Fairly obvious battery problem right?

[eeeks]

Its been a bit chilly in the NYC metro area recently. So much so that my new steed *Grumpy* has been living up to his name.

Battery seems to have enuff juice for the alarm and interior lights, but not enough to crank the car over.

Once jumped, however I measure about 14volts going to the battery.

When ignition off...and all accessories off....I get something like 10.28 volts across the terminals....

Batttery is toast yes?

FYI, this is a supposedly *new* Optima Red Top gotten from Rice....err...PepBoys on 12/17/04. It worked fine for like 2 weeks, but as soon as temps dropped below 35 overnight....nothing.

Anything else that I should be checking here? Or should I just haul that thing right back to PepBoys and get one that works.

TIA all

[nando]

it's probably dead.. I've bought brand new batteries that were completely dead before too, not even enough juice to power the locks or the dome lights.

[Brew]

Sounds like a dead battery to me.

Test your key-off draw before you go and buy a new one though. With the key in the "off" position and no lights or accessories running, disconnect one of the battery terminals and put you multimeter in line with the negative terminal and ground and measure amps. You may also want to use a lead with a fuse. It should read less than 40mA if I remember correctly.

[eeeks]

drawing about 35milli...

The battery is less than 10days old...so PepBoys should exchange it

[Brew]

drawing about 35milli...

The battery is less than 10days old...so PepBoys should exchange it

That draw sounds ok to me. Just exchange the battery.