My car died on me yesterday, with erratic idling, at nanginginig. Nagsimula sya nung stop & go traffic on an incline from Boni going into EDSA. Looks like what triggered it ay yong strain sa engine sa incline. Restarted it, nanginginig at medyo mahina hatak pero nakayanan pa rin makaakyat ng EDSA, alalay lang sa gas pedal...and after a few meters ay namatay ulit makina, buti na lang tapat na ko ng Caltex...at this point na namatay sya, biglang bumigat ang steering wheel response at ayaw na gumana ng preno, i have to use the handbrake to stop. I repeated this 'restart the car, travel a few meters, car dies again(no brake, heavy steeering)' thing..until makarating ako ng garahe, good thing i live nearby where this happened. Pagka-park ko, i tried the restart & then turn off' cycle at pagka-start ko, parang nabubulunan at naghihingalo yong engine and at the same time ay nanginginig with medyo black smoke na lumalabas sa tambutso. I'm sure mamamatay ulit yong makina pag hinayaan ko. Although, pag namatay, na-i-start naman sya.

This has been a weekend/coding car for the past 3 months or so. And once or twice a week lang talaga na-start ang makina. And last week i started noticing na medyo mahaba na konti yong gap bago sya mag-start sa umaga. Feeling ko malapit na bumigay battery nya, which is already 3 years old.

The car is an E36(1998) BMW 316i. Tanong ko lang is, may effect ba ang malapit na ma-drain na battery sa electrical system ng car(while running), such that magkakaroon ng ganun symptoms sa na-experience ko? Or could it be other things? Di naman ako dumaan sa baha, or any other unusual things na nagyari sa kotse lately. Di naman nag-iilaw ang engine light or any other indicator lights sa dash.

Planning to take the car sa shop this weekend, but hoping for some inputs from fellow tsikoteers...Thanks!