It quit on me!

[347stroker]

I was on my way to a local cruise last night when the engine died at a stoplight. The symptoms were 1: the tach went up to 5000, 2: the speedometer was dancing. I got it off the road and tried to restart. I got the chatter of the solenoid like a low battery. The car has hardly been run in the last six months due to my job and upgrades I'm doing to the car. It has an MSD ignition and the battery is six years old. I bought the car used and have been correcting the original owners errors. I think the battery is crap. Any opinions or suggestions would be welcomed. No Patrick I won't jack up the mirrors and drive an ERA under them! If the general opinion is the battery what brand would be the best. Tom

[vector1]

once started it should run on the alternator. check fuses, alternator and battery.

[Blas]

Mag-pickup......
(At least it's easy for you to tow it home)

[347stroker]

Had to get a friend with a roll back. The side street it was on is not truck friendly!

[ACademic]

I would start with the battery and then check all ground connections. These cars shake and rattle a lot, causing all kinds of loose connections if you don't keep an eye on them.

[347stroker]

Agreed. I'm going to give it a thorough inspection. Thanks guys any more ideas will be appreciated. Tom

[STEVE-O]

Doublecheck the ground to frame connection in the trunk. I had a disconnect there that initially caused the speedo and tach to jump around.
May be worth a check even though you did say that you still had solenoid chatter.
Other than that, maybe the MSD quit. Seems like it would still crank though.
If not the ground, then sounds like low battery voltage. Keep a Battery Tender on it when not driving.

[347stroker]

I agree on the low voltage. Old battery and I neglected to put the tender on the battery. Duh! Tom