Bad Gas? Or something else...

[Michael]

Not to change the subject but Optima batteries suck ever since they moved their facilities out of the country(just like the old Bosch oe fuel pumps when they stopped making them in Germany).

I went through 3 yellow tops in 4 years. Apparently you also need one of their proprietary $200.00 charger/maintainers with their batteries as well. I'm team Interstate now and I doubt I will ever use another brand.

[DL4567]

I'll double check it, but I do periodically put a multimeter on it and it has always read strong since I put it in.
Interesting about them moving out of the country. My previous battery was another yellow top, from approximately 2005. It lasted me 12 years before I replaced it with this one.

[Michael]

I'll double check it, but I do periodically put a multimeter on it and it has always read strong since I put it in.
Interesting about them moving out of the country. My previous battery was another yellow top, from approximately 2005. It lasted me 12 years before I replaced it with this one.

A multi meter will only read the surface voltage. A load test is the only way to test a battery. That said, if the battery is showing +/- 14v, at idle, I doubt it's causing the engine problems whether the battery is good or bad.

[DMC-Ron]

Not to change the subject but Optima batteries suck ever since they moved their facilities out of the country(just like the old Bosch oe fuel pumps when they stopped making them in Germany).

I went through 3 yellow tops in 4 years. Apparently you also need one of their proprietary $200.00 charger/maintainers with their batteries as well. I'm team Interstate now and I doubt I will ever use another brand.

+1 on the Interstate batteries.
Ron

[Ron]

$.02

I don't see it being the battery.
If it's strong enough to start the engine, there would be enough power left to run the engine past the time it takes to get to operating temperature; Even with a dead alternator.

[David T]

I have seen where, even with a good alternator, a low battery causes a low system voltage and the ignition ECU doesn't like it and the car ran badly. Easy enough to check and rule out as a cause so it is worth taking a voltage reading. Anything under 12 volts is a problem. Remember, at idle an alternator can't put out much so if the battery is really low, the alternator is dumping everything it can into charging the battery and that can cause a system undervoltage. Add in a few bad connections, maybe a loose belt, and that's enough to make it run bad.

[DL4567]

After all the holiday parties and dust settled, yesterday evening I was able to work on the car. I think replacing the gas has solved the issue. Below are pics of what it looked like. Pretty ambery in color, and while the scent was rather weak, it smelled more like a paintbooth than gasoline (still not awful though). In the cups, new gas is on the left, both have only about 3/4" of liquid in them.

I knew there would be some lag time for the new gas to circulate around from the tank to the engine, but it still took longer than I expected. It ran horribly again for several minutes, sometimes shaking to the point where I almost turned it off. But I kept revving it to smooth it out some, and after about 8 minutes, it finally ran like normal. Revving it from that point on, was nothing but smooth. Woulda been nice if it didn't take 8 minutes of rough running, but I didn't feel like this situation warranted a total fuel system cleanout as if the car sat for years.

On the subject of the battery, I agree with the statement "if it was strong enough to start the car, it's probably not the issue for the rough running." But FWIW, a few months ago I did install new AC and alternator belts, as well as a new adjustable alternator tensioner bracket. So a battery issue wasn't out of the realm of possibility. But happy to report that with the engine running, the battery reads 13.98 at the terminals.

I let the car run for about 15-20 min, and will take it for a drive tonight, but (fingers crossed) I think it's good now. Definitely a wake-up call that I need to drive the car more!
My best theory is that the gas at the station in August when I last filled it, was already older than normal due to decreased Covid summer traffic. It's hard to imagine now, but not too many people were on the road still at that point.


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[Michael]

Glad it was a simple issue. Be sure to replace that fuel filter and it wouldn't be a bad idea to add a can of Seafoam with your next fill up.