Some Non-trivial Things That Annoy Me.

[Trebuchet]

What were the symptoms of the non-starting?

Just goes click = might be the battery.
Turns over and over and over without starting = probably not the battery.

[danscope]

Just a thought: I had a Jeep Grand Cherokee that I sometimes ..." Sometimes ??? " would not start. Eventually brought it to my local auto witchdoctor ( ) . It turned out to be the
crankshaft sensor , a tiny little thing , which lives in a most inaccessible place in back of the engine.
It cost me a few hundred to get it swapped out for a good one. Started right up every time after that
and never troubled me again. A real mechanic can sort out this kind of gremlin , often with their
very expensive auto computer diagnostic device.
It's always worth it to verify and repair such things. No battery can stand being nearly drained each time you try to start the engine. Best wishes, and good luck.
Dan

[Gillianren]

What were the symptoms of the non-starting?

Just goes click = might be the battery.
Turns over and over and over without starting = probably not the battery.

Just went click. Or sometimes would start to turn over and then everything would just sort of fade.

[Trebuchet]

Just went click. Or sometimes would start to turn over and then everything would just sort of fade.

Could be the battery then, or the starter. Intermittent, unfortunately, suggests the starter. My late lamented Honda CRX was doing that.

[profloater]

Danscope may be onto it. The crank sensor controls the engine management. But the same symptoms are for fuel too.

[Gillianren]

Now that the battery's replaced, it seems to be doing better.

[danscope]

Another note: We ( all of us ) drive around, stop and start our cars with little thought to how far we have driven ...considering how much current we have drained from the battery in starting our motor.
Think of it as a very large straw taking a huge drink ( starting the motor) and then filling the tumbler through a bar straw( this takes time ) , and there's a lot more current going into the battery at highway speeds then there is putting around the village. This is why I keep a 10 amp/2 amp
battery charger handy (near to my cars) and on the weekend every so often , I put the charger on one vehicle or the other overnight + . This way, I am riding around with a battery in a high state of charge ...instead of only a third state of charge. It's safer ....any time of year , but especially in winter when cold starting is particularly hard on starter motors and batteries.
My Honda accord is a nice car ..BUT !!!!!!!! it's got only a small place dedicated to the battery.
Half the size of what is in my Yukon. I'd have to install welding cable into my trunk to install a large auxiliary battery there. No other room for it. The engine compartment is an "Oven-stuffer roaster" and packed with other stuff. The only thing I can do is put in the very best battery I can find and go through the trouble of week-end charging to guarantee performance.
Also .....CLEAN Battery terminals serve everyone the best. Your alternator makes the juice but it doesn't do any good if your terminals are crud.
And never hammer onto battery terminals. Kills a good battery.
If you look on Youtube under "cleaning battery terminals with baking soda" there are quite a few videos explaining the job .I generally check and do these terminals around Halloween and again in May. Take off any rings and jewelry first. (I've seen people touch the hot lead and ground the ring to car metal .It's not good.) Get an old toothbrush , a plastic cup , a tablespoon of baking soda and a 1/4 cup of warm water . Release the terminal carefully, scrape of any heavy corrosion ( you can catch the particles with a paper towel. This is a good time to wear old clothes you don't care for.... and glasses or nice clean safety glasses so you can see confidently without getting something in your eye .) Mix the baking soda solution and apply to the terminal and the post. Dry up with a paper towel. Then spray a little clean water with a spray bottle to
rinse the terminal and post. Dry with paper towels. I apply a little vaseline petroleum jelly which acts as a barrier to acid corrosion and extends the clean life of the terminal. Wash your hands thoroughly. Change clothes and launder work shirt and slacks NOW. Otherwise you get little holes in things. If they're junk clothes, so....what . If the terminals are corroded beyond proper service, get them replaced. They aren't expensive.
If any of this sounds uncomfortable to you, get a mechanic and pay him happily to do a proper job for you. This is one of the most vulnerable points of automotive maintenance, and common to all motor vehicles.
Best regards,
Dan

[danscope]

