Today's adventure (no pics)
Jun. 25th, 2006 07:52 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
avanta7This afternoon I went to the drug store to pick up prescription refills. The drugstore is just a few miles from the house, and driving there takes barely enough time for the air conditioner to start cooling the interior of the car before it's time to park. I was inside the store for perhaps ten minutes. I got in the car to go home...and it wouldn't start. Wouldn't even turn over.
And I didn't have my cell phone with me.
I did have change, however, and a payphone attached to the front of the drugstore was my salvation. "Honey, the car won't start." "I'll be right there."
A short time later, spouse arrived with jumper cables. I told him I couldn't imagine it was the battery; after all, I'd only been out maybe 20 minutes. He attached the cables anyway and let his car charge mine a minute or two. I turned the key.
Dead silence.
We let his car charge mine for several more minutes while he checked fuses. None of the fuses he could examine were broken. Hmm. We tried cranking my engine.
click
Ah! A noise! Progress! Obviously, something had drained the battery, even in as short a time as I had been out and about. We let the battery charge another few minutes. And then another few minutes. Maybe fifteen minutes later, we achieved a start.
On the way home, the rear-window defroster kept turning itself on and off. I could hear the relay click inside the fuse box as I drove. This was a new trick.
Once safely home and inside the garage, I told spouse about the defroster trick. Potential cause for the battery drain? Who knows? He tried starting my car again, but it was totally dead once more. He pulled the defroster relay and put my battery on the trickle charger. It's been charging about six hours now. The last time spouse tried to start the car, he got a series of clicks but no turnover. We're hoping by morning it will be all right to drive. We're also hoping it's just the battery that needs replacing, and not the alternator.
And I guess I need to break the habit of leaving my cell phone at home.
And I didn't have my cell phone with me.
I did have change, however, and a payphone attached to the front of the drugstore was my salvation. "Honey, the car won't start." "I'll be right there."
A short time later, spouse arrived with jumper cables. I told him I couldn't imagine it was the battery; after all, I'd only been out maybe 20 minutes. He attached the cables anyway and let his car charge mine a minute or two. I turned the key.
Dead silence.
We let his car charge mine for several more minutes while he checked fuses. None of the fuses he could examine were broken. Hmm. We tried cranking my engine.
click
Ah! A noise! Progress! Obviously, something had drained the battery, even in as short a time as I had been out and about. We let the battery charge another few minutes. And then another few minutes. Maybe fifteen minutes later, we achieved a start.
On the way home, the rear-window defroster kept turning itself on and off. I could hear the relay click inside the fuse box as I drove. This was a new trick.
Once safely home and inside the garage, I told spouse about the defroster trick. Potential cause for the battery drain? Who knows? He tried starting my car again, but it was totally dead once more. He pulled the defroster relay and put my battery on the trickle charger. It's been charging about six hours now. The last time spouse tried to start the car, he got a series of clicks but no turnover. We're hoping by morning it will be all right to drive. We're also hoping it's just the battery that needs replacing, and not the alternator.
And I guess I need to break the habit of leaving my cell phone at home.
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no subject
Date: Jun. 26th, 2006 05:24 am (UTC)Yes, you need to carry your mobile with you!