Charge the battery. Make sure the battery will start the car. Disconnect the battery and let it sit over night. Reconnect and try to start the car. If it starts, you have a charging/electrical system problem. If it doesn't start you have a battery problem. After this test, move on to correcting the problem.
It doesn't start when fully charged; get the starter checked
It starts after sitting overnight; tlowe#1716 has the answers.
It doesn't start after sitting overnight; return the battery.
Damn, I just realized I should have put this under the electrical issues thread.
OK, I'll try that before going through the trouble of yanking the alternator. It's the one thing on the inline six that mostly accessible from underneath the car, so it's a pain.
It's weird, because it was a hard start to get it going the other day, but it started. Then I drove 40 miles, stopped got out for a few minutes, got in and couldn't muster the juice to start. Someone jumped me, and I was close to the store I got the battery so I drove there. They checked it and said it was still good and recharged it for me. I started it up twice more that day to get to work, then stop and get food, then drive 40 miles back home. Then two days later, it wouldn't start in the driveway.
I didn't think the alternator was an issue because i didn't have a warning light, and it drove for 40 miles twice without dying. But maybe it is both a bad alternator and bad starter. The alternator failing enough to not charge properly and drain it when off, and the starter taking too much juice to work due to its age and exasperating the issue? Or maybe the battery too? I cleaned the connections on the battery cables nice and shiny. The negative cable is new, but the positive is original. Could be an issue there?
