Originally posted by Pope:
put the new battery on a charger for a few hours, it is quite normal for a new battery to be uncharged, and an alternator will not charge a battery below a certain point.



Pope, you're in the early lead. The AAA guy said the same thing. He tried to give it a charge with his portable charger thing, but had the same probs I did. He showed me some lights on the charger and said something like "see, it's telling me the alternator is charging" and he mentioned something about the voltage being over 13 or something, which definitely meant the alternator was doing its job.

I'd still like the mechanic to give it the clean bill of health, however. Update to come...

Old car: '98 SVT T-Red K&N air filter; Ford Focus RS shift knob. Off to be auctioned off somewhere. New car: 2003 Honda Accord DX Sedan, 5-speed.