Originally Posted by MikeMcMo
After all that, it turns out to be a dead battery. As far as we know. For now.
So, the mystery history is that on Thursday I went out to sort out the problem- Tried to start the car and got half a crank, and had to bump start it. Went to AutoZone. Then for the helluvit, I tried to start it and it fired right up, like the good old days (Monday, Tuesday) and I did it a few more times. But I had a guy come out with the tester, and it tested low, but the guy thought it was probably the alternator. Hmmm. Then on the way home I passed an O'Reilly parts place and thought what the hell. The guy behind the counter was way into the cat-and-mouse game of trying to figure it out based on the symptoms I described. He tested it and said it's definitely low, so charge it or replace it. I said, but, but, why would the battery be going low unless the alternator was dying? He said to get the battery up to speed or replaced, and then look deeper for problems- doesn't make sense to look deeper until you've ruled out the battery. Sounded good.
Took it to the new mechanic I decided to try, and he put it on the charger overnight and said it only got to 0-20% of its charge. What? At O'Reilly and AutoZone they had it reading 11 volts, which is low, but how is that 20% of 12-15 volts? Said it got to 5% of cranking amps. What? I guess there are gray areas. Why was it sometimes starting and sometimes not, all of which didn't seem to be reflective of recent high-RPM driving? I guess an alternator can't charge a dead battery, but if the problem wasn't the starter, why was it dead one minute, alive the next? When I asked these questions of the 3 different guys involved at the 3 places, I got shoulder shrugs. Could it be the starter AND a dying battery? I regret that when it was dead, I didn't try to push the car when it is is gear to try to rotate the starter and/or motor to get them in a better mood where it wants to start.
The mechanic put it on a charger overnight and then called me to to tell me he had replaced the battery and to come pick it up. (I thought the universal protocol was to identify the problem, make a cost determination, and call the client to get their approval to go ahead. Never had a shop do the work and then call you.) They were pretty confident that once the good battery was in that their testing was accurate, but who knows. I asked if he could determine how old the battery was- I thought there was a letter/number code on the side or somewhere, but he said there wasn't.
Funny thing is, without him asking me, I ended up with an Interstate battery which is what I was planning to get anyway. I'd know in the next week if the new battery might be covering for the moment for underlying problems, but I'm going away next week. I will follow up if more surfaces after that, but otherwise, no news is good news. Thanks for the help, all!
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