So, I take my car to the local gas station to get a smog check for registration. Instead of watching them perform the test like I would normally do, I choose to pick up some items at the drug store that close by and come back in 20 minutes. When I return to pick up my car, which passed the check, the battery is totally and completely dead. Nothing works, not even the radio or the inside light.
I talk with the manager about this and he states that the battery was dead when I brought it in and they had to jump it to do the test. He gives me a jump to start the car and still nothing electrical works–no lights, no turn signals. The car also barely idles. Even with a low battery, once the car was started the alternator should have no problem powering the basic equipment in the car. I find this quite odd and talk with the manager again. He states that there is nothing that they could have done that would have caused this and offers no help.
Since my car has power windows and they rolled them down when they did the test, my car is rather exposed as I cannot put them back with no electrical systems working. The station manager is no help, so I decide to drive the car to a local Pep Boys to get a new battery. During the drive, the car runs extremely rough, lacks power, and seems on the verge of stalling.
I buy a new battery and install it immediately. The car springs back to life! All systems are working and I can use the turn signals again. Life is good.
My question is could they have messed something up when performing the smog check that messed up my battery or alternator? My car was running perfectly fine up to that point and I had even made several stops that morning and did not have any hesitation when starting it or while it was running. I am at a loss at what could have happened as I have never seen a battery go completely dead in 20 minutes time. I have also never experienced electical systems not working after a car has been jumped.
I won’t say that it’s impossible, but frankly I don’t see how one could cause a battery to fail like that doing any work procedure. It might be possible to sabotage a serviceable battery (removable vent caps) by pouring something into the cells, but one would have to be pretty stupid (the sabotage could be proven) and sadly deperate to do so.
Batteries fail in different ways, and sometimes they fail just as you described. No warning, no recovery. It doesn’t happen that way often, but in 30 years working on thousands of cars, I’ve seen it several times.
Since replacement of the battery fixed all the problems, that should tell you that the alternator is OK.
Like Gary T I can think of no normal part of any smog test that would casue a good battery to fail.
Batteries fail in different ways. Sometime they linger for months, other times they crash and burn all of a sudden.
Thanks for the replies. I guess I will write this off as a coincidence. It just bothered me that the one time that I do not stay and watch them work is the one time my car gets messed up.
My car started idling rough and half the warning lights went off, like check engine, breaks, abs, all after I had a smog check. I started the car up to take it to a mechanic the next day and it worked fine. I dunno, it just feels like there’s some kind of link there. I’ll post what I find out from running a diagnostic on it later.
My daughter took her car to get a new clutch last week. When she went to collect it they told her that the battery was flat and they had it on charge. They said that they were aware of the problem before they started work on the clutch. They put it back in, ran some tests, and told her that she needed a new alternator.
When she took the car in she was totally unaware of any problems related to the battery or the alternator, and she has used the car every day right through the winter. The garage is one that she has used before and she trusts then to not rip her off. I paid for her new alternator and it cured the problem.
Like the OP - I have to assume it is a coincidence.