Date:         Sun, 3 Jun 2001 19:39:52 -0600
Reply-To:     Blake Thornton <thornton@MATH.UTAH.EDU>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Blake Thornton <thornton@MATH.UTAH.EDU>
Subject:      Battery?
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII

Well, my van wouldn't start yesterday.  The starter would turn, but the
engine did not start up.  So, I charged it up all night and tried again in
the morning and the van started right up.

So, I played with the battery.  Tested the electrolite (?) with the
hydrometer (?) and all the cells read ok (all about 1.275).  So, I filled
the cells up with distilled water (I have never done this and they needed
some water, but the plates were still under water so I think no harm
done).

Then I hooked up a voltmeter to the battery and turned on my high beams,
radio and interior light for about 10 minutes.  The voltage never dropped
below 12 volts this whole time.  I then started up the van watching the
volt meter.  It then went up to about 13.1 or 13.2 volts.  And then all of
a sudden the van died.  Now it was just like yesterday, the starter was
turning the engine, but the engine wasn't starting.

So, any ideas?  I now have the charger hooked back up to the battery, but
I think the battery passed the "load test" and is probably fine.  What
else can I check?

(As a side note, my idle has been rough and something is also wrong with
it.  I've been hunting for a solution for that for some time.  There
problems are possibly/probably related.  I'm going to try a different ecu
as I have tried a slew of other things, but I'm waiting on the ecu).

Thanks,
Blake
SLC, UT