help, new bad problem

[StickShift84]

Tonight after work I stopped somewhere and left my lights on by accident for about an hour. When I went to start it back up all I heard was clicking, battery dead. I waited a few minutes with lights and everything off and it started, a little rough, but it started. Now, my speedometer does not work but the tach and rest of gauges seem to be working. Also my car stalled when stopping on the way home and the check engine light came on, it seems like it wants to stall when stopping. What could have happened?

Please help, any ideas would be greatly appreciated

 

[goshia]

I assume this is the original battery, and judging by your location it was most likley cold. It might be time for a new battery. How long did you keep your car running? With the cold temp and older battery the charge time to a good voltage might take 20-30 minutes of drive time with no lights on....

 

[StickShift84]

yes, I believe it is the original battery and it is cold outside, but could the battery be responsible for the speedometer not working, and the car stalling. That just did not deem like a possiblility to me.

 

[btolenti]

would a low battery cause stalling though? I would think the alternator should have plenty of power to keep the car running..... Maybe a dead cell in the battery pulling the voltage too low?

 

[urban96]

definatly the battery, get a new one and itll be all better

 

[Red2000GT]

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

 

[BlackenedSVT]

I know on most cars after you have the battery disconnected for a long period of time (or perhaps in this case, DEAD for a long period of time) the car needs to go through a service procedure of relearning everything.

What i mean by this is there is a procedure you have to do (ie: drive the car for 2 min at 45 mph, then speed up to 65mph for 30 sec, stop, etc). This gets the computers working again with the car. So im guessing maybe ur battery was dead long enough that the computers lost their memory and stopped working. I garauntee getting a new battery would fix this problem, without having to go through these computer learning steps again. But if you DO get a new battery and ur speedo and what not is still acting up...u may have to call ford and/or find out the procedure to re-calibrate yoru computers.

 

[HoustonGT]

Change your battery and if the problem persists, just go to Autozone and they can pull the codes on the Check Engine Light. Good Luck

 

[01Steeda]

It is def. the battery, I had the same problem with my truck. The dead battery pulls the voltage to low and causes all kinds of wierd chit.