wife decided to drive 90 yr old mothers car due to little use. Battery always needed charging and was afraid to drive it. I put new battery in it and we all headed to the body exhibit in cleveland. Went 20 miles and wife, who was driving 65 mph yelled the car isn’t running. She wisely coasted to exit and I called AAA. It started up while I was on hold with AAA. We drove it home and now it sits in my driveway, we are afraid to drive it again.
I’ll give you $1500 for it. Cash.
$1500.01 cash…
Or
OP - You’ll have to give us a lot more to go on that what you did if you expect us to be able to give advice…
Very funny! It’s a beautiful “little old lady from Canton Oh car”. I want to try drving it to my work, but my wife is afraid it will shut down again. she wants to take it to dealership but they are sooo expensive.
The alternator is probably on the way out after having to recharge a discharged battery over and over. Have a charging system test done, which is inexpensive and easy.
If the alternator goes out, and the car dies as a result, it’s because the battery has run out of juice. In such cases, the car will not restart.
I think it’s probably fuel-related. How old is the gas in that tank? I wouldn’t be surprised if it were last filled in 2007 or something, in which case it’s a miracle the thing’s running at all, and a testament to modern fuel management.
Give us lots more details as to what exactly it did when it shut down, whether it was hard to restart, etc, so we can help you more.
Well, heck… I can be in Canton in 3 hours or so if you want to get rid of it… 
But seriously, I think shadowfax might be on to something if the car has been sitting unused for a while. Not a couple days or weeks, but think months, and the gas will “go bad”…
That doesn’t explain the battery needing charging, unless again the car sat for extended periods without use, in which case small drains like the anti-theft system could kill the battery.
I filled it up recently. And would the fuel filter cause it to lose all electrical and engine power. Everything stopped, I immediately thought it was a broken belt but that engine looks brand new. She never went out in bad wheather with it. I very gently tapped on the battery terminals when I was putting the new battery. And there was also a gooey substance on + battery terminal cable but it looks like it is supposed to be there. Also my daghter in law thougt she smelled something like a wire burning 15 min. before it happened, We hoped it was just the truck in front of us as we were in traffic before we got on the highway. And thanks for all your comments. I just don’t want to sound like a moron when I talk the car in!
Have the battery and charging system both tested.
Have the ECU checked for stored fault codes. There may be some.
Add injector cleaner to the gas tank for the next few fillups. Since it now has a fresh fill and it’ll now be in use, the fuel system should clean itself out.
Make sure all the necessary maintenance is brought up to date and the brakes are checked.
To the wife: be sure to keep your AAA card and your cell phone handy until you’re sure it’s running okay.