jammiman

Hello all, I ran a search, but didn't find my specific issue anywhere else. I have an 04 MT with 55K. It has been in twice for stalling, once about 5 months ago where it got new plugs & coils. Over the last month or so it has been showing signs that the battery is dying, including two jumpstarts last week in the morning before work (great way to wake up if you haven't tried it yet).

I went on a business trip for 4 days knowing when I got back the battery would need replacing. I got a new battery, identical to the last battery in amps and series number, but from a different manufacturer. The car started strong, with a slightly rough .5 second idle at start (probably from sitting for 6 days) then I let it run for 2 minutes or so while I got my stuff together for work. About 10 minutes into the drive, I stopped at a freeway onramp light and the RPM's went strait to 0 and stalled, with no stop at idle. I started the car, and it cranked just fine, then idled for another two seconds, then stalled again (the folks in the SUV behind me were none to thrilled about missing two light cycles either). I then drove the rest of the way to work on the freeway not letting the RPM's go below 1k (which is trickier than you might think in So Cal traffic). I tested it again pulling into my spot at work, and yes, it stalled out without even slowing to idle.

Nothing has changed in my setup but the battery. I use regular fuel, and redline it daily. The car runs fine, with no signs of lost power or sluggish starts. What Should I do?

- I have no problems going to premium fuel, but regular has worked just fine for over a year now, and if that is the problem, it seems strange that it would happen on the eve of a battery change.

Nubo

I'd take care of easy stuff first. Make sure battery terminals and connectors are clean and bright, and then re-tighten and make sure they are snug; also do the same for ALL of the cables that attach to the terminals. If it's a "wet" battery, check the level on all the cells.

Preferably, put the battery on a charger and give it a full charge before installing.

Those are what I would try before worrying about weak alternator, bad battery, etc...

SiLVeRE8

iTrader: (8)

was there a cel? this was a similar problem i experienced... my car stalled on the freeway while i was driving at around 70 mph with a fairly new battery. what happened was my battery light all of a sudden came on and like 15 seconds after that my car just completely shut off. luckily enough i was able to pull over on the side of the freeway. a tow truck showed up later and tried to jump start my car for me, but it doesnt seem to hold the charge. what happened was we found out that my alternator died. i eventually got it replaced under warranty and the car drives fine now, but i ended up with a cel.

Mazurfer

Once the car is running, the battery is out of the loop except that it recieves a charge from the alternator. The car runs off the alternator, not the battery. Looks like you need to get that alternator checked out. If you can get it started one more time and have a voltmeter, the alternator should be putting out very close to 14.2v, if it's not then it's bye, bye. You can measure this at the battery terminals when the car is running.

jammiman

Ok,

So I made some calls and I figured it out. One thing I forgot to mention is that I took the battery out, put it in my wife's trunk and we went out for about 4 hours. I returned with the new battery and installed it.

As it turns out if you are swapping out a battery, you should do it quickly (no more than 1 hour), as the remainder of the charge in the solanoid gets lost, the ecu can 'forget' things like shift points (on an auto trans) and idle points. When this happens, the car needs to 're-learn' certain info.

The dealership told me to start the car, and hold the rpm's at my desired idle for about a minute. I did this, and she is purring like a kitten with a mouse (or a vacuum cleaner on steroids).

I just went through all the connection points to make sure they are clean (thanks Nubo, everybody should do this, there was a lot of buildup there), and did a little detail under the hood too, so no harm no foul.

Thanks for the responses guys, keep up the good work.

www.bendrolet.com

SiLVeRE8

iTrader: (8)

good job and glad you figured it out