Well...like they say...sometimes stepping back is the best thing to do. Well, work forced me to step back by sending me to a conference for a few days. Being that most of this conference was pretty boring, I started thinking about my mustang problem.
And then the light came on. The last time my mustang had really been driven for any significant time was the beginiing of December. Since then, it's basically been sitting in the garage. I try to start it up every week or so. Well, until this weekend, it had been almost 3 weeks since I last got it to start. That time, I had to jump the battery to get it to start. But I never reallyl drove it. I let it idle for about 5-10 minutes.
Then I said to myself: "Self, you know that an alternator will not charge at idle" and then I reminded myself that I haven't driven it in a few months. So yesterday, since I had the day off after flying back from the conference, I decided I needed to run up the some local performance shops to get some information about running my dual exhaust. I figured I'll take the mustang, since they'll need to see the car and the headers to get a rough idea of what is involved.
So I go out, try to crank the car. Nothing but clicks. I was actually happy about that, because it would help prove my point. I pulled out my jumper battery, and eventually I got the car started. I let it warm up and then went for a 10 minute drive to a local shop. I wasn't quite brave enough to turn it off, so I let it run. I did bring the jumper battery just in case. After talking to this guy (who while was a mustang performance guy, knew jack squat about the inlines) I decided to head to another shop. I stopped the car there. Went back out a few minutes later. No problems. I made a few other runs here and there. No problems at all.
So I decided since it was a pretty nice day today (high around 35*, no snow or rain) I would take the KASTANG to work today, so I could give it a really good charge on the battery (1 hour at highway speeds). Car started up with no problems.
Now hopefully I don't speak too soon, and this afternoon it will start up fine, but I think that was my problem. My battery never got a good charge on it since I replaced it. I am going to keep an eye on my battery discharge rate when the car is off. I wonder if I have a draw on my battery when the car is off. I need to check for that. But I want to have a good solid charge on the battery before I look for that.
So...back to my olf saying...Keep It Simple Stupid (KISS). Sometimes it's the simple things that get us because we overlook them. I overlooked the battery since it was replaced in December.
Slade
And then the light came on. The last time my mustang had really been driven for any significant time was the beginiing of December. Since then, it's basically been sitting in the garage. I try to start it up every week or so. Well, until this weekend, it had been almost 3 weeks since I last got it to start. That time, I had to jump the battery to get it to start. But I never reallyl drove it. I let it idle for about 5-10 minutes.
Then I said to myself: "Self, you know that an alternator will not charge at idle" and then I reminded myself that I haven't driven it in a few months. So yesterday, since I had the day off after flying back from the conference, I decided I needed to run up the some local performance shops to get some information about running my dual exhaust. I figured I'll take the mustang, since they'll need to see the car and the headers to get a rough idea of what is involved.
So I go out, try to crank the car. Nothing but clicks. I was actually happy about that, because it would help prove my point. I pulled out my jumper battery, and eventually I got the car started. I let it warm up and then went for a 10 minute drive to a local shop. I wasn't quite brave enough to turn it off, so I let it run. I did bring the jumper battery just in case. After talking to this guy (who while was a mustang performance guy, knew jack squat about the inlines) I decided to head to another shop. I stopped the car there. Went back out a few minutes later. No problems. I made a few other runs here and there. No problems at all.
So I decided since it was a pretty nice day today (high around 35*, no snow or rain) I would take the KASTANG to work today, so I could give it a really good charge on the battery (1 hour at highway speeds). Car started up with no problems.
Now hopefully I don't speak too soon, and this afternoon it will start up fine, but I think that was my problem. My battery never got a good charge on it since I replaced it. I am going to keep an eye on my battery discharge rate when the car is off. I wonder if I have a draw on my battery when the car is off. I need to check for that. But I want to have a good solid charge on the battery before I look for that.
So...back to my olf saying...Keep It Simple Stupid (KISS). Sometimes it's the simple things that get us because we overlook them. I overlooked the battery since it was replaced in December.
Slade
