The Triumph of Experience Over RTFM

[jamesq]

I get a call from garething.

"Come over right now."

My paranoia flares up and I briefly convince myself that they're luring me to some kind of intervention. Yes, I'm a freak.

"Um. It's late - am I in some kind of trouble?"
"No, my car won't start and I need a boost."
"OK."

I head over and we assemble cables according to the instructions and it doesn't work. I've never successfully boosted someone following the instructions. I know there's nothing wrong with the cables because they've worked for other people. The instructions are also simple and written on the cable, so I'll never lose them. They still don't work despite repeated attempts.

We give up and G goes back to his flat to pursue alternative methods of charging batteries. I get back into my car and attempt to start it. It's deader then Elvis. Fuck.

So I call G back and tell him that his car gave my car some terrible STD - car herpes or something. I then start looking through the contact list on my phone to see who is a) nearby, b) likely to help me, c) competent. I try hadriel first, only to discover that she's not home and that her car was stolen a few weeks ago. I had no idea. Time to reconnect I think.

As an aside, stephtopia works for CPS and tells me that the crime rate in Dalhousie is going up. It's still a nice neighborhood - and nothing like when I lived downtown - but it has gone down a notch. I'd better finish cleaning the garage so I can park inside again.

Next I try thekillerb69, who is happy to come down and help us. I hang out with G and S for ten minutes waiting, and got to hear about how this isn't my bad luck - we've actually been caught in the large blast radius of stephtopia's bad luck. Check her blog for details, I'll just say I hope her week turns around.

Now at no time was I upset about any of this. This sort of shit doesn't really bother me (social things bother me, the idiosyncrasies of machines generally don't).

thekillerb69 arrives and takes charge. First, he handles the cables a little differently then we were and he has a specific order to attaching them. Then we wait a bit and lo-and-behold, garething manages to start his car. We repeat the process with mine and it too starts. Excellent.

The only mystery is why my battery died, since it has the original-issue battery and the car is only three years old. Could be that my charging abilities achieved epic fail status, or the battery is just near dead. I'm going with a combination of both for now.

Next we all split up for drives. thekillerb69 back home to continue playing RB2 with his new guitar controller, the other two vehicles to just putter around for awhile to charge up the batteries.

I tool around the NW for awhile then came back to report the earth-shaking news to my loyal readers.

Comments

[oblivions.livejournal.com]

I'd have been a frustrated little pile of goo.

[othelianna.livejournal.com]

It almost sounds like the beginning of a zombie movie.

"OMGJAMES! My car won't start. Come over and help?"

"Ya. Sure."

*several engine revvings and no luck*

"Shit. No luck."

"Crap. My car is dead also!"

"And there's nobody nearby who can help..."

*shufflemoanshuffle*

"Did you hear that, Gareth?..."

*chunkCHUNK*

"...Gareth, where did you get that shotgun from?"

[garething.livejournal.com]

"I like to keep it handy. For close encounters."

[lihan161051.livejournal.com]

Your battery may have been marginal to begin with -- I can't imagine anything discharging a fully charged battery that fast without starting a fire somewhere, because that's just a LOT of energy. Or your battery terminals are dirty/corroded, which is actually somewhat more likely. (I sometimes check with a voltmeter between the post and the terminal as well as between the posts .. there should be no voltage at all between the terminal and post, and if there is, the corrosion is putting high resistance in the circuit, and the terminal comes off and gets thoroughly cleaned. :)

One thing to keep in mind, though, is that a car battery that's been deep discharged at least once (as in, discharged to the point where it won't turn over the engine) is very likely close to terminal failure no matter how old it is. They don't take kindly to that. If the battery is new, there might also be an alternator problem.

[lihan161051.livejournal.com]

Sorry, no zombie stories, I'm boring that way.

(Although living in a semi-rural area of Texas, now, might change that. LOL)

[jamesq]

I've seen Planet Terror, I know Texas has a horrendous zombie problem.

[thebrucie.livejournal.com]

I just love how every story that involves Gareth turn into a Zombie scenario. It's like he's a zombie magnet.

[jamesq]

He brings it on himself, with his Eau de Cerveaux cologne.

[garething.livejournal.com]

I do NOT wear that!

[bungle-lord.livejournal.com]

I hear that Eau de Cerveaux is extracted from people with encephalitis. . . .