New Battery Blessing

Yesterday I had to work a bit late. I have been working all week long to construct an Excel spreadsheet which will make the end of fiscal year reconciliation easier next year. I thought I was done, and had all the numbers for my boss, but after she left, I realized I still had one more billing area to reconcile. I had to do the company banking, so left early to do that, intending to come right back. I got out to my vehicle and it hesitated at starting, but turned over and I noticed the clock was at 12:00. That usually means the battery has been disconnected. I got to the bank and I thought to myself that I should park someplace where I could get a jump if I had to, but I went against my feeling and just parked in a normal spot (facing inward toward another car). Got the banking done and came back out. Click. Nothing. Click. Nothing. Click. Nothing. Drat!! I popped the hood and checked the cables to make sure nothing was loose, and to make sure there wasn't a bunch of can't think of what it's called, that turquoise "growth" that gets on the battery cables which interferes with the contacts. Everything was okay, so I tried to start it again.

I was sitting there talking to dh on the phone. It was pretty hot out, so I had the door open. I would try to start the truck again and it would click, then the next try there was nothing at all. So I thought maybe if I closed the door, the battery might recover just enough to crank the engine over. I hung up, intending to call one of my coworkers to see if I could get someone to come over and give me a jump. I tried one more time. SUCCESS!!

I drove to the nearest Checker Auto and had one of the guys come out and test the battery. He thought it was testing out to be okay and asked me to start the engine so he could test the alternator. He said the alternator was fine, and told me that he could see now that the battery was starting to go bad. He said the starting the engine part was okay, but the battery wasn't holding a charge.

I bought a new battery and had him install it for me. It was almost $90.00 for the battery, with an 84 month warranty.

So the odd thing to me is how quickly a battery can go dead. I haven't had any indication that anything was awry. I'm thankful that I was able to get the truck started and on my way.

Until next time.

Categories: vehicular