Electrical issue??

Left the interior lights on the other night by mistake and ran my battery down (1yr old red top Optima). Jumped it and let it run awhile, shut it down and it started right up. My wife drove it yesterday on a short drive and said when she turned on the headlights, the radio went off and the engine started cutting out. I figured it didn't get a good charge, so I drove it to work today 40 miles with everything off to get a good charge. When I got close to work, I turned on the headlights and then turned them off - gave it gas and it started bucking/cutting out. I had tried this a few times on the way, and got the same results every time. After a few minutes, everything was fine and it wouldn't cut out anymore. I'm going to take it at lunch and have the battery checked out, but anyone have any other ideas?

Sounds like a defective cell - go get an exchange (red top has either a 3 or 5 year warranty). It's been really hot so it could be your alternator is less efficient (since it's working to power the AC and everything else you may have on) so it may be that you never got a complete charge - or worse case your alternator is going.

-- John

Thanks for the input, John. I went to Auto Zone at lunch today, they said the battery and charging system both checked out OK. So I'm stumped - will see how it does on the way home after additional charging - although, I would think 40 miles at highway speedswould have done a sufficient job.

I have had numerous Optima batteries go bad after being run down. Optimas seem to be notorious for going to shat after being discharged. Make sure your Optima is still under warranty, then take it back to where you bought it, demand a replacement if it is warrantied. Keep in mind, Auto Zone recharged mine and said it was fine the first time it happened to me, but the battery would not hold it's charge. That is why I was able to get a replacement at the time - back then Optimas had 5 year warranties though. Why would they lessen the warranty? Hmm...

yea a buddy of mine has a red top in his civic and 2 cells died on it, he had it tested where he bought it and they told him to get a new alternator because th battery wasnt the problem...reading through the scan gauge he only had 7V when the engine wasnt running! after we showed them that they replaced the battery and all his problems were solved