Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Hello, you're on car talk
Okay, we just had a rather embarrasing visit to the repair shop. The good news is, they can't find anything wrong with the Honda. The bad news is, we spent $65 having them look at it and change the spark plugs. Let me tell you what happened, and then all you mechanical geniuses can either come up with an explanation that makes me feel better, or you can agree with the mechanic who is pretty sure I'm really dumb. Here goes: It was a cold a snowy morning. Tim was taking the boys to school. As he was backing out the driveway, the car stalled and wouldn't start. It made a weird whirring/clicking sound when he turned the key. The lights and radio and everything worked just fine. He thought it must be something in the ignition/starter motor, or something along that line. We pushed it into the garage, and he looked at it later in the week. Same thing. Not sure how to fix it, and not interested in working on it in subzero temperatures, we had it towed to the mechanic. He jump-started it, and it ran just fine. The battery tests fine, the alternator tests fine, and there is no obvious drain on the battery. So what the heck happened? We used to have a truck that would just up and die while you were driving it because the battery fell off its shelf, but then we lost all power, including lights and radio. We've had alternators go, so that the car died while you were driving it. But neither of these was the case for this car. What would make the car die mid-drive, and should we have figured it was the battery, even though 4 days after the fact we still had lights and radio but it wouldn't start? Tell me, please!
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9 comments:
How do you spell mumby? (pause, laugh at own joke, snort.)
I think we need more info. Exactly how cold was it? How full was the gas tank? water in the fuel lines?
Hard to remember where we were in the freeze/thaw cycle last Monday. Tuesday was 40's and rain, Wednesday was 0 and blizzard, but I think Monday was just an average 20's kinda day. I don't know how much gas it had in it, but would water in the fuel lines resolve itself with a week of sitting in the garage in subzero temps? That's beyond my minimal knowledge of car stuff.
Is the fact that the car stalled when 1st backing it out of the garage all that unusual? If not, and the problem is just that it would not re-start, my guess is that it was just a bad connection somewhere (either a bad battery terminal connection or a ground or starter connection) any of which would allow relatively low drain applications like lights and radio to work fine but not allow the high amps for starting. This can resolve itself temporarily when the battery is jumped with a little higher voltage but may come back again. Good luck!
Who is this "wood butcher" and why is he commenting on our blog? Hmmmm, if it's who I think it is, lemme tell ya something...it's like contract rummy, Sport. You can't play on someone else's hand until you lay something down in front of yourself. Knowhatimean? I'm just sayin'. Or not. {I'm just kiddin', of course. Participate as much or as little as you like. You're welcome anytime. Thanks for showin' up.}
As for the car question, I'll tell you how I analyze and deal with a car that won't start/run. Step 1) Open hood. Step 2) See if the engine is still there; if it is, got to step 3. If it's not call a tow truck. Step 3) Check the oil. (I hear that's important for a car.) If it appears you have oil, or that you are out of oil, go to step 4. Step 4) call a tow truck.
Taadaa... that was easy. Next question.
My dos pesos is that the stall was random (foot slipped, too much clutch, too much snow, whatever) and is a red herring. If this car has a manual tranny. The starter may have a short in it and needs to be smacked with a hammer when this happens again. But it will need to be replaced. And don't drive like my brother.
And where exactly (in general) did you lose that rock?
Additonally, when did Whitehall suspend school bus service? I had no idea things were so bad up there.
It is, of course, a manual. We bought/stole it from Poppa Bear, after all. I like your theory, and W-butch's, too. And it only just occured to me that the battery was dead when the mechanic looked at it because I think Mr. Mumby left the hood up while it was in the garage all week, and we probably have one of those little lights that come on when the hood is open. Could be, anyway. But there was also less than an eighth of a tank, which makes W-butch's theory pretty plausible, no?
As for bus service in this god-forsaken winter wasteland, it's kinda complicated. Theoretically, my high-schooler could catch a bus if he walked to the middle school by 7 am. (The other one could, too, but why bother to get on a bus when you're already at your school?) Call me a molly-coddler, but I ain't sending my younguns out in the dark, on the main drag between the two schools (heavily populated by busses, crazy teenage drivers, and even crazier parent drivers) especially when the road conditions read like a ski resort ad - six-inch packed base, two to three inces of fresh powder - and three-foot high snowbanks instead of shoulders.
The "rock" was lost somewhere up here last week, so don't really look for it.
Plus also, there were two, count 'em TWO pileated woodpeckers outside my living room window yesterday! And even more exciting, the sun came out today, and I actually got to drive on some PAVEMENT! Woo-hoo!
I have no comment on the car issue. That's outside my work jurisdiction. Ditto for the bus service question. However, Molly coddle all you want, I say. It'll give 'em less (or is it more?) to talk to their thearpists about later.
However, I got a kick out of your shortening of the Wood Butcher's name. W-butch... {chortling in my best Beavis & Butthead sound effect} as in, our current president dressed up all manly-man like? I mean, when you think about it, he really does seem kinda butch. Say, on the deck of an air craft carrier in a flight suit or something. {chortle chortle}. Just me?
And congrats on the sun & the woodpecker. We had some here yesterday too (coincidence? I think not.) which as you seem to suggest is HUGE! If you axe me, this winter has been x-specially gloomy in these parts. I'm so over it!
In response to Poppa Bear's post, which I somehow missed yesterday, it didn't stall on backing out of the garage. It started, drove fine to and from the middle school, then stalled as he was backing out to take the big one to the high school. It still could be a bad connection, though. So far, no more problems.
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