sars

Today I was in a parking lot getting ready to park when my car shut off. At first I thought the car had stalled (albeit quietly since i didn't notice at first), but when I tried to turn it back on, the car was completely dead.

No dash lights would turn on, no sound when the ignition button was hit, nothing. I pushed it to a parking space, popped the hood. I had removed the key then the car started doing the 'key in ignition' alert you hear when the door is opened, but no key was in the iginotion.

checked the battery. wiggled the positive battery cable, which was a bit loose. note, the battery is brand new and was just installed a week ago.

Didn't really know what was going on, and when i went to start the car it turned on again. oddly enough, everything was reset, as though the battery had been disconnected (had to enter the radio code to unlock it).

I'm at a loss for what may have happened but if this were to have happened at speed or some other situation it could've been much more dangerous. Has anyone else had this happen to them?

Any idea on how to begin to start diagnosing this issue?

MBHs2k

Alternator going bad

jtsimaras

Could be a bad battery

redrum239

a bad battery, no matter how bad it is, will cause a car to shut off while driving, or it shouldn't. i drove my integra for a good 15 miles WITHOUT a battery in it. Loose terminal may have caused it not to start after dying, and would also cause the reset, but i would have the alternator checked for why it died.

vtec9

Faulty ignition switch maybe

AZ-S2000

Unless the ACG fuse popped, prevented alternator from charging battery, and ran off the battery which eventually will stall/kill the engine.

TW00Si

This exact thing has happened to me when I replaced my battery. I apparently didn't tighten it enough and at times the car would not start. Just tighten the positive and negative cables and you should be fine.

Toro2k

Could be something simple. When I had my integra back in the days, my car kept shuting off on the FREEWAY due to a bad battery. After the second time I swapped new battery, it kept doing the same thing. I than replaced my alternator and the problem kept on occuring. I was going to bring it to the shop to get it fix. But before I did, I checked all my fuses and found that the alternator fuse were blown. I barrowed a spare fuse on my Integra and the problem was fix.

You should check all of your wires connected to your battery first than your fuses. If the problem still occur, bring it to Autozone and get a FREE diagnostic check on your battery and alternator.

Hope that helps.

Toro2k

BTW: even with a bad battery, your car alternator should still be able to generate power to keep the car running.

jsenclosure

alternator goes bad, then drains your battery. it's your alternator, and you can most likely recharge the battery