Floors welded now the after party

[zeggate]

I had the floors on my 1973/450sl replaced /welded. I picked the car up and she started and ran fine on 4/08/03. Today 4/12/03 she would not start. I boosted her and she started and ran without a problem. All of a sudden the CD player started acting strange ,cutting on and off and the car shut off. Now the battery will not hold a charge. Is there any possible connection with the weld process. Would this kill the battery . Any advice will be helpful. thanks.

[Richard Wooldridge]

Hi there,
How old is your battery? If it's older than three years, I'd certainly suspect it is just getting old. When vehicles sit without being run, as yours probably was while it was being worked on, an older battery will tend to deteriorate rather quickly, due to sulphation of the plates. I'm thinking your battery might have just reached the end of it's useful life. If you are going to be parking your vehicle for more than a few days at a time, it would be a good idea to get one of the low current trickle chargers that are available at places like Harbor Freight, and keep it connected whenever the car is parked. I use them on all my rigs that aren't driven regularly, and they seem to really help things out, especially on the newer vehicles that have current drain on the battery at all times due to the various microprocessors, etc that are always on. My sister's caddie will kill the battery in less than two weeks of sitting!
Richard Wooldridge
'82 300D/4.3L V6
Etc.

[william rogers]

electric welding can damage a car's computer and alternator's diodes, any ligit welding shop should know this............
William Rogers.......

[stevebfl]

Every manual describes preventative measures for arc welding.

I have been arcwelding on cars for near 40 years and have never seen a problem. One would really have to be stupid to cause a problem on that old of car with welding.

ALL OF THE CURRENT goes through the metal to ground. Unless you hooked the ground cable to the alternator those electrons have no reason to take their excited state there.

Like the the other day, I'll have to point out that everything that happens to your car from now on will happen "after the welding".

I'm not good with jokes, but one of my favorites has to do with the farmer who complained to his technician that every since he put an alternator on his truck the lights in the barn won't work.

Funny thing is I read it here everyday.

[suginami]

"After the Welding".

Sounds like the Engleburt Humperdink Song:

So I sing you to sleep, after the lovin'...