstate at the four years of service mark.

But I see yours is a goner.

 

costco sells one for 60 bucks....i got mines 3 weeks ago

 

^................forgot about battery placement, but guess I was somewhat covered when I said "adequate replacement"????

 

i just went and bought a life time battery @ autozone for their best one, free replacement for basically as long as this car will live for 90 bucks i think?

 

this happened to mine the first time i let it sit for 4 days, they told me when i bought the car that they put a new battery in it, since it was sitting on the lot for a long time and needed a jump each time i went to drive it.

long story shot, gave it a nice long overnight charge with a trickle charger and its been fine since.

if you have a s2, shouldn't the battery be under warranty?

 

Sorry guys, I do not have an S2, in my haste, I posted in the wrong section. Mine is a 2007 with about 15k miles. I ended up purchasing a replacement battery from Pepboys and installed it myself. Thanks again for everybody's input though. You were all very helpful.

 

I have the same problem but in a different way. My 8 wont start, it just clicks fast. I replaced my spark plug & coils last month, I also replaced the battery in March so it cant be that. I always add BG44k to keep my engine clean so it cannot be lost compression. Any ideas?

 

had this problem yesterday. It just clicks twice and all the lights blink.

I had a buddy come help me push start it and she started .. i will be getting the battery checked out and getting a new one today !!!

 

So I took it to a mechanic and they checked the alternator (good), Battery (good), Battery terminals (good), and plugs/coils (good). I left in relief, but when I parked it and came back it whined down then clicks! Someone gave me a jump start and it turned on! Could it be the Starter?

 

well mine turned out to be the battery. It would just click ... got the battery checked out and they said its dead. I got a brand new one put it in and now she starts within a second !!!

 

Could be, have it checked. It really sounds like a battery/connection issue though.

 

Just click? yep it's your battery.

Change it, problems solved.

 

I had the same problem with my Rx-8. The factory positive battery terminal is some sort of copper coated alloy that is a really poor conductor. If you remove it and it looks more gray than copper, it needs replaced. I had the battery checked because I didn't wanna drop $130 if I didn't have to. My battery tested fine, I replaced the terminal for $6 and it took right off. Jumping the car had even previously worked and all my other electrical was working. New batteries will have more power to them and might compensate for the poor conductivity, but you may find yourself replacing your battery prematurely if you don't replace the terminal. Hope this helps someone down the road.

 

*sigh*

u should ALWAYS clean your positive connector when you replace ur battery ...

when u don't ... what kind of wonderful conductivity you want ? ...