Car won't start...

[Arbitrageur]

I have a 2010 Mazda 3 GT.

I took the car out yesterday and it was driving fine. Did highway, city, no issues.

Today, I tried to turn on the car and it started stalling. I go from Battery to ignite the engine and it won't fire up; it just starts chugging and the lights/icons on the dash blink. Also, when I switch it to just Battery, the sound system won't turn on. After trying this and shutting off the engine, the engine makes a weird winding/whirring sound, like a fan or something powering down.

I'm trying to upload a video now of what it sounds/looks like.

Any ideas? Perhaps the battery is going?

Video:
http://videobam.com/LGxHI

[Arbitrageur]

It looks/sounds like this:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=REqTAvp_lSU

[staax]

So you just jumped the starter from the battery - is that what you're saying?

To me it almost sounds like your battery is dying. Ever replace it? Try hooking it up to another battery and see if it does the same

Check your wires and coils and all that simple stuff.

[Arbitrageur]

So you just jumped the starter from the battery - is that what you're saying?

To me it almost sounds like your battery is dying. Ever replace it? Try hooking it up to another battery and see if it does the same

Check your wires and coils and all that simple stuff.

I tried starting up my car normally igniting it from rest and it didn't work. I then tried from battery and it still didn't work.

Never replaced the battery; I'm hoping that this is the issue. The fact that the sound system won't turn on when I'm running off just battery has me thinking the car is trying to turn off all non-essential features from draining the battery. I'll try to give a day to "rest" and see what happens. I unfortunately don't have another battery I can test it with, so it would have to be an outright buy.

Thanks for the help so far!

[staax]

Have a multi meter? Touch the leads to the battery posts and see if its holding a 12.2 - 12.6V charge with the car off.

If not, charge it up or try to Jumpstart it. If the same thing is happening it'd likely your battery isn't able to hold a charge anymore. 4 years is about right from the OE battery these days.

[Arbitrageur]

Have a multi meter? Touch the leads to the battery posts and see if its holding a 12.2 - 12.6V charge with the car off.

If not, charge it up or try to Jumpstart it. If the same thing is happening it'd likely your battery isn't able to hold a charge anymore. 4 years is about right from the OE battery these days.

I assume that if I can jumpstart the car, that means the battery is dead?

[staax]

Well you're basically using the charge from another car to charge your battery enough to be able to start, or to jump your car completely if the battery is strong enough.

If you jumpstart it and it starts, but the second you pull the jumper cables off from the good battery and the car dies then your battery is dead.

[jaimie08mazda3]

Did you ever loosen your battery terminals? When I put on my second power wire for my speaker amp I never got it tight enough and my car kept dying out. When I came to a stop, it would die out and barely started back up. I tightened up my terminal and bam not a problem. Could be something little like that.

[Arbitrageur]

Thanks for the help!

I jumped my car with the help of my dad and it came back alive. Looks like for some reason the battery didn't have enough power/output to start the car up. We jumped it, let it run for ten minutes, shut it off, and started it back up, no issues.

Should I be concerned about this? I've driven around a lot since and haven't encountered any issues *knock on wood*; would this be a sign to change the battery soon?

[Johns 08 3 GT]

Looks like you need to replace the battery. The clicking is the starter solenoid pushing the pinion to the ring gear but the battery does not have enough power to turn the motor.

Most auto batteries last an average of five years or so. Any additional electrical accessories (i.e stereo) could shorten the life span.

[Lmmorden]

While it's running put a volt meter across the terminals ... Less than 12.6 and id look into an alternator.

If the car charged being charged from another car ... Then your battery should've good.

I say alternator... That's my 2 cents

[Zuluwun]

Try cleaning the terminals with a wire brush or at least a spray cleaner, sometimes the terminals build up a corrosion layer and makes it seem like the battery has less life than it actually does.

[ryan2.3]

I had this happen a few months ago, i disconnected the battery a few minutes then put it back on and it started right up. Not sure if maybe the cable was loose and it just tightened it when i reattached it.

[GSXi]

lol you posted my video.

My 4y old battery started to do this, if left un-driven for about 1-2 days. After a couple of boost I just replaced it with a new Costco 24F battery, no problem since.