Merry Christmas!
Last night I got home a bit early to attend the wake of a good friend’s mother. I came home, changed clothes, and the Ogwife and I got in the car.
We stopped for gas, wherupon the car just… stopped.
We got a jump but that only gave us about a minute of operation.
We got another jump and moved to a safe location, then Partner came and got us and took us to the wake. After paying our respects we went back to the gas station where a wrecker met me and delivered the car to my driveway.
Thankfully, I was with the wife at the time, so she didn’t have to be stranded alone. Also thankfully, Partner came to our aid. Also thankfully, the rollback cost $55, which will be covered by insurance. And I took the battery to AutoZone, where it tested bad and they gave me a new battery, which I installed and now the Scape is in good running order once more.
I’ll take that as a timely Christmas gift from the Creator, and a reminder that he’s in charge.
15 comments Og | Uncategorized
The battery just died? Without warning?
Weird.
It looked like one of the cells just fell apart. There were pieces of lead loose in the bottom of the battery
Had the same thing happen with my vehicles. Had one battery explode in my wife’s ’85 Tempo. Real mess.
Glad you and Mrs. Og are okay. What with this and the fuzzy onion dip, could be the Big Skipper has some issues with you.
Be well and do good.
The same thing happened to me a couple weeks ago. Bizarre…
Also dropped in an Autozone Duralast.
T’other mornin’ the sploder wouldn’t start. Turned over like a scalded dog but wouldn’t fire so I jumped in the lintwife’s stang and took off. Got home that night, changed into my greasy battle clothes and decided to try to start it one last time before I began the trouble shooting process.
It fired up instantly and has been running fine ever since. SCARY. Prolly the fuel pump but damned if I want to drop the tank and rebuild the old one not knowing for sure that is the fix.
I fkn HATE intermittent problems. Better it just die and be done with it than tease me like that.
libs, I just had that problem with pascaliettes Focus. It WAS the fuel pump, It was one hecka of lot more trouble than just any focus because it was an odd build date. Cost triple what a normal would have, but it now works.
After trying all the standard stuff, like fuses and relays and inertial cutoff switch, and some other bits, I hit the bottom of the tank. It started for a short span and then cut out. Not till then did I go for the replacement.
Having replaced two Explorer fuel pumps let me tell you it’s no pcnic
OTOH, it’s important to have the right fuel fitting tool, and i did not know this until after i had yanked one fitting off the end of a hose.
These are the ones I ended up with, and I have never looked back. Very good quality, small enough to work well, and rugged.
The Neighbor to the West had the same battery problem. Backed out of her drive on the way to work and her car just stopped. Dead. I took my $10 batter tester from Harbor Freight and found the battery to be dead. As in doornail. So I took my deep cycle trolling motor battery and traded ’em out. She took her car to Les Schwab the next ayem where they gave her and me new batteries. I thought mine was good for at least one more fishing season. (they did keep the core charges)
Anyone care to guess where I’m gettiing tires for my pickup this Spring?
By The Way: Last Summer & Fall I accumulated some fairly serious pin money by picking up every battery I saw on roadsides and at the gravel pit where I shoot. There’s a battery rebuilder nearby who pays $5.50 ea for any, that’s ANY battery brought in. That money goes into a mason jar for a “new” 12′ or 14′ aluminum skiff and trailer off Craigslist as soon as there’s enough. Kinda reminds me of returning pop and beer bottles when I was a sprog.
Og, shouldn’t the machine keep running even with a dead battery if the alternator is working?
Admittedly, my knowledge of automotive systems pretty much ended in ’75.
Yeah, it would run, but the moment it went to idle it would stall
Og, it usta be that way, but now, the ECM controls all, and if the ECM detects your bad battery, it will probably just shut down the engine. It detects that bad battery by charge rate vs. voltage rise, IIRC, and if it doesn’t see the proper curve there, it assumes the battery is bad, and then the next time the voltage drops, it puts the final kibosh on.
Solution: second battery. There’s room for one in most cars, especially the big boxy ones. Put that second battery in a marine battery box, use the proper hold-down fittings, and run #4 cable.
You will also need a battery switch (of the “Off-1-2-Both” variety), and an isolator. Cable, switch, box and isolator should run $250 or so, the battery another $60, so for about 3 Benjis, you have the insurance of never running out of power again. That’s a big deal in the cold times. At 32 degrees, your starting battery is down to 50% output, at zero degrees, about 25%. Throw that switch to “both”, and she will fire right up at -25.
BTW, if’n you’re buying rebuilt batteries (most are), get Interstate brand. There are a lot of Exides out there, but Interstate is better (and about $10 more).
Dog: I don’t live far enough away from civilization that its an issue, but if I did, that’s about exactly what I’d be doing.
I only buy new. I usually swap them when they have about a year of life left, and put the old one in the tractor, or the cushman, or any of the other critters at Chez Og that need juicin’
In the past, I’ve had three batteries- in different vehicles- do exactly that: just crap out and kill the engine. One I could jump and it’d run for 15-20 minutes, which was enough to get to an auto shop from where it happened on the highway; the others, it would not let it start.
“A reminder that he is in ‘charge’…” very good!
Have a great Xmas and an amazing 2012!!