My car has been sitting in my garage for the last 3 or 4 weeks. I tried to start it but it wouldn't turn over. I just installed a new battery a couple of months ago and couldn't see how it could have crapped out on me already. I hooked up the charger and it started right up. I finally got in it and started up the road the when the digital speedometer started blinking out and the car was kinda stammering. I immediately turned around and pulled it back into the driveway. I thought that maybe the positive battery cable needed to be tightened, but that didn't help. I then noticed that my service ABS light was all lit up. I cut off the car and it wouldn't start back up without a jump. Any ideas? Any assistance I can get is much appreciated.

Robb

 

it sounds like the battery is weak. give it a chance to recharge completely...

These cars act really odd when the volts are a bit low.

 

You need an education in lead acid batteries, here goes. Lead acid batteries self discharge 1% each day and with the small leakage current from your car's electrical system, the discharge is slightly faster than that. When lead acid batteries discharge, lead sulfate forms on the plates and lead sulfate is a good insulator. If the battery sits long enough, the plates are covered totally with lead sulfate and you now have a door stop. Batteries that are sulfated to any extent have reduced amp hour capacity. If you are going to let your car sit for long periods (4+ wks) charge the battery periodically or get a battery tender which charges the battery when it detects discharge below a certain point. If you already have a battery charger, buy an interval timer (turns your lights on every night when you aren't home) and have it charge your battery each day for its minimum interval (usually 15 mins). This will keep your battery charged and your car available when you need it.
Next, a discharged battery requires at least 24 hours of charging to fully charge. Yes a short period of charging will allow you to start your car and your alternator will charge the battery, but.......your alternator will be charging high current into a discharged battery and this will make it hot and shorten the life of your alternator. Alternators should not be used to charge discharged car batteries!!!!!! If you went a short distance and then tried to restart your car, you would have found out that the battery capacity was so low that it wouldn't have started and you would be stranded.
Charge your battery for a full 24 hours (longer if you can) and keep in mind that you now have a battery that has less amp hour capacity than when it was new due to the total discharge! Good Luck.

 

Very interesting! Thanks for the insight! Sounds right, but i am not sure that my experience bears out the 1% a day discharge rate. This would be a "compounded" 1 % per day. so at the end of 30 days it would be at least 30 + % discharged + whatever the normal discharge would be for clock, etc.

I think I have bought "new batteries" off the shelf that have sat around for lot longer! Seems I was told that 90 days on the shelf was OK! That would be almost 100% discharged

Not saying you are wrong, just curious

Jack

 

If it is the battery then why is the "Service ABS" light staying on?

 

voltage my friend, voltage, or, the lack of it.

there are any number of codes that could have been set by the weak battery... low voltage, a spike caused by the alternator catching up. Who knows.

Charge the battery, disconnect the battery from the car for 10 minutes to clear codes and go for a drive.

 

I will give it a try. Thanks!

Robb

 

I learned the hard way: That spike bogus mentions, not only causes some electrical stuff to act funky: it also has an excellent chance of killing some power supplies. Note: You're digital dash uses an on-board power supply.

 

Partial quote from Jackdaroofer.
------------------------------------------------------------- Not saying you are wrong, just curious. (about self discharge)
-------------------------------------------------------------

From the Yuasa-Exide battery handbook.
According to the Yuasa book, conventional lead-acid batteries discharge at a rate of 1% per day at 77 degrees Fahrenheit. That means that in a bit more than three months, your battery is dead. Faster if your bike/car draws some current when not running, which many modern vehicles do.

An increase of 18 degrees doubles the discharge rate.