Another note: We ( all of us ) drive around, stop and start our cars with little thought to how far we have driven ...considering how much current we have drained from the battery in starting our motor.
Think of it as a very large straw taking a huge drink ( starting the motor) and then filling the tumbler through a bar straw( this takes time ) , and there's a lot more current going into the battery at highway speeds then there is putting around the village. This is why I keep a 10 amp/2 amp
battery charger handy (near to my cars) and on the weekend every so often , I put the charger on one vehicle or the other overnight + . This way, I am riding around with a battery in a high state of charge ...instead of only a third state of charge. It's safer ....any time of year , but especially in winter when cold starting is particularly hard on starter motors and batteries.
My Honda accord is a nice car ..BUT !!!!!!!! it's got only a small place dedicated to the battery.
Half the size of what is in my Yukon. I'd have to install welding cable into my trunk to install a large auxiliary battery there. No other room for it. The engine compartment is an "Oven-stuffer roaster" and packed with other stuff. The only thing I can do is put in the very best battery I can find and go through the trouble of week-end charging to guarantee performance.
Also .....CLEAN Battery terminals serve everyone the best. Your alternator makes the juice but it doesn't do any good if your terminals are crud.
And never hammer onto battery terminals. Kills a good battery.
If you look on Youtube under "cleaning battery terminals with baking soda" there are quite a few videos explaining the job .Take off any rings and jewelry first. (I've seen people touch the hot lead and ground the ring to car metal .It's not good.) Get an old toothbrush , a plastic cup , a tablespoon of baking soda and a 1/4 cup of warm water . Release the terminal carefully, scrape off any heavy corrosion ( you can catch the particles with a paper towel. This is a good time to wear old clothes you don't care for.... and glasses or nice clean safety glasses so you can see confidently without getting something in your eye .) Mix the baking soda solution and apply to the terminal and the post. Dry up with a paper towel. Then spray a little clean water with a spray bottle to
rinse the terminal and post. Dry with paper towels. I apply a little vaseline petroleum jelly which acts as a barrier to acid corrosion and extends the clean life of the terminal. Wash your hands thoroughly. Change clothes and launder work shirt and slacks NOW. Otherwise you get little holes in things. If they're junk clothes, so....what . If the terminals are corroded beyond proper service, get them replaced. They aren't expensive.
If any of this sounds uncomfortable to you, get a mechanic and pay him happily to do a proper job for you. This is one of the most vulnerable points of automotive maintenance, and common to all motor vehicles.
Best regards,
Dan
I generally check and do these terminals around Halloween and again in May.

[danscope]

Another note: Side terminals are a little different. Get a good mechanic to sort out these.
Batteries are heavy, cramped and difficult on many installations.

[Trebuchet]

The previously mentioned CRX went away with a wrench still embedded in its radiator shroud, because of the difficulty associated with installing the battery.

[Gillianren]

There's still something wrong. If Graham can't figure out what it is, he'll call his brother who has a certificate in an auto repair program.

[grant hutchison]

Flying out of LAX last night, boarding the plane at sunset. My wife and I stopped to admire the astonishly red sky - and then simultaneously realized that this beautiful spectacle was only there because a chunk of nearby California is on fire.

Grant Hutchison

[profloater]

Another note: Side terminals are a little different. Get a good mechanic to sort out these.
Batteries are heavy, cramped and difficult on many installations.

Well for winter battery tips, discharged (nearly flat) car batteries are very vulnerable to vibration, the active material falls off the plates and shortens the battery life, sometimes catastrophically. So try to charge the battery while standing still if at all possible. The effective charge is reduced in cold weather so also avoid long cranking times. If the engine will not fire, there may be another reason, save the battery while you investigate. If it's the old type with filler caps, make sure the electrolyte is over the plates, using distilled water.

[danscope]

Hi Floater, Good advice. It's surprising in that as important as batteries are ( and they are all around us , and we depend on them for our modern lives ) that we receive way too little genuine instruction in their care and feeding for maximum performance. When they fail , it can be a spectacular
problem precipitating even more grief, and sometimes tragedy . Many of us have the luxury of having mechanics in our families , and get our education from the horse's mouth.
Happy motoring .
Dan

[Gillianren]

Update on the car, it appears that something is drawing on the battery when it isn't supposed to.

[The Backroad Astronomer]

This afternoon I checked my twitter feed and on person I follow father passed away yesterday from cancer, I left a message I don't know if I got it right because I really don't know what to say at times like this. About twenty years ago a great uncle passed away while shoveling snow. I went to the viewing and for some reason I let it slip I had to get new sneakers afterwards.

