charging system issues: the return of

[wc701lists at bellsouth.net]

davidpertuz at mindspring.com wrote:
> Shit. I seem to have charging-system issues again, with very bad timing due in part to my procrastination. So I'm soliciting some possibly enlightened commentary. Car is a P10t.
> -Last drove car on 7/5. Went out a week later to drive it and found battery dead. Found left rear door was not closed completely, so dead battery presumably caused by dome light current drain. No urgent need to use it, so I decided to jump it later. I have a battery charger, but the battery had too little charge for it to work - multimeter showed no more than ca. 2V across the battery terminals.
> -Got a jump-start from my girlfriend last night, drove around for half an hour to recharge battery. Noticed alternator whine (also heard as variable noise in radio static when on a non-channel freq.) but didn't think much of it. Parked in garage again, tried to restart, car is stone dead, still. Absolutely nothing. Multimeter shows ca. 1V across battery. WTF? Battery was new some time last year, don't remember exactly when. 

I'm not a battery expert, but I think that low a voltage suggests an 
internal short between the plates, which can happen if the battery 
freezes and the plates are distorted badly enough to contact one another.

There's a good battery faq here; but not necessarily specific to your woes:
http://www.windsun.com/Batteries/Battery_FAQ.htm

-Wayne