Wondering about wild grapes

Monday, September 3, 2012

Wondering why my battery went dead.

Last Saturday morning when my wife and I got into the Jeep to head off to the flea market and when I turned the key all I heard was a bunch of clicking.  Dang, the battery died.  Now, that makes you feel real helpless when your only vehicle, except for a motor-home, will not run.  What if we were heading for a really important appointment (like a scheduled out-patient surgery) and I have no way of getting there.  Most places don't have room to park a diesel pusher motor-home at or anywhere near where your appointment is.  I always used to have two vehicles that were small enough to go most places.  Well, my son came through.  Luckily he wasn't at work.  Since it was the first day of a holiday weekend, he was off work for the first Saturday for a long time.  He picked me and the battery up and off to the auto-parts store we went.

This battery was less than 3 years old.  The guy at the parts store tested it and said it was rechargeable, but I told him I wanted a new one so he discounted the new one and back home we headed with the new battery.  I cleaned up the contacts and put the new battery in and the Jeep started right up, so off to the flea market we went, a little late but better than never.  BTW, I wasn't going to write about the dead battery, but figured I should because that would give me a quick way of checking when I bought this battery.  Blogs are good for many things, right?  I remember that Ben used to say that.  Now, you all have a great holiday today, you hear?

11 comments:

  1. I member one time I bought a brand new battery 'cause the old one went dead. Would you believe that that new battery went dead too? Now I'm out $65 and still ain't fix the problem.

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  2. Yes, I believe that. The guy told me that a new replacement battery would cost a hundred bucks. I said "realy?". My son said that they do cost that much and that the cost has gone way up since I bought my last one. OK, since the guy prorated the cost since I traded in one that he said was still rechargeable, I think I made the right decision.

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  3. I do too DD. once doing that, it will again. I have a jumper box in my trunk and keep it charged. But, once dead, it's a new one for me.

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  4. Unlike my old Farmall 200, I don't have a hand crank if the battery fails.

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  5. For the last 30 years or so I have carried jumper cables in every vehicle. I have two battery chargers. I still somehow end up with a dead battery once and a while.
    I think all batteries come from Mexico now so you may as well go to that Chinese/Mexico outlet Walmart. I try to drive my care once a week to keep the battery charged but sometimes I am a little slack.
    The battery in my bus is on a cheap chinaland automatic battery minder that started to deteriorate as soon as the warrantee was up but it keeps it topped up and I use it everyday.
    I'm pretty flexible. When the car won't start I just change plans.

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  6. I doctor all older batteries with Epsom salt solution and have extended the life of many batteries by many years. I think the core charge now is up to $16 so if you buy one without a core to trade in you're already paying $10 more than you would have a couple or three years ago. Of course I'm sure battery prices have gone up not counting the core charge so you're doubly getting screwed.

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  7. Oldfool, I used to carry them but don't any more. This is only the second battery I have put in this Jeep and I bought it new in late 2003 or early 2004. It is a 2004 model.

    David, I have heard you say that before. Since this is now my means of getting around locoly, I thought a new one would be best.

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  8. To me, there is never a good time for a battery to die.

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  9. I'd vote for dirty terminals. Current lead alloys corrode faster than then used to. They don't even have to look bad. A very thin film forms that kills the connection just enough.

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  10. Jill, there are some times I can think of where it would be disastrous. That would be a good subject for a blog.

    Sixbears, When I checked the voltage I ran the points of the VOM meter into the lead posts to get a good reading. That doesn't mean that it wasn't corroded and couldn't get a full charge. What ever it was, it is working fine now.

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