Tach lit up normal but when I pressed the gas pedal nothing.

I started, or shall I tried to start that day and everything lit up on the dash but the enginge would not turn over. I had a friend there at work who had some jumper cables help me start the car. It doesn't take much to jump it. But thats strange because I had my battery checked and they told me there was no problem it at all. And like I said earlier what mechanic wouldn't jump to the chance to sell a battery.

I have crappy gas mileage here in the winter. Can't get above 30mpg. But I do a lot of highway driving so if I fill up and just take off I get better even in cold. But city driving really sucks. I wonder if there was a way to some how heat the batteries.

 

I meant to watch if tach does not show 0 rpm.

 

Oh, no tach didn't read. I tried starting the car again and nothing. Just like the battery was dead. Its done this 2 times.

 

I would check the health of 12V battery at Autozone or your mechanic.

 

It sure does sound like a battery issue. Either a weak battery or corrosion on the terminals. I'm not saying your mechanic didn't do his job, but it would be worth getting a second opinion.

I do too. I really think it's directly related to the fact that the emissions system keeps the fuel mixture extra rich. I've been toying with the ScanGauge and I can see when it's cold my car stays in Closed Loop a lot. A LOT! From what I remember, closed loop means instead of the O2 sensor regulating the air/fuel mixture, it just automatically makes is full rich in order to heat up the emissions components. Of course, I may be wrong. So if someone with emissions experience wants to pipe in, I'd be interested to hear how all these components work together and maybe even know if that's truly what's happening here, the car is running at full rich. Last night, it was bouncing around between 42 and 62 degrees on my drive home (580 miles) and I had a hard time keeping the car in Open Loop. It seems at 65 MPH, the car would stay in Closed Loop for a while like it was stuck there. I was getting about 24-27 MPG. I had the cruise control on, so I slowly added a bit of throttle pressure to increase my speed by 2-3 MPH, then let off the throttle and let the car slow back down to the set cruise speed. That's when the car would switch to Open Loop and my mileage would jump up to 38-42 MPG.

The batteries do get pretty warm with use. No need to heat them manually. Want to know how warm the batteries are getting on your commute? When you stop, leave the car running and open the trunk. Put your hand by the vent on the back left corner of the trunk and you'll feel the hot air flowing out of there. That's the cooling air exhaust port for your batteries. *NOTE, it's important to not let anything cover this vent, so when you pack your trunk, make sure you leave plenty of room for air to circulate out of that vent.

 

Mine had similar symptoms and it turned out to be a bad cell in the the 12v battery.