Ok, i have a 2003 Dodge Stratus 4 cyclinder DOHC "2.4l" its got a few issues.

1st. The idle is off, i took my car into the dealer about a year ago for noises inside the engine, got it back from them and the idle is low and jumpy. It usually idles around 500rpms and sounds like it is going to die but than itll pick up to around 650-700 rpm's. how can i correct the idle issue? "ive taken the battery terminals off several times and let it sit to reset the computer to no luck"

2nd. Yesterday after driving my car a little while i parked it and went in my house for about 2hrs. Went out to go to the store and it was dead. Just enough juice to light the dash lights and dome lights. Charged the battery overnight, drove to autozone left it running and all tested fine. I figured bad day for the car. So i take a shower and get ready for work, go to leave and bam dead battery, i took the alternator and battery out and went to have it tested both are good. What else could it be? There is nothing running in my car when the ignitiion is in the off position. I do have a rather strong stereo system running 4 guage wiring from the post inside the hood through the firewall under the carpet back to a 1800 Watt Mono Amplifier, has an inline 100amp AGP fuse block. Have had the stereo in the car for a year never a dead battery or anything. All my stero wires are fine, the wire from the alternator to the battery appears in good shape although its still in the protective sleave with no signs of damage. all connectors to battery/alternator are nice and shiny? I cant afford to take it to the dealership for a computer test. They want $89.99 an hour to test it and honestly i cant afford to pay $100.00 just to be told what i need to replace. Can someone shed some light on this?


updated....

i have taken the starter off and hand it tested and it tested good as well....


what gives? all the related things to start/charge my vehicle test fine yet i have a dead battery after driving it for a few minutes with nothing running ?

 

Had some what of the same problem, interior lights/dashboard/radio/head lights all were fine/no warning lights of any kind, but my engine wouldn't turn over or just barley. Turned out the problem was a bad starter.

 

had a buddy with the same prob on a mitsu. turned out the fuse link between the alt and batt was "cracked". sometimes it would make contact and charge the batt, other times the crack would open enough to cause an open circuit and the car would run on just the batt. the zone should be able to check any relays that's part of the charging sys (from the alt to the batt + term). hope this helps.