This is a first for me. My Battery Broke!

Life was good, car was driving fine, no dash lights, CEL or anything. I was running errands and the car was fine. After I got home I remembered that I had to go to one more store. I went back out to the car - it was dead!

After turning the key a few more times I noticed that there were no lights on the dash and the LCD clock was gone, and the radio was out too. I pulled out my $10 electrical meter and the battery had about 4-5 volts. I gave the car a jump and it started right up. The meter jumped up to about 14-15 volts with the car at about 3000rpm so it appeared to be charging nicely. About 5 minutes later I shut it off and the battery was back at 4-5 volts. I didn't tear it open to check the individual cells, but it seemed pretty obvious that something broke internally. I bought a new Die Hard battery from Sears, the optional higher output size, and now the car is fine again. Previous owner had installed a battery he bought from Costco about 2 years ago.

I've had batterys die from old age, from leaving lights on, from electrical problems, but this is the first time I ever had one break. I'm just glad I was at home when it happened.