hahnn002

Drove two blocks to subway. I turned the car off and walked in, and a few minutes later I walked out with food and got back into the car. I turned the key to on, the radio came on, and I pushed the button to make the window go down. While the window was going down I pushed the start button. The car started to turn over, then stopped and and all of the lights and radio flickered.

I turned the key to off, cursed a lot, and turned the key back to on. The radio came back on and my gauge lights only light up half bright for about 6 seconds then came all the way on. I pushed the window switch to roll it back up. It moved at about half speed and the dash lights flickered while it moved and the radio tuned on and off. When the window was up the dash lights went back to normal and I turned the radio off. I tried the headlights and they start to engerize, but then they and the dash lights go dark for a second, and then they try again try to energize again, and this cylce would continue if I leave the light switch on.

Next I tried to start the car but I only hear rapid clicking under the hood.

The battery reads 12.5 volts and is an 18 month old Optima so I dont think it's the battery. I'm going to try to pull the battery out anyway and hook it up to the tester at sears, but if its not the battery any ideas? Relay maybe? I've checked all of the under dash fuses and all of the under hood fuses, none blown. I doubt it is the starter or solenoid because that wouldn't explain the other electrical problems.

I've had no problems with the car and its my daily driver. Since I purchased the Optima the car started immediatly every time I pushed the start button until now. Even this time it started cranking over hard as ever, not slow or slugish, but just stopped in the middle.

Appreciate input,
Nate

Shadow_S2K

Sounds like your battery died to me. Do you have a sound system? That could be the source of the drain.

darkfx

Did you even try to jump it?

hahnn002

No jumper cables, and nobody I know who has them was answering their phones. It turned out to be the battery, I was simply having a hard time believing it because: A) Its an Optima that has not even turned 2 years old yet, and B) I was getting 12.6 volts off the battery with a fluke (multimeter). I couldn't test it under load because I didn't have anymore hands and the car was stuck in a Subway parking lot. Once I got back home I made my post grabbed my tools and pulled the battery so I could hook it up to a tester. Stock battery lasted 3 years, Optima not even 2, now I'm trying a DieHard Gold which has a 3 year full replacement for any reason.

Moral of this story Optima worked like shit and only has a one year replacement.

I have an Alpine head unit and a small Audiobahn amp for my Infinity door speakers, there is no draw from the battery when the car is off, and the charging system is fine, I checked.

SenderGreen

That's not the first time I've read that on s2ki. I gather there is a red topped and yellow topped optima batteries. I have read people complain about both.

xviper

People used to rave about the Optima and still do. Then came a report that even an Optima rep confessed that they had a really, really bad run of crappy batteries. He claimed they were resolving those issues of poor quality control. Sorry, I wouldn't give them the time of day even if they turned out to be "spectacular" batteries. I can buy 2.5 DieHards for the price of one Optima and the Diehards will work just as well and last much longer, price wise.

robin2race

Check for the loose alternator(generator) bolts, loose battery cables.

jotech_S2000

i curse at optima... on the bug i had... i went through atleast 7 red tops.... i wanted to blow up vatozone