DeTomaso Mailing List: April 1997, Message #56
     



From: nobbie@concentric.net (Nobbie)

Subject: Battery Problem

Date: Tue, 8 Apr 1997 06:24:25 -0400 (EDT)



Funny thing happened Monday morning. Hopped in the car at 8am (7am by

daylight savings time), and conducted my normal cold-start routine. Crank

the motor before de-activating the kill switch. Bad sound. WHIRR Whirr

whirrrrrr....  Uh oh. Turned off the kill switch and tried to start the

car. Nothing.



Found another way to work and when I came home 11 hours later, the car

fired right up! The ampmeter needle flew way to the right, but after a few

minutes (seconds?) it settled just to the right of center. Ran the car for

a while. Then turned it off and immediately restarted it about ten times.

No problems. Everytime I restarted it, I noticed the ampmeter needle

jumping way to the right, then settling back to just right of center.



The car had been sitting since Friday evening, and the temps over the

weekend had dipped to the low to mid 50s. (The Pantera lives outside. I

have no garage space at this time.) I've got 20W-50 in the motor. The

battery is a Sears Die-Hard made less than a year ago. And I have that

flickering GEN light that comes on intermittent when hitting bumpy roads

and braking, but isn't flickering in unison with the ampmeter (meaning the

ampmeter reflects no change when the GEN light comes on.)



Any thoughts?



I'm now hearing bad things about Die-Hard batteries. That they're not as

die-hard as they used to be or that they're advertising would have you

believe.



Should I just get a gel-cell battery and be done with it? Should I do a

trickle charge every weekend? I've heard of the Optima, but what about the

lighter and more powerful Predator I've seen at Pantera Performance Center

in Colorado? Anybody have any luck with either of them?



Nobbie

#3766 (still looking good!)