Dead Again

Two weeks ago my 1995 Mitsubishi 3000gt was sluggish starting, and that Wednesday it wouldn't turn over unless I held the key in the ignition position for a full second or two. I drove the car to AutoZone and had it tested. They confirmed a bad battery I switched out for an 8 year battery. Drove the car with no issues and this was Saturday. Sunday went to start the car and it wouldn't turn over. I removed the battery and took just that to AutoZone to have it tested. The battery checked out with a 100% charge so I purchased a starter. Returned home re-installed the battery and just for curiosity sake tried to start the car. She started right up. So it's not the starter or the battery at this point. Monday I went to a different AutoZone (near work instead of home) and had the battery, starter, and alternator tested. The cables on the battery were not tightened down enough so they pulled loose with a light tug. (The guy at the first AutoZone bent the hell out of my cable connections thinking the different battery had larger terminals. For the record, all American made batteries have the same size. With few if any exceptions, only Japanese batteries have smaller terminals. So this hasn't applied to my car for at the last 3 years. The guy just wasn't paying attention. I should have installed the battery myself, but I digress.) This made the guy at the second AutoZone think that this was the cause of my problem. After tightening down the battery cables (and adding a piece of metal to the negative connection) all three checked out fine. I went ahead and returned the starter. At this point I know there is still an issue but I've been reassured by two different AutoZone guys that the battery was the issue the whole time. Okay so Wednesday night we're out at a friends house and ready to head home. The car won't turn over at all. No headlights no power door locks or windows, and no dash lights. I pop the hood and wiggle the battery cables a bit. Try again nothing. Repeat, car starts. So now I'm thinking maybe it's the batter cables themselves. Thursday car won't start even after wiggling cables, I give up and drive the truck to work the rest of the week. So here we are on Saturday and I think I've got it! Jump in the car to start it up, nothing. Wiggle the cables and check battery connection, try again, nothing. Pop the fuse box open under the hood and wiggle the starter relay, car starts right up. Relay!?!

Dead Battery

After a long day at work I jumped in the car ready to head home.  I slipped the key into the ignition and clicked it over expecting the Batmobile's usual purr and nothing!  I tried again and the dash lights flickered.  "Starter?" I thought.  I went ahead and tried one more time and didn't let up until she started.  Trouble is afoot, I must away to my local Auto Zone and hope for the best.  After a few cold and harsh days I had time to take her to get checked out today.  First things first the battery was bad.  I'd purchased a new battery in Dec of 2010 so it's one month past the warranty.  Luckily Auto Zone prorates their batteries so I was able to get a new one for less then cost.  I went for the gold top 8 year warranty and she started right up!  Thank goodness.  With my heavy heart now relieved I used my last few hours of day light to head on over to my local Firestone and get the alignment knocked out.  Out of the four wheels all except the rear left were way out of whack.  So now the Batmobile has a 1 year warranty on alignment and 8 year warranty on the battery. That's two less things out of a billion to worry about.

Mileage 163,244