Car Comedy

So, a certain awesome person asked that we post more often, so here's a story for her...It was Thursday evening and I was driving home from class. I stopped at our mailbox at the end of our block to get the mail, but when I went to re-start the car, nothing happened. My immediate thought was thank goodness this didn't happen on Beltway 8 at 70 miles an hour! I called my wonderful husband who jogged down to where I was stranded. Luckily we have great neighbors who got their car out and tried to jump it, and when that didn't work, they helped Brian push my car back to our driveway while I steered...that was some hot work!

After popping the hood, Brian tested the battery and it was registering voltage (he is so resourceful! I wouldn't have known what to do!) There was a lot of corrosion on the battery terminals and connectors, so we looked up how to clean them on the internet. SO, for the next hour we (in the dark with only a flashlight of course!) we scrubbed and dipped and squirted a baking soda solution (with my turkey baster - which will no longer be used in the kitchen!) on the battery. Finally, hot, sweaty and mosquito bitten we were done! We put the battery back in...not before dropping both the screws that tie it down into the engine...that was fun trying to find them in the dark, Brian dropped the first one, and after we finally found it we were cracking ourselves up when I dropped the second one...oh the irony! We got the battery all connected up again and I was the lucky person who got to start the car...and then...nothing! Just the click...click...clicking noise of the starter...after all that hard work!

We then trooped back into the house to cool off and call Brian's dad...he is really good at diagnosing car troubles...he made some suggestions, but nothing seemed to work...we came to the conclusion that it must be the starter. Great! Brian had to go back to work the next morning, and this was one of the days that I had to go out to do work stuff instead of telecommuting in...what a dilemma!

So, Friday morning found me calling the car repair shop, getting Avis to pick me up from our house so that I could rent a car for the day (they upgraded me to a PT Cruiser for free - it was really fun to drive!), and making arrangements with USAA to tow my car to the repair shop down the road.

Here I am thinking we have to get the starter repaired, when the tow truck shows up. The guy takes one look under my hood and says it is just the battery...it is totally shot...which makes sense when I take a good look at it and realize it is the original factory battery and is 9 years old...the tow truck guy said he was amazed at how long it had lasted - go Toyota! Yea! All it needs is a new battery - we can handle that! We were now experts as installing batteries after last night.

After working all day and then going over to my parent's home for a BBQ to celebrate my Grandfather's 90th birthday...it is so neat that he is 90 - that is quite a milestone! I stopped by AutoZone and picked up a new battery on the way home. Brian and I quickly installed the new battery last night about 9:30 (we were experts now after all!) :-) ...we connected it up and once again, I was the lucky one who got to start it up...and then...vroom, vroom! Yippee! She started up with no problems whatsoever!!! Yeah!

Lessons learned from this experience:
1. Batteries are easy to install once you find the screws you dropped in the engine.
2. Battery corrosion makes a cool fizzing noise when you pour baking soda and water over it.
3. You can get the battery terminals really clean and shiny by scraping them with a pen knife (Brian's dad taught us that).
4. Tow truck guys know everything!
5. Batteries are much easier to install with daylight!
6. It is probably not a good idea to re-use your turkey baster for cooking once it has battery acid inside.