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Battery Management System Malfunction

8614 Views 23 Replies 10 Participants Last post by  GDCobra, 
Qu1ckn1ck
Decided to give the ND a run as she has been standing immobile in the garage for several weeks since her Service.

She started immediately although the sluggish starter indicated a low battery charge. The i-stop light then proceeded to blink continuously so I gave her a 30 mile run hoping that a fully re-charged battery would solve the problem.

Unfortunately she progressed to a full blooded warning message "Battery Management Malfunction" so she is now booked into NortonWay Mazda for investigation next Monday.

I do hope that I won't be competing with Kev for owning the most problem afflicted ND !
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Kev5
Qu1ckn1ck said:
Decided to give the ND a run as she has been standing immobile in the garage for several weeks since her Service.

She started immediately although the sluggish starter indicated a low battery charge. The i-stop light then proceeded to blink continuously so I gave her a 30 mile run hoping that a fully re-charged battery would solve the problem.

Unfortunately she progressed to a full blooded warning message "Battery Management Malfunction" so she is now booked into NortonWay Mazda for investigation next Monday.

I do hope that I won't be competing with Kev for owning the most problem afflicted ND !
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This is just the beginning, Nick.

It should have been so good.

I can't wait to move mine on :sad:
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Garffey
Qu1ckn1ck said:
I do hope that I won't be competing with Kev for owning the most problem afflicted ND !
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I hope so too Nick.... :(

Have to say to date, and at a touch under 5000 miles of ownership my little 1.5SE has been faultless!....(probably jinxed it now! :giggle: ).

It sits patiently on the drive for weeks on end and always starts first time!

My only expense apart from servicing and fuel has been a pair of Bosch wiper blades!

Hope you get it fixed okay..... :hug:
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Steveti
Qu1ckn1ck said:
Decided to give the ND a run as she has been standing immobile in the garage for several weeks since her Service.

She started immediately although the sluggish starter indicated a low battery charge. The i-stop light then proceeded to blink continuously so I gave her a 30 mile run hoping that a fully re-charged battery would solve the problem.

Unfortunately she progressed to a full blooded warning message "Battery Management Malfunction" so she is now booked into NortonWay Mazda for investigation next Monday.

I do hope that I won't be competing with Kev for owning the most problem afflicted ND !
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Shame you couldn't access a code reader Nick, I'm convinced it's all part of a scam now to ensure that all cars that show any warning simply progress up a stage focing the ordinary owner to book into a dealership.

A while back now Jackie stalled the Focus, on a re-start the engine management light came on, I popped on the reader and it showed a spurious and undefined code. I reset the codes and it has never come back, car still runs like a dream.
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steveh
It may be possible to reset the iStop yourself??? One example is here https://www.mazdas247.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-reset-the-i-stop-system-eg-after-battery-replacement.123859564/ . However I would ensure that your battery is fully charged overnight - 30 mins on alternator is not going to do it.
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Qu1ckn1ck
steveh said:
It may be possible to reset the iStop yourself??? One example is here https://www.mazdas247.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-reset-the-i-stop-system-eg-after-battery-replacement.123859564/ . However I would ensure that your battery is fully charged overnight - 30 mins on alternator is not going to do it.
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After getting the full warning message on top of the i-stop flashing I garaged her and left her connected to my CETEK until the CETEK read fully charged. Tried her out today and she started and drove as normal but still got the warning message and flashing i-stop so she will definitely be collected by the Dealer on Monday for investigation.
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Jono
As my car has spent many weeks on the drive since Covid reared its head I connect it to my CETEK charger every few weeks. I find that once the battery is full the I-stop fails to function. It takes several days of short journeys for it to start functioning again. From something I read on the American forum I disconnected the battery and after resetting the dash panel warnings it works again.
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Dewi RS
The 61 year old Frog starts every time on the button, as did the 25 year old Tess .... Just saying, but the advantage is I can look under the bonnet and know what everything does :). Progress isn't always a good thing. They do seem to be a tad troublesome the Mk 4 thingies don't they? Hope you get it sorted ok on Monday Nick
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Qu1ckn1ck
Dewi RS said:
The 61 year old Frog starts every time on the button, as did the 25 year old Tess .... Just saying, but the advantage is I can look under the bonnet and know what everything does :). Progress isn't always a good thing. They do seem to be a tad troublesome the Mk 4 thingies don't they? Hope you get it sorted ok on Monday Nick
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She has always started on the button too. This time it was obvious when she started that the battery was lowish on charge so I expected to charge her up with a run and then leave the CETEK smart charger connected for a day or so. She still starts and drives fine but with stupid warnings displayed. Several recommendations are to disconnect the battery for 30 minutes and the warnings will all be reset. Anyway she is under warranty so let the Dealer service guys play with her.
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Qu1ckn1ck
Mazda Dealer has had the ND today and has asked to keep it on charge overnight "as the battery is very flat".

That is despite my CTEK charger indicating that the battery is fully charged and she started without hesitation twice this morning - but the warning messages were still there.
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Steveti
Qu1ckn1ck said:
Mazda Dealer has had the ND today and has asked to keep it on charge overnight "as the battery is very flat".

That is despite my CTEK charger indicating that the battery is fully charged and she started without hesitation twice this morning - but the warning messages were still there.
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That sounds like they don't know what the issue is Nick, I mean a really flat battery isn't goint to start the car is it? They'll be telling you tomorrow that they all do that.
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Qu1ckn1ck
Steveti said:
Qu1ckn1ck said:
Mazda Dealer has had the ND today and has asked to keep it on charge overnight "as the battery is very flat".

