Electrical Hickups

[SSbeast]

I was driving in heavy rain on a rough road at night in the Blue Mountains and all of a sudden the dash, stereo and dash lights went out and then came back on but came one like i was starting the car had the "reds" sequence then everything went back to normal. Did it again about 10mins later. Now when i turn on any extra lights such as fogs or high beam for the initial turn on stereo goes off then on like when starting the car. Got home and checked the charging system it was 14.05V with all lights and acc off but then dropped to 13.10V with everything on and high beams with fogs. Turned the car off and the battery Volts was 9V! So i believe the battery is stuffed. I'd assume that maybe the rough road broke the cell plates inside. Would that cause the dash to die how i said the in the beginning with the reds coming on? Or could have the rain shorted something out? Cheers.

[mwb235]

Perhaps get an auto sparky to check if there's anything draining on the battery with everything turned off etc (or do it yourself with a multimeter if you know how). Get them to test/check the battery condition and alternator. 9V for a battery at rest sounds very low - i replaced my battery recently as the motor wouldn't crank over (click click click etc) and it was reading 11.3V at rest! (I know it was on its way out anyway as it was a 2005 battery).

If nothing suspect there you probably have an intermittent short (one of the wiring harnesses is rubbing/shorting somewhere). Good luck.