batteries, cold, and wives

[deacon]

Just when you think thing are at an all time low they get worse. I haven't ridden a motorized bike in a week so I'm in a bit of a funk. I am working on the homelite build again and again. It's cold in the shop so I keep cold hands all the time.

Then last night my wife goes to church and an hour later the phone rings. Her battery in the new car is dead. Now the battery in my old junker has been dead off and on for months because I don't drive it any more at all. However, during this bike build, I have been sneaking to the hardware store. Yesterday just by accident I put the battery charger on it so I could get to the home depot.

When she called I tried my old junker and wonder it started. Residual charge was still on it I guess. So I went to the church and jumped it off. The dealer told her she could buy a batter for just 75% of retail price since hers failed after only two years. I opted for advance auto and their battery for the same price. They at least are only a few blocks away.

So 82 bucks and change later she is off to work.

CARS am I ever going to stop working on them???

 

[jasonh]

CARS am I ever going to stop working on them???

No.

I had an 86 Mustang that I had to work on all the time because it kept breaking. So I bought an 04 SRT-4. Now that it has over 60k mi on it, I have to work on it once in a while :-/ Oh well.

 

[deacon]

But why does it have to be 29degrees when the darn battery fails .. Why not 75 with a gentle breeze from the south lol.

 

[jasonh]

haha, cause 75 is prime battery weather

Batteries have poor performance in the cold.

 

[Weedylot]

The desert has its own fun in the summer. Batteries like to fail in 110 degree heat around here.
Don't lean on the top of the radiator!

 

[jasonh]

The desert has its own fun in the summer. Batteries like to fail in 110 degree heat around here.
Don't lean on the top of the radiator!

Yeah, I have 24 years of learning that lesson

 

[2door]

Don't get me started on cars. Been building hot rods since I was 13 and worked on Chevys, Fords and Pontiacs at dealerships for a good part of my adult life so you'd think I could find a problem easily. This past July I took the hot rod on a 2000 mile trip and almost the whole way it acted funny. Hard starting when hot or cold, electronic instruments doing weird things, headlights blowing fuses then the starter took a dump. Replaced the starter, $54.00, headed home from the trip and what happens the first fuel stop? It won't start again.
What was the problem? A loose negative cable on the battery. Duh!!! I felt like a fool. My MB never does things like that to me.

 

[Saddletramp1200]

When they flip the covers in and close the lid you'll be done workin' on cars. Those little fan/ heaters Snap-On has are real nice. About 150.00 And they work!

 

[Norman]

I'll still have to work on cars even when the flip in the covers and close the lid. They put the keys in MY pocket.
sick, sick, sick boy.
Norman

 

[Large Filipino]

I used to work on cars to make a living back in the day so tinkering to me is no big deal. About a month ago my water pump on my Ford F150 failed but changing it out took but an hour. I actually couldn't believe it because last time I changed a water pump it took me a whole day on that 1975 Ford LTD. And at the Auto Zone that water pump costed me 16 dollars that's it.
I think that this time around I have learned the value of getting things out of your way. On that Ford LTD I removed only the fan shroud. It was tough I remembered that.
But on the F150,I removed the radiator along with that shroud right off and that made all the difference in the effortless R&R. I also lucked out for the water pump gasket peeled right off.
My cars only sees the shop when it comes to tires and alignments. Give me an alignment machine and a wheel balancer and it would NEVER see a shop.
And yes, I can remove a tire with a couple of tire irons and seat a tire with some charcoal lighter fluid.

 

[deacon]

From the size of me you can tell I never had to make a living working on cars. If I had to make my living with that skill, I would have missed a lot of meals. I put redid a complete air conditioner system on a ford grenada and a couple of years ago and it almost killed me. My cars almost never went into the shop but I always struggled with the repairs.

My wife bought a new car when I got so bad that my vision and balance were shot for a while. That is pretty much a good thing. The dead battery so far has been the only thing I did to it in two years, but she needs to get used to number of a good tow truck.