Last week on an especially snowy day I kept putting on the defroster while blasting the heater early in the morning. After getting about 10 minutes from my home, at a stop light, I noticed the lights on my dash flickering and the battery gauge was wavering. I flipped off my lights, heat, defroster and the gauge went back to normal. At this time I noticed a faint burning plastic smell and was worried I was going to have to pull over and call AAA. But the car made it home and I put the battery on a charger. It showed the battery wasn't fully charged, so I charged it.
Now, it happened again. I'm hoping its just the battery that needs to be replaced. But is a battery kind of half dying like this indicative of a bad battery? I would have expected it to just not start in the morning rather than die from draining too much power. Also I read somewhere that the burning plastic smell is something that can happen when an alternator is on the way out, though earlier today when the battery gauge started to drop I didn't smell anything.
Now, it happened again. I'm hoping its just the battery that needs to be replaced. But is a battery kind of half dying like this indicative of a bad battery? I would have expected it to just not start in the morning rather than die from draining too much power. Also I read somewhere that the burning plastic smell is something that can happen when an alternator is on the way out, though earlier today when the battery gauge started to drop I didn't smell anything.