Pep Boys Killed My Cobra!

[TDUB003]

I never take my cars to the generic auto shops for this very reason but read on... The Cobra needed an alignment due to the eibach lowering springs so on my home from work on Friday I figured I would stop in and see what they would quote me since it was on my way home. They agreed to price match a quote I received from a local shop +5% so I agreed to get it done.

While they were working on her I was watching through the glass and the tech kept jacking my car up and down and then eventually opened the hood and started messing with my strut bar and looking around in the engine bay. I figured I was being overly paranoid but finally he came in and said I need you to come look at a few things. He told me he got my caster and camber as close as he could but they were both still out a bit due to the lowering springs and that I need to get a set of springs that aren't cut and put bigger rims on her than my 18" Saleens to make it looked lowered without the alignment issues. (seriously wtf?)

After telling me a bunch of bs I already knew he told me I'm sure you know about your charging issue. My car has never had a charging issue in the past and has always started up first time even when I haven't driven her in a while. He tells me that he tighened down the battery cables for me so hopefully it will charge now. I knew they were slightly loose so I figured whatever no big deal. He pulls her around to the front, I pay for the alignment, go out and my car is completely dead.

So I go back in ask for a jump, he brings out one of those mobile quick jump things, tells me it's time for a new battery and we get her started. I drive her home (about 2 miles) and park her in the garage for the weekend. I go to start her on Monday and all it will do is click, so I take my other car to work and figure no big deal, I'll put it on the tender and get it charged. Put it on my trickle charger and think she should be good, but yesterday morning I get the same clicking noise and she won't start.

So last night I decide to jump her off of my other car, get it jumped and started, drive her for about 15 minutes and put her back on the charger over night. This morning, same thing. My battery is a couple years old but I've had batteries last several years with no problem and this didn't show any sign of being bad before now. Obviously the starter is out of the question because it started up just fine last night. I haven't any problems previously with the battery, alternator, or starter. So now my question is what the hell could this douche have done to my car that would make it do this? I'm to the point that I'm just going to bite the bullet and buy a new battery but I don't want to do this if it's not the problem especially since it showed absolutely no signs of being bad before now and then magically after this guy works on her she won't start at all.

 

[VirtualSVT]

You could have had a weak plate in the battery that broke after the car was jacked up. I've seen it before. Sometimes it's the weird angles.

 

[soccerman002]

Sometimes when it's time for a battery to go it just goes. If all the tech did was peek around and tighten up your battery cables, not sure what he could have done. You could go up there and ask them WTF happened, but you know they're gonna beat around the bush and tell you to there isn't anything they can do.

I've never taken my car to a brand name shop, they'll hire just about anybody. The only two times my car has been in a shop was to have an alignment done and to get my subframe connectors welded, and the guy who did it builds track cars.

 

[SuperMarioSVT]

Check the Battery grounds they may be loose. I had a similar problem. I changed my battery and starter and it still wouldn't start on its own. Ford techs put loctite on them so after u un bolt the ground clean it off with some sand paper. if you are not familiar with where the grounds are located, there is one next to the driver side wheel under the car and i believe there is one on the engine block in that same area.

 

[lafeva]

if the battery is fairly old, he may have just killed the battery. i work at a merchants and i know plenty of techs that have killed batteries while doing alignments bc they leave the key in the on position/ when doing an alignment you have to use a brake pedal depressor (a bar that holds the brake down) bc if the front wheels rotate at all that throws off the whole alignment. so im guessing he had the brake pedal depressor on which means the brake lights were on the whole time he was doing the alignment which im sure he struggled with for a while(longer than a normal alignment) which thus killed the battery. good luck, lmk wut happens. i would try to get them to pay for one or atleast give u a discount.

 

[Tyler72]

Honestly I think you are putting blame off on somebody who probably didn't do anything wrong. There's not really anything he could do to kill a battery to a point where it wouldn't hold a charge. It was probably just its time to die.

By the way, do you have caster/camber plates to aid in alignment?

 

[97crystalwhite]

caster camber plates is a must.

