Car running absolutely perfectly up until today. Has been VERY cold for the last week or so if that matters.
Going down the road, notice my speedometer is reading wrong, tach also, other gauges start acting wacky, no clock, no outside temp display.
Not good.
Car starts sputtering, then not shifting properly, power keeps dropping off, then she shuts down completely.
Experience makes me think alternator not charging, voltage drops, computer reference voltages all wrong, nothing "computes", car starts running WRONG until battery completely dies ... sound about right?
Not even enough juice left to light the 4-way flashers.

Oddly enough, I have another battery in the trunk (for a different car so I can't just drop it in there and go),
but I hook that battery up to mine (with cables) to run my flashers ... still nothing! This seems wrong.

Car is extremely well taken care of (by me), all maintenance up to date, ECU recapped 4 years ago and operating perfectly (and I have a spare just in case).

Thoughts?

 

What happens when you try to start the car - with a good battery? What is the battery voltage with the engine running, assuming you can get it to run?

 

Turned out the alternator sh*t the bed (kind of what I figured). Only ever watched an alternator die while driving on an "older" car ... a little less drama than with this one. But that's what it was. 6 year-old battery still load tested good, so that's something. My little NOCO charger / desulfator is doing it's job.

Thanks for checking in ... I appreciate it

 

usually when the alt is dying you'll get a battery light on while driving - perhaps the cold weather took it out much faster than normal. glad it is a straightforward repair!

 

Make sure you do not have power steering (or other) fluid leaking onto the alternator. If so, expect history to repeat itself. You have to fix the leak.

 

Not an issue on my car. Nothing to do with that.

 

It was probably there ... I just didn't see it before the wonky speedometer readings got my attention. It went from fine to dead in short order. It was extremely cold that day, so you're probably right about that.