Recently, my 2005 Grand Caravan refused to start. No sound at all. I assumed battery and called AAA. They jumped it and I headed to an auto parts store for a new battery. The car stalled up the street. Fortunately, the AAA guy had been doing some paper work and came up the street behind me. He jumped me again and since I was now convinced this wasn’t just a battery, I headed to the dealer’s garage. On the way there, it stalled again on the highway. This time I had it towed to the garage. The dealer said it was just the battery. I didn’t think a dead battery could cause a car to stall. And on the internet, I found stories of car’s running totally without a battery so I’m confused. Is the new battery somehow covering up another problem? Or is the battery needed in some cars to continue running?
If the car is working correctly now, I’d say it was the battery. Modern cars require a constant, correct voltage supply to operate. Without it, anything is possible.
NEVER, under any circumstances, disconnect the battery from a running car, or attempt to drive a car without a good battery. Severe damage to electronics may result.
In the “old days” you could get away with this for a short time, but I wouldn’t try it today.
In modern cars a battery is required to keep the car running. This is because the battery energizes the field coils in the alternator. In the “good old days” cars were equipped with generators. Generators have permanent magnets and do not need an external battery source. Cars equipped with a generator will run perfectly fine without a battery. Cars with alternators will not.
Todays computerized vehicles will stop running if the supply voltage to the computers drops below 10.5 volts. At this point the computers shut down.
Tester