Dead Battery in 95 SL2

I have a 1995 auto SL2 with about 96,000 miles on it and yesterday when
I tried to start it I discovered the battery was completely dead - no
lights, no clicking, nothing. The car ran fine less than 12 hours
earlier and I have had no other indications that the battery was about
to die even though it is 4-5 years old. A neighbor helped me jumpstart
it and I let it idle for a few minutes. It seemed to be running fine
but when I put my foot on the brake to put the car into drive, the car
stalled again. It had to be jumpstarted a second time and I let it
idle longer but again when I went to put the car into drive it stalled
once more. So I called AAA to get a tow to NTB. The AAA guy got it to
start and drove it a few feet to get it into place to be towed but he
said that it stalled again at the very end. He didn't think that it
was the alternator, which was initial my suspicion, and even suggested
that it could be "something in the engine, perhaps a fuel pump issue or
something similar" which I doubted.

Anyway, NTB put in a new battery and tested the alternator and said all
looks good now. But I am not completely convinced that the problem is
due to just an old/bad battery and don't want to get stranded again.
My question is should I have them test the alternator again? And does
anyone have any thoughts about what else would have caused this? Or
should I just be grateful that it's not the dreaded alternator problem
raising it's ugly head and go on my merry way?

Thanks!
KJ

 

Sounds like a bad battery and based on age seems a likely culprit. If it
happens again now with the new battery, then they did not test the charging
system correctly and have them look again at the alternator.

Bob

 

Hey Bob,

Thanks for the response. The bad battery theory seems to be correct
since I haven't had any more problems since NTB put in the new one.
Will keep my fingers crossed!

-kj