The battery appears to be failing on my ND and it’s not even 5 years old, does anyone know if the battery gets more than the 3 year warranty on the rest of the car?
My guess is no.
My other car a SEAT it’s battery went the same way in under 5 years. The car had only covered around 18k miles in that time, so not enough use to keep it topped up, especially in winter. It was new battery time, it’s actually on a maintenance charger as I type this, @£142 for another new one I’m not letting it degrade again through lack of use.
And just to add, I see quite a few cars have been stationary for a couple of weeks in our road, hope they don’t have similar trouble. I warned an elderly neighbour only 2 days ago, how’s your car starting with it standing? He replied well it had a new battery last year so it’s fine. I offered him my spare charger but he seemed to think a trip to ASDA 1 mile away is sufficient to keep it topped up. He’s a bit stubborn at times but I try to help.
As mine’s a daily driver with over 30000 on the clock, I would hope it’d go on for 7-8 years at least. New one is £65 from ECP
Do you use the cruise control?
Do you leave it on when you switch off the car?
Has it had the software revision to fix the bug where the dash computer system does not turn off if cruise was still on?
This thread discusses it in great detail
and it also has a link to Pistonheads who also go into detail
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&t=1710223&d=13890.72180#seperator
Rare I leave cruise control on and I think mine had the update but you did give me an idea; the infotainment had been a bit funny about starting recently, I pulled fuses 9, 13 & 17 to reset it as it could be a drain? Sadly don’t have a multimeter to hand. Noticed electric windows being sluggish for a few weeks though.
So it’s dead, won’t start 
Can get an Exide 3 year warrantied replacement for £70 from EuroCarParts, anyone got any better suggestions? https://www.eurocarparts.com/p/exide-excel-car-battery-158-3-year-guarantee-444771580
Oddly the OEM battery has electrolyte level marks on it, does that mean I could top it up with distilled water if that’s the issue (couldn’t get a reading of the level)? I thought they were all sealed these days?
Anything I need to watch for when swapping the battery? I know modern cars aren’t too keen on having the power interrupted! (I believe it’s negative off first and back on last for safety)
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Our daily car is a diesel Focus Estate. I bought it new in March 2010 when I was working at Ford. It is still on its original battery and exhaust after 94000 miles.
Not just modern cars. That’s always been the advice. It’s a safety issue. By removing the earth first and connecting it last you can’t cause a short if the spanner you use to tighten the live terminal hits the bodywork.
JS
Yes you can top up with distilled water and then try charging it, it may help, worth a try.
If you are concerned about disconnecting the battery just put some temporary wires on the old battery to bridge while you swap out for the new. They need to be long enough to get the old battery on the floor. Any old wire will do as long as you do not turn anything on.
Check out https://www.carparts4less.co.uk/ they are the same company but sometimes cheaper sometimes not.
Do let us know if the topping up works.
In the ND handbook (section 7-6) it says to CONNECT the + first then the - and to DISCONNECT in the reverse order i.e. - first then the +
There they’re talking about connecting a booster battery but the same would apply to connecting a charger or removing the car’s battery.
Ended up with a Japanese Yuasa YBX3053 battery (size B24 physically if you need a battery for a non start/stop ND 2.0) from a motor factors, it’s sealed and has a status window; apparently Yuasa is well regarded in the motorcycle world. When I got the existing Panobagofcrap out (they didn’t even fit lifting a handle, tight sods!) its electrolyte levels were good so I suspect it’s just shagged and no longer holding charge. I might chuck it at my Dad’s smart charger (he’s got an Optimate) to see if it can be revived for use as a spare.
Oh and it seems the warranty on everything for all new Mazdas is 3 years on everything, even paint and surface rust, only the anti-perforation is 12 years (and the MX-5 would have a job getting body rust nearly everything is ally)!
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