Cold weather can be rough on equipment.
I got a call from Belladonna at 3:15 this morning. "Dad, the car won't start."
The longer story is that she started it to warm it up. It ran for ten minutes and then shut down. After that, no juice to turn over the starter.
That is a weird combination of symptoms.
Sometimes it does not pay to guess. Later today I will be trekking to Lansing with tools, a new battery complete with shiny, new battery lugs, a couple bottles of "dry gas" and a box of miscellaneous fuses. I will feel a little bit stupid if the problem involves loose battery connections but I think the battery is over five years old so it does not owe me anything.
Her boss drove her to an all-night convenience store that is halfway home. That is where I picked her up.
Better to be prepared than guess... Kudos to her boss too!
ReplyDeleteAlternator or driving belt. It ran until the battery couldn't support the ignition system. Jumpstart it and check the voltage at the battery. Charging should show 13.6-14.6v, approximately. Fully charged is 12.6v, 12v is dead. Ignition systems will quit around 11.0-12v. The old points systems of the 70's and earlier will run down to 6-8v before dying.
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