Help! Battery died, jumped - idles fine. drop it in gear, let off the clutch and it dies...

[darkrain714]

Went outside yesterday morning and my battery was dead. I jumped it today, let it warm up a little bit to recharge the battery, but when i put it in gear (1st or reverse) when i let off the clutch, no matter how much gas i give it, it starts to roll but dies. I don't know if the battery is simply too dead to handle any load or if my alternator is going bad, but it's almost out of gas so I can't let it run forever outside. Any ideas?

Also, since the last 2 days I've noticed that if my ac is turned on, the engine starts to make a kind of choppy squeak that syncs with the engine's rpms. don't know if it's related or not though.

2001 manual transmission, completely stock.

 

[hotmtrsports]

These cars will do funny things if the battery isn't FULLY charged. I suggest putting the battery on an actual charger. Load test the battery after charging to make suer the battery is still good.

If that doesn't work, test the alternator.

By the way, leaving just that little bit of gas in the fuel tank is not good and will create other problems for you.

Chuck M

 

[darkrain714]

These cars will do funny things if the battery isn't FULLY charged. I suggest putting the battery on an actual charger. Load test the battery after charging to make suer the battery is still good.

If that doesn't work, test the alternator.

By the way, leaving just that little bit of gas in the fuel tank is not good and will create other problems for you.

Chuck M

Yeah, I went and got a battery charger and it's set up outside on turtle mode And the 'Low Fuel' indicator came on right when I pulled in the night before, and I was headed to get gas when I found it dead...

Thanks for the reply though. It's at 84% charged, so I'll pop it back in in the morning and see if she works again. Also the charger has a built in alternator checker, so I'll give that a go.

 

[LLC5]

Yeah, I went and got a battery charger and it's set up outside on turtle mode And the 'Low Fuel' indicator came on right when I pulled in the night before, and I was headed to get gas when I found it dead...

Thanks for the reply though. It's at 84% charged, so I'll pop it back in in the morning and see if she works again. Also the charger has a built in alternator checker, so I'll give that a go.

Keep in mind that just because a battery is fully charged it does not mean that it is good, only that it is ready to be tested. It would be a good idea to have the battery fully tested with a carbon pile load tester, even if the battery is new. Your vehicle should have at least a 550 CCA 120 AH battery to function properly over time. Battery cables need to be clean and tight to 11 foot lbs (even a tight battery bolt can have a loose cable, so wiggle the cable after tightening the bolt to make sure the cable is tight, I have seen them loose after tightening many times).

Do you have a pull key and wait 10 seconds light come on when you back up? If you do, this is a fail safe for the column lock that is highly voltage sensitive. Any column lock issues need to start with a known good battery (properly tested, even if new) and clean and tight cables. Good luck with it.

 

[targatom]

what cured your staling problem anyways

Hi, I have something very similar, I have a c5 with A4, that dies about three seconds after being put into gear. It idles fine in neutral, indefinitely, but dies in gear. I had a dead battery and replaced with a new one.

Went outside yesterday morning and my battery was dead. I jumped it today, let it warm up a little bit to recharge the battery, but when i put it in gear (1st or reverse) when i let off the clutch, no matter how much gas i give it, it starts to roll but dies. I don't know if the battery is simply too dead to handle any load or if my alternator is going bad, but it's almost out of gas so I can't let it run forever outside. Any ideas?

Also, since the last 2 days I've noticed that if my ac is turned on, the engine starts to make a kind of choppy squeak that syncs with the engine's rpms. don't know if it's related or not though.

2001 manual transmission, completely stock.