1997 Volvo 850 with 6 month old diehard battery will not hold charge,?

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JUJETS

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Son away at New York State College (Cold) jump started car last night ran it idling for 20 minutes , when he attempted to drive engine it stalled. The battery has had numerous jumps, had loose cable two months ago that was corrected, and is not issue now. Do you think it is the battery? why would it stall?
 
I do not thing that it is the battery. My guess is that it is the alternator. The car is supposed to run off of electricity from the alternator once it is started, and the rest is used to recharge the battery. If the car is doing that it is probably the alternator. The good news is that if it in fact is the battery it should be under warranty.
 
jump starting is very hard on a battery - it is entirely possible that you have a bad cell. Check the fluid level of the battery (if it is not a sealed unit). If you can not see water in the battery, add distilled water only, recharge, and test.

If you have a meter, place the positive lead on the battery and the negative lead anywhere on the case of the battery (but not the negative post). If you get a voltage reading, the battery is bad. I would try this first - it sounds as if the battery is just bad. Sears and DieHard make a good battery, but jump starting simply beats a battery to death - too many amps from the other car. A normal charger will apply 12 volts at anywhere from 6, 10, 12, 20, 30, or 40 amps for a charge, and 50 amps and up for a boost. Cars generate considerably more - 500 and up (the CCA rating shows you how many cold cranking amps are applied when you turn the key).
 
well start with getting the battery check but you could need a new alternator if that is not recharging the battery
 
It sounds like the cranking problem has been made worse by the cold weather and a starting problem with the engine. So you end up draining the battery and never really getting it charged since the car isn't driven much apparently. I'd take the battery in to the store to get it recharged and load tested. Then reinstall it as shown in the video below. You might use starting fluid to help the engine start. Make sure you measure at least 14.0 volts across the battery while the engine's idling. Then drive the car for 30 minutes.

http://www.ehow.com/how_512_replace-car-battery.html

http://www.jcwhitney.com/autoparts/Product/Pr-p_Product.CATENTRY_ID:2010636/c-10101/Nty-1/p-2010636/Ntx-mode+matchallpartial/N-10101/tf-Browse/s-10101/Ntk-AllTextSearchGroup?Ntt=battery+post+cleaner+brush
 
i have seen a battery last six years and i have seen a heavy duty one shut down in a week,you don't know how long they will last,so get battery checked first.go for cheapest options first.
 
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