In a message dated 98-04-30 14:40:39 EDT, dmo1205@IX.NETCOM.COM writes:

<< At the last stop, boom, dead battery, won't crank but maybe once (battery
is less than 3 years old), she calls me I think OK, batteries sometimes go
dead quck, so I pick up a new one and drive it over to her, install it and it
starts fine. She hasn't noticed anything different all morning, no warning
lights, no smoke, no funny noises. Off she goes, off I go back to work, 30 min
later shes calls me and the one time she turned off the engine (for less than
5 min) boom, dead battery.

 We pop the clutch and it starts so now it sits in the garage, still won't
crank.  I've looked over the van and can't see anything obvious, but I'm not
sure where to look. It happened so fast it has to be something simple, what
could short out/kill a battery so fast?  Where do I start looking? >>

How many miles on the alternator and volt regulator? These are the only other
parts of the sytem that keeps your battery charged. check those.

gmbulley
cary, nc