/etc/shadow
12-01-2002, 11:24 PM
On Wed. night, my car worked perfectly. Started right off the bat and everything. Thursday morning, I leave town in a different car and then come back Fri. afternoon. I went to go get fast food, but my battery was completely dead and the car would not start.
Odd, I figure. I left no lights on (would be obvious if I did - they flip up, besides, I checked all the switches when I got back and all were 'off'<img src="http://www.zilvia.net/f/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=';)'>. I charge the battery and drive to my friend Matt's after a rough start. I'm revving at it to charge it as much as I can on the way over. On the way there, the cheap aiwa stereo freaks out - radio stops playing, and it won't change stations. So I take the faceplate off and put it back on and try it again. Similar shit. Odd, I figured... so once I got to Matt's, I turned the car off and tried to start it again. No luck, not enough power.
Hung out there for a while, then had him jump me with some little yellow handheld thing he had. The thing is amazing - it's been used to start cars like 6 times now and the battery on the unit still reads "Full". Anyway, it's dark now... on the drive back to my house, I notice the gauges dimming, so I rev the engine and they light back up. It was an interesting drive home, stopping at lights with all three pedals to keep it from dying on me.
I charge it enough to get it running and run by autozone. They come out and hook up some testing gadget and tell me that there aren't enough cold crank amps and that the battery is not just uncharged, but isn't retaining a charge properly. So I take the battery out and take it to Wal Mart where it originated and had them check it. They said the same thing and replaced it.
I took it home and all was well. That was Friday night. Saturday was pretty uneventful. Today, I had it die on me again.
Now what the fuck. I'd be tempted to say that the alternator has gone out, but then why would the gauges get brighter, stereo get louder and all if I rev the engine? And how, for that matter, could the alternator being dead cause my battery to go from fully charged to depleted while the car is off and all the accessories are off as well?
Ideas?
Odd, I figure. I left no lights on (would be obvious if I did - they flip up, besides, I checked all the switches when I got back and all were 'off'<img src="http://www.zilvia.net/f/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=';)'>. I charge the battery and drive to my friend Matt's after a rough start. I'm revving at it to charge it as much as I can on the way over. On the way there, the cheap aiwa stereo freaks out - radio stops playing, and it won't change stations. So I take the faceplate off and put it back on and try it again. Similar shit. Odd, I figured... so once I got to Matt's, I turned the car off and tried to start it again. No luck, not enough power.
Hung out there for a while, then had him jump me with some little yellow handheld thing he had. The thing is amazing - it's been used to start cars like 6 times now and the battery on the unit still reads "Full". Anyway, it's dark now... on the drive back to my house, I notice the gauges dimming, so I rev the engine and they light back up. It was an interesting drive home, stopping at lights with all three pedals to keep it from dying on me.
I charge it enough to get it running and run by autozone. They come out and hook up some testing gadget and tell me that there aren't enough cold crank amps and that the battery is not just uncharged, but isn't retaining a charge properly. So I take the battery out and take it to Wal Mart where it originated and had them check it. They said the same thing and replaced it.
I took it home and all was well. That was Friday night. Saturday was pretty uneventful. Today, I had it die on me again.
Now what the fuck. I'd be tempted to say that the alternator has gone out, but then why would the gauges get brighter, stereo get louder and all if I rev the engine? And how, for that matter, could the alternator being dead cause my battery to go from fully charged to depleted while the car is off and all the accessories are off as well?
Ideas?