twentyeggs

Hey .org people, it's been a loooong while.

So I've known for a 5-6 months that my alternator was slowly dying. And yesterday late at night (2am) I got the Brake light and Battery light combo. As soon as they flashed on I cursed and flipped a U-turn to start the mad dash home. I was 16 miles from home, and no joke, made it to about a quarter mile from my garage. I was doing 60 in a 40 when it shuddered and the RPMs dropped and the accelerator did nothing. The car is in it's death throws. Safety systems engage and all she does now is idle. I quickly throw it into Neutral because oddly, it was lightly engine braking in drive. I coast down the road, around the corner, down the hill, and right into my garage. She took one last gasp by flashing the airbag sign and flickering the dash lights, and then death.. we had our first electrical casualty.

I swung by the auto store and picked up a 120 amp Duralast with a life time warranty, a jug of antifreeze, and went to work the next day. All buttoned up and running 14.2 volts I shut her down and went to run some errands.
I noticed everything throttle wise is quick and snappy. the car feels like it is accelerating faster, like there is a little more pep in er step.

So I am wondering why this is. Maybe the bearings are better than the stock on and creates less drag? maybe since I mostly drive at night, with the lights and stereo drawing power, my coils weren't giving good zaps? Maybe my Injectors, Coils, sensors, fuel pump, relays, ect.. were just barely getting by without triggering low voltage safety shut downs?

I've only be driving around between lights on a 40-50 mph area. But I swear it feels different. It's just very unexpected. what do the .org oracles have to say.