That is despite my CTEK charger indicating that the battery is fully charged and she started without hesitation twice this morning - but the warning messages were still there.
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That sounds like they don't know what the issue is Nick, I mean a really flat battery isn't goint to start the car is it? They'll be telling you tomorrow that they all do that.
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Maybe they are softening me up to pay for a new battery, which won't be covered by warranty. My son's Mazda 2 let him down on several occasions and the Dealer persuaded him to pay for a beefier battery to be fitted
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Qu1ckn1ck
Had the ND delivered back home today. Apparently my CTEK was telling fibs about the battery being fully charged. Nortonway reckon it was only 62% charged, charged the battery up overnight, cleared the codes and delivered the car back FOC.

129094667_3443318605780827_2461720935776
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steveh
I nearly posted something last night re the CTEK, I now work on a factor of 10 for charger and battery capacity. The motorhome has an 100amp hour leisure battery and to charge this fully in a reasonable time frame I need a charger capable of 10amps. Different scenario of course but I wonder whether your CTEK may only be capable of keeping it topped up once fully charged.
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Qu1ckn1ck
steveh said:
I nearly posted something last night re the CTEK, I now work on a factor of 10 for charger and battery capacity. The motorhome has an 100amp hour leisure battery and to charge this fully in a reasonable time frame I need a charger capable of 10amps. Different scenario of course but I wonder whether your CTEK may only be capable of keeping it topped up once fully charged.
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That is what the Dealer said too. My CETEK is only 3.8 amps but it certainly charges the batteries on a Triumph GT6, Ford Puma, Mazda 2 plus our spare slave battery to capacity given a reasonable time. I guess I will have to dig my multimeter out and check readings across all the vehicles as due to Covid none of them are getting much use.
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Steveti
Qu1ckn1ck said:
steveh said:
I nearly posted something last night re the CTEK, I now work on a factor of 10 for charger and battery capacity. The motorhome has an 100amp hour leisure battery and to charge this fully in a reasonable time frame I need a charger capable of 10amps. Different scenario of course but I wonder whether your CTEK may only be capable of keeping it topped up once fully charged.
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That is what the Dealer said too. My CETEK is only 3.8 amps but it certainly charges the batteries on a Triumph GT6, Ford Puma, Mazda 2 plus our spare slave battery to capacity given a reasonable time. I guess I will have to dig my multimeter out and check readings across all the vehicles as due to Covid none of them are getting much use.
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That's really intriguing Nick, my own CTEK is a little XS 0.8 so a proper tiny little trickle charger and yet it has brought a number of batteries back from the abyss. One point, they will not charge a battery discharged to below 3 volts. This I learned when a friend who has a Mk1 that was off road for two years asked for some advice on his totally dead battery.

I stuck in on the CTEK for 3 days and right enough it refused point blank to do anything, check instruction book, that's when I found out it wont charge anything below 3 volts. I took a thought and connected the jump leads from the GM to it and fired it up, we ran it on piggy back charge for around 30 mins and yes, we got a voltage of over 3 volts in the Mk1s battery, can't recall exactly what the figure was. Anyway, I then connected the CTEK up 0.8 amps only mind, and left it for 3 days to charge and cycle. at the end of that it was registering around 13 volts and held it for around three days at which point we stuck it on charge for a further 24 hour cycle. It was then popped in the Mk1 which promptly fired up with minimum fuss, it took a fe goes to get fresh fuel through but the point is that it brought a battery back from the dead that had lain and discharged to nothing. We're now a couple of years on from that and the same battery still fires the MK1 (in semi -permanent storage) up on a regular basis.

I know that the theory is that a charger should provide an A/hr rating of around 10% of the battery's rating but as I say, the little 0.8 A/hr CTEK has worked very well for me bringing dead batteries back to near full charge.

Of course I suppose part of this could be the ever increasing complexity of car electronics not liking to see a battery that is within pre-programmed software below a perceived optimum charge and thus will throw an error.
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Qu1ckn1ck
My CTEK is usually hooked up to the GT6 and often left in maintenance mode for months. Having switched the CTEK to the ND I immediately tried my old Halfords 11 amp "unintelligent" battery charger on the GT6 and got an instant FULLY CHARGED indicated !

I am sure the CTEK is working perfectly and without all the ND's "Battery Management Sytem" electronic gubbins, taking the ND for a run and then topping up for a day or two with the CTEK should have avoided all the unnecessary drama.
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steveh
You then throw in a smart alternator and it gets even more confusing, no idea whether the NDs alternator is smart or traditional though.
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Qu1ckn1ck
steveh said:
You then throw in a smart alternator and it gets even more confusing, no idea whether the NDs alternator is smart or traditional though.
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Yes, I believe that my 2019 ND does have a smart alternator too, all part of the "Green" package to improve consumption and lower emissions.

On the plus side I understand that my 2.0 ND is in a lower VED band than the earlier lower bhp 2.0 NDs because of my lower emissions.
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steveh
It just for me makes it more awkward when looking at the charging circuit and the battery health as the output produced by the alternator will vary according to input from the ECU. It takes into account temperature , engine load, whether your accelerating , cruising or slowing down to determine what to output and thus the subsequent charge state of the battery will vary. So instead of a simple multimeter to check the charging circuit you need an oscilloscope,

https://www.redarc.com.au/alternator-vs-fixed-alternator
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