On my way home today, when I restarted the car, the alternator light flickered, stayed on a bit, then went out. Stopped for gas approx. 100 miles later, everything normal. 100 miles after that, the radio went crazy, cassette deck started rewinding/forwarding a few times than the entire thing went DEAD. No radio, nothing. Then noticed the temp gauge was really low, almost near cold. Funky gauge, I thought, or bad thermostat. Speedometer was a little more jumpy than it usually is when coming to a stop. 50 miles later I turned off the engine because it smelled like it was overheating, tried to restart - dead - without warning. Nice guy jump-started me, alt light flickered but went out after 1 mile or so. I was now 50 miles from home with about 30 minutes of daylight so I sped up a bit - even though I was in Greene Co. notorious for its speeding tickets - not running any accessories. After 20 miles, alt light starts glowing (and all the other lights with it). Engine starts to lose power uphill a bit. Barely made it home with no lights. Car is now dead.

Battery is servicable kind, and I admit I have not had it looked at in a while...I assume that's where I need to start, right? Belts look fine, no noise coming from alternator. What are the advantages of maintenance free/servicable batteries?

Gee, first it's losing oil with no leak, than it's leaking oil but not losing any, then this. Someone put a spell on my brick.