03-26-2013, 10:14 PM
I was driving along the highway approaching my turn off, when all of the sudden I lost all electrical power. All the gauges went to zero, all of the lights dimmed to nothing, and the radio went off. The engine was still running but it felt like it was just coasting. As soon as I had slowed becuause of traffic and depressed the clutch, everything cutout. Luckily I was already beside the shoulder and was able to slide over and stop safely. I turned off the ignition and pressed the hazard lights button. The lights just barely came on. I tried to restart but all I got was the clicking noise of a dead battery.
This was the first time in all of my driving experience (34 years) that I have had a breakdown on the highway. I have driven my focus daily on the highway for the last 13 years.
Thanks to my wife's persistance I enrolled in the CAA program a few years ago. I called CAA and they were arrived within 5 minutes! Luckily I was only about 3km from home so he towed me there without a problem.
During the day I did notice that the start cranking was a little sluggish and the power windows were operating at a very slow rate. I was hoping that it would start for the drive home so that I could check it out at home. I had replaced the battery only once at around 5 years, so this battery was on its 8th year (normally you should change your battery every 4 years). Went out and picked up a battery and installed it this morning and now the car is back up and running again. I did the odometer test mode trick to check if the alternator was working up to snuff and it showed that it was within the normal operating voltage. woo hoo!
This was the first time in all of my driving experience (34 years) that I have had a breakdown on the highway. I have driven my focus daily on the highway for the last 13 years.
Thanks to my wife's persistance I enrolled in the CAA program a few years ago. I called CAA and they were arrived within 5 minutes! Luckily I was only about 3km from home so he towed me there without a problem.
During the day I did notice that the start cranking was a little sluggish and the power windows were operating at a very slow rate. I was hoping that it would start for the drive home so that I could check it out at home. I had replaced the battery only once at around 5 years, so this battery was on its 8th year (normally you should change your battery every 4 years). Went out and picked up a battery and installed it this morning and now the car is back up and running again. I did the odometer test mode trick to check if the alternator was working up to snuff and it showed that it was within the normal operating voltage. woo hoo!