I parked the SC in the garage for the weekend and went back to it this morning, it just went dark. no dome light, no display, no sign of any electricity going to the car. before i shell out for a new battery, I would like to ask if it can be a fuse rather than the battery. Any suggestion would be appreciated. thanks.

 

Have the battery load-tested. It is possible that something discharged the battery, but I agree that it sounds fishy. Fuses or relays usually don't trip while a car sitting, however. Start with trying to jump start, or recharge the battery, and work from there.

 

If you have a battery charger (you should) try to charge it 1st. Or do you have a means of checking your battery, like a multi-tester?

 

Not uncommon if you either don't completely close a door or if the trunk is not completely closed. The battery will drain overnight because the dome light or trunk light remains on. If you do this a night, and your headlight switch is set to AUTO, the headlights never turn off.

Jump starting a completely dead battery is not good for the battery nor is it good for the car's charging system. Put the battery on a charger for 24 hours and see if it comes back to life. If it does then there was an open door or the trunk was left cracked open over the weekend.

JR

 

For that reason I pulled the lightbulbs out of the trunk ;-)

 

My wife's MIata did the exact thing. I left the trunk ajar 1 night and the battery was fully drained. Luckily had a charger on hand and it was back to full charge overnight.

 

That helps only if you don't have your headlight switch set to AUTO. With the trunk cracked the headlights never turn off.

I've done this a few times. Hit the trunk release button after parking in the garage at night. Come back 30 minutes later and headlights are still on.

For the headlight off timer to start a car door or trunk needs to be opened and CLOSED after the ignition is turned off. If not the headlights stay on until your battery is completely drained.

JR

 

Do you live in New Orleans? It may be tied to the Superdome problem.!!!

 

You have to hear about the Miata’s case. If you triggered a trunk open from the switch in the cabin and forgot about it. The battery will be completely discharged (regardless if the light was on or not).

If you used the remote trunk open through the “keyless key” according to Miata experts they will not drain the battery even if the light was on.

 

Yup. Just did that myself. Came out the other day. Hadn't driven it in 3 days. Completely dead. Trunk not latched.

Charged the battery and load tested it. 686 CCAs, so it didn't appear to kill the battery. It was at 4 volts when I started charging it.

I pulled the bulbs out. Amazing that a $70K car built in 2007 doesn't have load shedding. Heck my 2004 Durango has that. You *can't* kill the battery on it because it will start shutting things down no matter what state you left the when the battery gets below a certain voltage.

 

thanks for everyone's input. it was the trunk release that drain the battery. recharged it, so far so good.............


.........................wait. something strange happened. time for a new thread.

 

Admittedly taking out the light bulb in the trunk will prevent that lamp from draining the battery, but of course you now have no light in the trunk. If you replace the bulb with an LED, you will have more light and such a small drain on the battery that it will stay lit overnight and not drain the battery. For my thinking, a much more elegant solution to something most people don't even consider a problem.

 

I repeat in case someone did not catch this.

If you park at night with headlights in the AUTO position read below.

"That helps only if you don't have your headlight switch set to AUTO. With the trunk cracked the headlights never turn off"

JR

 

thanks JR.
i changed my habit to turn off headlight.