[Solfe]

My wife needed a hair cut and I happen to have a friend who is a beautician. So I suggest my wife go see him. She got a the style she wanted, hair dyed and highlighted plus a manicure. There might have been a facial scrub and some other things. She looks great...

but 250 bucks later, I'm kicking myself for being so helpful.

[Extravoice]

And that doesn’t include the cost of a night on the town to show off the results.

BTW The book “Freakonics” has an interesting discussion about the cost of women’s haircuts.




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[DonM435]

Update on the car, it appears that something is drawing on the battery when it isn't supposed to.

Could be something subtle. Long ago I was warned not to leave the key in the ignition when parked, i.e., when I was sitting and waiting for someone, because it could cause the battery to drain. Moreover, I had a heavy keychain with more keys and other stuff hanging on it. Don't know if it's true, but I don't do that any more.

[KaiYeves]

And that doesn’t include the cost of a night on the town to show off the results.

BTW The book “Freakonics” has an interesting discussion about the cost of women’s haircuts.




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Freakonomics?

[Extravoice]

Um yeah, I thought that's what I typed.

[grant hutchison]

Um yeah, I thought that's what I typed.

Freakonic is the name of the acid formed from freakose. Which is like fructose, except worse.

Grant Hutchison

[Solfe]

And that doesn’t include the cost of a night on the town to show off the results.

BTW The book “Freakonics” has an interesting discussion about the cost of women’s haircuts.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

She picked the new Star Wars movie as date night... I am good again.

Her sister saw it this morning and was trying to tell me all about it. I told her if she did that I'd not only need a therapist, the therapist will need puppets.

[PetersCreek]

Home sick with vertigo today, I received a potential fraud alert on my credit card to the tune of $1149. Looks like someone tried buy a new iPhone via AT&T bill pay but the charge was blocked and now my card has no more value than as an emergency ice scraper. The new card should be here in a few days.

[The Backroad Astronomer]

Better stay on the good of Mr Creek for a while.

[Jim]

Home sick with vertigo today, I received a potential fraud alert on my credit card to the tune of $1149. Looks like someone tried buy a new iPhone via AT&T bill pay but the charge was blocked and now my card has no more value than as an emergency ice scraper. The new card should be here in a few days.

Annoying, but think how much more so had they not caught it. You have a good credit card company.

[Hornblower]

One of my pet peeves is a surtax on top of my real estate tax for pickup of autumn leaves. I don't put leaves out for pickup. I chop most of them in place with the lawn mower in mulching mode, and put the ones that pile up against the house into a compost heap in the back yard. I consider that to be good soil conservation.

[CJSF]

I've asked this before (maybe not that long ago - I'm having trouble finding it, even with help from Google in searching the forum), but if anyone here has had Daith piercings, or DOES Daith piercings, or knows someone close who has them, for migraine relief: What's the long-term effectiveness been? I almost went ahead with it last time my current therapy dipped in effectiveness, but have been lacking the evidence to make me feel totally comfortable. The idea on how it works seems to be rooted in acupressure/acupuncture, of which there is plenty to be skeptical about. But I know at least two people who have had it going on 2 years now and seem to have achieved amazing reduction in the number and severity of their headaches. I had another round of really bad ones this week, including one in my all time top 5 this afternoon. I started to cry like a baby, it hurt so bad. Luckily I had a Rx waiting on me that I picked up - probably shouldn't have been driving - and got relief. But long term use of these triptan drugs isn't really well understood, either.

Any help?

CJSF

[slang]

I've asked this before (maybe not that long ago - I'm having trouble finding it, even with help from Google in searching the forum),
[...]
Any help?

Not on the issue itself, but you posted earlier about here.

[Solfe]

I took a class on behavioral management for educators. I was stunned to find that even the most basic concepts of behavior management are foreign to a lot of people. One guy was looking for a short list of ways to corporeally punish students.

The professor was professional about it, but I did sense that she was trying not yell. I guess this was "method teaching". Even though I wanted to leave the room, I did learn a lot listening to that conversation. I would not have handled that question very well.

I got an A, but I don't think I was working as hard as some people.