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To clarify, the battery I just replaced was 3 years and 3 months old. The problems started about 3 weeks ago when I left the trunk cracked open overnight and had a dead battery the next day. I put an off-and-on slow charge on it and it worked fine for the next few days. My charger doesn't have an automatic cutoff so I didn't want to leave it charging overnight. It seemed OK, but would sound a bit weak at times, until it wouldn't start one morning again. I put a slow charge on it all day and took it to Goodyear the next day hoping for a load test, but they don't do those. All they gave me was a fully-charged report and said the battery was good. After sitting unused in the garage for two days, it wouldn't start again. That's when I suspected a starter. You guys got me straightened out on that. I gave it a quick fast charge, started it and drove to get a new battery yesterday. It started fine this morning.
My automatic test has always been to honk the horn with headlights on, but you guys got me straightened out on that too. I tend to drive cars for a long time, and thus don't keep up on new developments. My previous two Miatas I drove for about 10 years each.
I haven't done any instructing for about 8 years due to business stuff, so I realize I'm going to have to get current on a lot of developments so I can answer student's questions. I'm hoping to have the FRS track ready by fall when it gets cool enough here. I'll be hitting the books in the meantime as well.
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