What's the most popular reason for car being stranded?

[ERD50]

BTW, once the car is running you can take the battery out and throw it away, the car is running on the alternator.

I doubt this is true anymore (if it ever was). The battery acts as a load regulator - I'm not sure the voltage would stay even enough for all the electronic gizmos the engine needs w/o something there to keep them in check.

In fact, now I recall I had a bad battery just a few years back. It seemed to intermittently go completely open. I managed to jump it to get it started, but the engine kept dying on me before I could go 50 feet. Parked it and came back the next morning and swapped a new battery in there and all was good.

-ERD50

 

[veremchuka]

Unless the car has a generator....

Yes that is correct but generators went out back in the 50's though I suspect some American cars may have used generators in the early 60's. Now British cars....well that's a whole nuther story.

 

[kumquat]

Yep, I have an early 60's British car (or an older American one) with a generator and the battery is superfluous if the car is running. Not true if you have an alternator.