I was driving to lunch to day when my car just shut off, at about 25 mph. When I turned the key, I would get some clicking, but no action from the starter. There was enough juice to run the emergency flashers and the radio (but not the amplifier).

I got a jump start and the car idled very erratically with black smoke coming out of the exhaust. I was able to drive it back the couple of blocks to my office. I parked the car and turned it off. It would not then restart.

Battery replaced about 2 months ago, no CELs during the incident today.

Any ideas?

 

Bad batt connections? Go get the batt and alternator tested at AutoZone.

 

I plan to. Do I need to have the alt off the car to get it tested? For some reason I think I do...

 

oops, guess not

 

I would drive it around the parking lot and then check for codes. I lot of times the light won't come on (knock sensor, misfire). Check the alternator too.

 

That happened to me, but I noticed beforehand that all the accessory lights came on, and the car stalled seconds later.. Alternator was my problem.

 

I didn't notice that. The first thing I noticed was my stereo cut out, so I looked down. By then it was dead and coasting.

 

Yup, thats exactly how it went down.. that entire week the speakers were shutting on and off.

 

Sounds like the alternator to me. Same thing happened when mine died.

 

Went to AutoZone. It was the batt. Or at least the batt was dead. They couldn't then test the alt with a bad batt. I'll go back and have the alt tested tomorrow.