My '89 Caravan 3.0 just sputtered out and died while I was idling in
the driveway. I cranked it but it wouldn't start back up, and after
about 15 seconds of normal-sounding cranking, the battery suddenly ran
down to dead over the course of about 5 more seconds, to where there was
no point in continuing to crank it.
Had it towed to a shop where we put a new battery in it--end of
problem.
But I can't figure out why after it died the battery would crank the
engine over strongly for a short while before suddenly petering out. If
it had enough voltage to roll the engine over like that, why wouldn't it
run?
I don't think the tech (shop owner) was really sure that was going to
solve the problem, but I gave him the OK to replace it, and it worked,
and I know he had no definite explanation for it.