My Car Fixed Itself After I Let It Sit for Two Months? Stumped my Mechanic

Posted by ahhhimsoconfused1995@reddit | askcarguys | View on Reddit | 12 comments

2006 Kia Spectra, 80k Miles, Midwest

Not a car guy, I can change a tire but that's it. My car was having stalling issues whenever I was coming up to stop lights/signs/braking. I borrowed my dads car for two months while I saved up money for repairs, and the car battery completely died. So I jump started the vehicle to take it into the shop it and ran perfectly. No stalls. No rough idle. I am baffled and am curious what you guys think could've been the issue? My brother who has been a mechanic for 7 years has no clue.

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XtraChrisP@reddit

How old is the battery?

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ahhhimsoconfused1995@reddit (OP)

December 2022, only about 15k miles on it

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XtraChrisP@reddit

Not that, then. Cables tight? Loose grounds can do weird things.

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lermandude@reddit

Seen this before, acted as OP described. Check battery terminals.

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ahhhimsoconfused1995@reddit (OP)

sorry for the ignorant question, what am I checking with the battery terminals? there is some corrosion but I clean it every other month or so.

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XtraChrisP@reddit

Make sure the cable and terminal don't wiggle or spin easily on the battery.

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lermandude@reddit

Checking that the cables to the vehicle are secure on the battery posts and not loose enough they could break contact

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AKJangly@reddit

I'm leaning on it being two possible things: bad engine to frame ground strap, or a forced relearn from the battery dying and you needing to get it jumped.

It's likely to come back.

There are other things that can cause issues like this.

My car is running rough at idle and I can't figure out why. Only has issues when intake air gets too hot. Drive through service is especially hard on it, hard not to buck through traffic. But if you keep it on the highway it purrs like a kitten when you turn right off the exit.

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