scurvydog

My wife drove our 06 Mazda5 to work and it died as she pulled up - power steering, brakes and total battery/electrical failure...

This morning I boosted it and within a minute it died again. I checked and all fuses are fine. Is this an alternator problem?

I called a local garage and he has an alternator for Mazda3s and 6s -- is this the same part for my 5?!? As I would have to have the car towed to the garage I want to make sure I can get it fixed properly.

Please any insights or suggestions would be great!

Cheers,
Mat

djs2571

sounds like the alternator is dead, so when you jumped it, you charged it just enough to keep it running for a few minutes. It is possible for the battery to sort of short out, which could have overloaded the alternator - which should be a smart one on this car and turn off instead of dying.

you can jump the car and monitor the voltage when you pull off the cables. You could also disconnect her battery and jump it from your car, then do the same test - see if it holds voltage essentially with a different battery - that would tell you if the battery is shot, or if it's the alternator.

I don't know about the swap-ability of the alternators, i'd guess they have the same engine to use in all the vehicles but ya never know if something is different.

scurvydog

Thanks - garage yesterday confirmed its the alternator that's dead. Only issue is I live in Vietnam and he says it'll take 3 weeks to get one delivered here (and I pay shipping and import tax!).

I have a friend flying to Vietnam from Ottawa, Canada in two days - any suggestions on best place to get a replacement alternator for 2006 Mazda5? I e-mailed my dealer but haven't heard back.

Are OEM options available? Do they fit and work as well as official Mazda alternator?

Thanks for any quick feedback...

djs2571

advance auto parts, pep boys, napa, carquest, whatever local store you can find a good price. Just make sure whoever is ordering it for you knows your year, make, model, engine size.
Other than making sure it's the right part there it'll work just fine. Though i'm not sure how easy it will be to get an alternator onto a plane all the way there - but ya never know.

Good luck.

Harry1089

Its really an awesome thread...