So my car drove to campus fine this morning, started right up.

Went to go leave on lunch. Put the key in the ignition and turned it to Run, all the lights came on and everything as usual lit. Turned the key to Start and it clicked once and every single electrical component shut off immediately and the engine did not budge or even try to turn over.

Tried this multiple times after waiting for whatever electrical problem to stop..

Some really scary things happened like the "open door" beeper beeping erratically as well as the gauge needles randomly jumping.. again, this is even with the key out of the ignition and nothing running.. and then i noticed the radio wouldnt work as well as my key fob wouldnt lock the doors. So obviously i figured it was a dead batt.


Ran to buy a new battery with a friends car and threw it in.. Car started and idled horribly. Probably the worst i ever heard it idle. So i shut it off, and started it again. and it idled fine... (PCM had to reboot or restart?)


SO, after getting home. Just for the hell of it i put a voltmeter across the OLD BATTERY's terminals to find it still read 13V.

I am thoroughly confused. What could be the problem? Could it be my old battery is still shot eventhough it reads 13V with a voltmeter?

Please help.

 

it could be reading fine voltage, but not have good amperage. and the rough idling thing was the computer doing its learning thing. I have a friend that happened to a while back, and was just a bad battery

 

In addition to checking battery voltage, you have to have them load tested. This will tell you if the battery is shot or not.