Bonnevile Erratic Electrical System

[bwrynn]

My 98 Bonneville SE had new battery a month ago.

Now driving fine, but stop at a light then occaisonally engine stalls. Starts right away. Another symptom: Cd player also turned off & had to be turned on, the Cd now back to start of the disk. Indicates it lost memory of where it was.

Above happened to my son 3 times last saturday. Happened to me this morning once. While at idle both oil guage & voltmeter voltages declined and would wiggle. Leaving work engine wouldn't crank. I got out to get jumper cables from trunk as someone would help. Then heard the alarm faintly. Behind the wheel to pop the hood, lights suddenly became bright. I did not get the battery jump. Engine started on second try and I drove home.

In the driveway voltmeter showed 14.1 volts with car running. Turned off engine and battery showed 13.1 volts. Now 5 hours later it's 12.9 volts so seems like its not a drain. Any ideas?

[ponchonutty]

Originally Posted by bwrynn

My 98 Bonneville SE had new battery a month ago.

Now driving fine, but stop at a light then occaisonally engine stalls. Starts right away. Another symptom: Cd player also turned off & had to be turned on, the Cd now back to start of the disk. Indicates it lost memory of where it was.

Above happened to my son 3 times last saturday. Happened to me this morning once. While at idle both oil guage & voltmeter voltages declined and would wiggle. Leaving work engine wouldn't crank. I got out to get jumper cables from trunk as someone would help. Then heard the alarm faintly. Behind the wheel to pop the hood, lights suddenly became bright. I did not get the battery jump. Engine started on second try and I drove home.

In the driveway voltmeter showed 14.1 volts with car running. Turned off engine and battery showed 13.1 volts. Now 5 hours later it's 12.9 volts so seems like its not a drain. Any ideas?

Sure sounds like a either loose/dirty battery connections or a bad battery. Yes, there are NEW batteries that are bad. Especially those from Wally world or Autozone.