Quote Originally Posted by Fivefingerdeathpunch View Post
or maybe one of the cables off of the battery conections is going bad too.
That's the first thing I thought of when he said sometimes it will just randomly stop cranking (indicate abrupt loss of electrical power) when trying to start the car, and then would crank again if you turned the key. That's a pretty good indication that you either have a loose battery cable, or ground. My Turbo STE did the same thing once. Would give weird symptoms, and then just randomly shut down on me one day just before I got home. Popped the hood and wiggled the cables, and noticed the positive was a bit loose. Tightened it down, and never had a problem after that.

I almost always change the post bolts when I get a new batter, because they really weren't designed to be loosened and tightened several times. They only cost a few bucks to replace, which is nothing in exchange for the piece of mind they offer.