Problem Solved

Coincidentally, yesterday I had my car scheduled for an oil change.  So while I was there I asked our car guy about what was happening with Sarah’s car.  I explained what happened when it totally lost power and asked if it may have been related to the error code that caused the service engine light to come on. 

As we were talking about the battery, I asked about the connections, because the battery is only a week old so there is no way is should be dead already.  Plus, the car started up without any charging so obviously there was power coming from it.  He suggested checking the connections for corrosion, that sometimes on the connecting ring (it’s a side post battery) corrosion will build up preventing a good connection.  I told him that makes sense and that I know for sure there was some build up on the ring when I took the old battery out, so I can definitely try cleaning it off.

When Sarah got home from work, I pulled her car into the drive way got a wire brush, emery paper and some WD-40.  After about 5 minutes, things were cleaned up and put back together.  The car started right up, but it usually does when the engine is warm.  This morning, there were no problems at all thought.  No hesitation turning over, no cranking waiting for it turn over.  One turn of the key and, vroom!  So it looks like we have one problem solved, though I will need to keep an eye on it just to make sure.  Now I just need to figure out what to do about the leaking brake fluid (yes, that is still there).