Guys, I need an advise/opinion.

Last Saturday my wife was driving my X, she stopped for a few minutes and could not start the engine. As she turned the key to "start" position, the radio stopped working and lights shut off. Some truck was passing buy and helped her with a jump start.

Rest of Saturday and the whole Sunday the X was starting just fine. Monday morning it was dead again. No lights, power, radio, nothing. I've called AAA and they gave me a jump start.

Now it works fine again.

The strange facts:
1) The battery is 2years, 2 months old. It's too young to die. (Yeah, I bought it in WalMart for $55. Maybe I just got that I've paid for)
2) Assuming the battery is dead how it could completely loose the charge in few minutes last Saturday, than hold it overnight from Saturday to Sunday?

I just worry that the problem may be not in the battery.

So what do you think - battery or not battery?

PS. I've measured the voltage on the battery with engine running. It's 14.3 volts. So the alternator seems to be working fine.

One easy way to find out is have the battery tested. I had mine done at Checker for no charge. If that is not it, you may have a short somewhere that is draining the battery.

Start with the simple things first. remove and clean battery posts and connections. If it happens again before cleaning, try just moving either one of the battery cables. When this happens does anything electrical work, ie: headlights, brakelights, radio etc... if the headlights work when it happens, are they bright? If they are, then it could be a problem with the starter relay or solenoid, or any of the connections. You mentioned the volts with the engine running which sounds good , but what about the volts of the battery without the engine running? should be around 12.5 volts give or take a little bit depending on the temp.

a battery should not drain in as you said "a few minutes" that she was stopped, so it either wasnt charging when she was driving, so it could be as simple as a bad, or dirty connection if your lucky.

+1 on what e207 said.Sounds like a dirty post/terminal connection.

Also, you can disconnect the battery while the truck's running. If the truck keeps running, the alternator is doing it's thing. If it's not, the truck will die as soon as you disconnect the battery.

Jeff!

Just a thought, on the Isuzu Rodeo I had, it would not run without at battery hooked up. even if it was a dead one, it would run with it, but not without it. I messed around with it for a while tryin to figure out a problem with the elec. in the end found out the alt was fried. talked with a guy at a garage and he also said he had that problem with them. said it was just the way they were set up.

Thank you, everybody.

Seems like the problem was in dirty "+" connector.

Facts:
- 14.3 volts when engine is running
- 12.1 volts when it's not
- 11.6 volts when no engine and all lights/fan/light bar are on
- 11.6 volts 5 minutes later

Based on the facts, the battery is fine.

The "+" connector had a lot of build up. I cleaned it up and running for a few days trouble-free.

Thanks for your help