check your battery.

My wifes original battery went dead, BAM, all of a sudden in her 99 Stratus. I assumed the alternator went and the car had been running off the battery and it just wasn't going to do it anymore. Well I jumped it and too kit over to autozone to have them test the alt. on the car. The Bat was so shot the draw from it killed the car so no test could be done until I put in a new battery or tried to revive this one. It took no charge and could not be revived....Soooo before I bought a $150 alt I decided to put in a new bigger battery since it needed one anyway then test it so I dont piss away the $ if I dont need to.

Long story short, put in a new battery and had it tested, alt tested good and it was decided that a cell in the Bat went bad and was the cause.

With the new Bat the car runs like a raped ape! The "seat of the pants accelerometer" was pegged!  Your car's computer and injection system is designed to run at a certain voltage for peak, accurate performance, when voltage drops, it will still work but not as well, kinda like when a light bulb gets less than 120V but still works.  When peak, as designed voltage was restored the system was running as designed and performace was restored.

I will no longer overlook this easy to ignore facet of car performance. How old is YOUR battery?

S.O.

BTW, in my wifes car it was so easy to overlook because the battery is housed in the front fender nook in front of the tire, to even service the battery you needed to remove the tire/wheel, 2 sizes of sockets, a jack, and about 20 min. The factory battery was only 510 AMPS and not that's not CCA either! I put in a 850 amp battery and the car never started so fast and easy!

Quoted: The "seat of the pants accelerometer"

This is referred to as the 'butt dyno' in car circles.  

Quoted: BTW, in my wifes car it was so easy to overlook because the battery is housed in the front fender nook in front of the tire, to even service the battery you needed to remove the tire/wheel, 2 sizes of sockets, a jack, and about 20 min. The factory battery was only 510 AMPS and not that's not CCA either! I put in a 850 amp battery and the car never started so fast and easy!

Geez... I hate when Batteries are located in difficult to reach places. I learned the hard way when I used to work in an Auto Parts store -"Sure, no problem, I can change your battery for free".... to.... "Oh fuck, I'm gonna be here all day." I learned to say "Let me look at it first" -saved myself alot of trouble after that.

I got to charge the one or put a new one if my car. Its been sitting for a few months.