Brokedown Mountain

Randy Peone: Good morning, this is Randy Peone on KREZ radio, the voice of the Coeur d'Alene Indian Reservation. And it's time for the morning traffic report on this rainy Bicentennial Fourth of July. Let's go out to Lester Fallsapart in the KREZ traffic van broken down at the crossroads.
Lester Fallsapart: Big truck just went by... now it's gone.
Randy Peone: Well, there you go folks. Looks like another busy morning.

—Smoke Signals (1998)

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I had a problem with my car not long ago, with the battery starting to go bad. After almost exactly 80,000 miles and almost exactly six years, I wasn't complaining. And since GF has been at home recovering from the surgery, there was no hurry to get the battery replaced; I could just use her car for awhile.

Yesterday was finally the day I got it done. I went down to BJ's on Belair Road and poked my head into the Auto Repair department. The guy there told me that I had to buy the battery and then, for another $15, they'd put it in. Since the car was back in my driveway, I figured I wasn't going to use Step Two. So I went to the back of the store and looked around for someone who might know what they were doing. Failing that, I asked the employee at the Tires 'n' Batteries counter for some help. She simply pointed me to a manual hanging from the battery rack. Swell.

I picked out my battery, put it in my cart and made my way to the front registers. I make that sound easier than it was; as though I didn't have to contend with about nine thousand morons wandering the aisles aimlessly, just sort of milling about and stopping for no apparent reason. Hey, dumbass, these batteries are heavy. This cart doesn't exactly stop on a dime. I nearly crashed into several people and they would have had it coming if I'd succeeded.

At the checkout lines. The lines look busy, but as they say, 'tis the season, but I spot a self-checkout with a single person behind the one checking out. That's for me. I go over there and the people in front of me realize that this particular lane can't take cash, so they have to move to another lane. Now I'm next in line. Which is pretty sweet.

Until this woman in front of me, and (I think) her mother decide that this cart with about ten items in it will be split into three orders. I may have audibly groaned when I saw that two orders were turning into three. They were actually slow enough that I was able to scan and pay for the battery, and hit the exit before them.

I get home and put the new battery in the car. While I'm doing this, it occurs to me that they may have needed to charge the new battery. What if the car doesn't start? GF is out driving for the first time in weeks, and she isn't due home for hours. It's not like I'm going anywhere, but still. Fortunately, the car started right up, so I ran to the store to get gas and some stuff for dinner.

Just as I get back to the house, my cell phone rings and it's GF. She's on her way home, blah de blah. While I'm taking stuff out of the car, I realize that I forgot a key ingredient for dinner, so I get back in the car and head to the SuperFresh on Harford Rd, near Taylor Ave. Get my stuff and back in the car. I start the car and it runs for a few seconds, then simply dies. Attempts to start it meet with no success. I call GF and she's just gotten home, so I tell her to come get me.

Today we went back to the car and I had GF try to start it while I watch the engine. Originally I thought a belt had broken, but that wasn't the case. The belts appear intact, the wheels are turning but it doesn't sound as though the engine is trying to catch. Plus I'm hearing a relay-like click when the key is shut off again. Fortunately there's a Merchant's Tire & Auto nearby, so I simply walk in there and hand over the keys.

Even if it's a major repair, it would really be the first one for this car, with the exception of the clutch I had replaced in April. I have no complaints in the long run, although doing this in the middle of Holiday Season is a little on the inconvenient side. Still, I've driven the hell out of this car (over 80K miles since Halloween 2001) and it owes me nothing in the long run.

 

Comments

[Alex]

Consider yourself lucky. Battery failures almost always leave me stranded in a parking lot somewhere begging strangers for a jump. You'd be amazed how few people will take 5 minutes to help you out.

[yellojkt]

Good luck with the car. My bet is on the starter or the alternator.