ok... here it goes...

#1- my lude, when in park (its auto) and the headlights are on, the idle jumps slightly just up and down and stops and idles normally when the headlights are off? my question is why and how headlights being changes the way a car idles.

#2- i am selling my lude and everything is perfect on it... or was. last night after i let her heat up (we dont drive her very often so i try to start her up and take her for a quick spin as often as possible).... so i go for a short drive. get down the road a few miles down, turn around and the speedometer and tachometer needled drop to 0. then the lights on my el gauges cut out, my radar detector flashes and turns off, my cd player shuts off...i get back home and i go to roll the windows up and sunroof and they are going hella slow and the headlights dim. i turn the car off and try to restart and it wont turn over. so i get my friend to give it a jump with his truck. i go to start it with the cables hooked up and the car starts up great and runs perfect, all power is working great. i take the cables off, thinking that it is probably the alternator but the car still runs perfect. i turn off the car again and try to start it and it is dead again. so now i need to replace/recharge my optima red top? but my main question is how does the battery being dead affect the car while it is running????

any help/info is appreciated
thanks
-Zac

 

Sounds like you need a new battery..I've heard some optima batteries do go out

 

The battery is only there to start the car and offer power when the car is off. The alternator can keep the car running by itself.

Sounds like you just need a new battery.

 

thats what my question was.... why, if it is the battery that is dead, was the car affected while it was being driven on the road....
-Zac

 

Can't go wrong with Die Hard battery.......

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Abstractlude &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">thats what my question was.... why, if it is the battery that is dead, was the car affected while it was being driven on the road....
-Zac</TD></TR></TABLE>

Well, it would have to be something else, because you can pretty much start the car and take out the battery and it will still run (depending on conditions). I would say try a new battery and if that doesn't fix anything, start looking at your alternator and wiring.

 

One of you should really try to start your car and take the battery out and see if it still runs.

It will run for a little bit and then die. You have to have a good battery in there.

Back on topic: You could have a bad cell in your battery which would cause it to not hold a charge. I get your alternator tested, there are a lot of places that do it for free and that will eliminate one issue before going out and buying a new battery.

By the way some places will test the battery also, or place a charge on it to see if it will accept one and if it doesn't you know it's bad. Just a few ideas. These will cause the problems you are having.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by SpeedFreak77 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">One of you should really try to start your car and take the battery out and see if it still runs.

It will run for a little bit and then die. You have to have a good battery in there.
</TD></TR></TABLE>

Well yeah, that's why I said depending on conditions. Such as if you don't have any accessories that take extra power and you had the battery cables properly looped together. It's not really a realistic scenario, just a 'in theory' type of thing...

Testing the alternator would be a good idea.

 

Great point Hawkze, I see what you mean.