david1@mhuxl.UUCP (Rick Nelson) (12/20/85)
My 1983 Datsun MAXIMA's battery (30 months old, 26400 miles) has gone dead twice within the past 3 weeks. The car will readily start with a jump. There have been no warning signs that the battery was weak, no other problems starting the car. It is kept in a garage, so temperature is not a factor. The battery is a sealed maintenance-free one so the cells cannot be checked. After jumping it the first time, everything was fine until 3 weeks later when it was dead again. The car was run earlier in the day with no incident. That night I measured only 7.5V on the battery after it wouldn't start. There is a voltmeter on the dash rather than an idiot light. It shows that the battery is being charged OK. I had the charging system checked anyway and it's OK. Does this sound like a bad battery problem or something more subtle? Rick Nelson mhuxl!david1