 

[95PGTTech]

if the battery is fairly old, he may have just killed the battery. i work at a merchants and i know plenty of techs that have killed batteries while doing alignments bc they leave the key in the on position/ when doing an alignment you have to use a brake pedal depressor (a bar that holds the brake down) bc if the front wheels rotate at all that throws off the whole alignment. so im guessing he had the brake pedal depressor on which means the brake lights were on the whole time he was doing the alignment which im sure he struggled with for a while(longer than a normal alignment) which thus killed the battery. good luck, lmk wut happens. i would try to get them to pay for one or atleast give u a discount.

if your battery dies from having your brake lights on for the ~30 minutes it takes even an incompetent idiot to do an alignment, you need a new battery.

you just need a new battery, it's that time. he did nothing to affect this.

 

[d-nice]

You probably should get a new battery anyway since yours is a few years old. I think after 3-4 maybe 5 years you should replace the battery anyway.

If you want to see if the battery is shot use a volt tester. Get the car started and see what what the battery reads with a the tester. If I am correct it should be charged around 14.5 volts when running and 12 when the engine is off. Guys please correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[95PGTTech]

You probably should get a new battery anyway since yours is a few years old. I think after 3-4 maybe 5 years you should replace the battery anyway.

If you want to see if the battery is shot use a volt tester. Get the car started and see what what the battery reads with a the tester. If I am correct it should be charged around 14.5 volts when running and 12 when the engine is off. Guys please correct me if I'm wrong.

Your numbers are ballpark correct, but even mostly dead batteries will display these. To really test the battery, it needs to be put under load and cold cranking amps measured. This is probably the free diagnostic the Pep Boys guys did which initiated the charging issue conversation.

 

[START 'N CHARGE]

I fix it!

I rarely respond to these posts but....my guess(i've done it) is the battery connections were fine.When he tightened them he distorted the cable to battery pad connection.Just undo,wire brush them(both)tighten snug,not reef on 'em & i bet it will work fine.:beer: Side terminal batterys suck!:dw:

 

[CzchMex]

Make sure he didn't break a terminal. I've done it by accident before tightening them too much. You can tell this is the terminal nipple is loose. There should be absolutely NO PLAY in them. If there is. Then the battery will show proper voltage but never charge correctly or give proper amperage to start the car

 

[Tabres]

It's not that uncommon for a battery to just go like that. It happened to me a few weeks ago in my STi, exactly the symptoms you just described. Pulled the battery and had it tested and it was bad. Replaced it and I was good to go.

Sometimes when they're done, they're just done.

 

[Guy Fawkes]

My uneducated guess is dead battery as well. Just a coincidence.

 

[mysteed]

your numbers are ballpark correct, but even mostly dead batteries will display these. To really test the battery, it needs to be put under load and cold cranking amps measured. This is probably the free diagnostic the pep boys guys did which initiated the charging issue conversation.

+1

 

[TDUB003]

Thanks for the help with this. I went ahead and replaced the battery and she runs fine now, I think it was just it's time to go and as mentioned above the weird angles just finally did it in. In the past I've never had a battery that would start every single time no problem just die like that which is why I was worried he had messed with something he shouldn't have.

As mentioned previously I never take my car into a shop unless I ABSOLUTELY have to because I have a hard time trusting people with any of my cars. I do believe he may have overtightened one of the terminals as no matter what I do now it has some play but I will be replacing those as well.

As for the caster/camber plates I told the guy at the shop I was planning to install them next but according to him you can't use them on these vehicles because the strut attached straight to the frame and my only option is to get "non-cut" springs. :rollseyes While we're on the subject though does anyone know if you can still use the strut bar with the plates and which brands are you guys running/recommend?

 

[cobraman1024]

I use the MM c/c plates and no, you can't use the strut tower brace with them. Then again, I also have the JLT intake which prevented me from using the strut tower brace in the first place.

Tell that guy at Pep Boys he should stick with soccer-moms car instead of trying to give advice on aftermarket mods for Mustangs.

 

[4.6mustang5.0]

.

 

[LOVESBOOST]

^^^11.5v running huh? Hope you don't work on cars for a living.

 

[4.6mustang5.0]

fml, when the battery is started there is a draw on the battery it has to stay above 9.4v to technically be good, then it runs at around 12.4

i openly eat my previous words, thanks for pointing it out lovesboost