car woes pt. II

[juldea]

Guess where I just came back from?

Ron's Automotive!

This morning I called Caleb and asked him to come in early so I could sleep in. I did so until 11:30, drove to Pad Thai, got my lunch special to go, returned to my car, turned the key in the ignition, and.... well, the fan and the radio and all the accessories turned on, but the engine didn't. Pooh.

Luckily I added the towing/etc coverage on my insurance last week. I called them up, got a tow truck (ate inside pad thai while I waited), and got to the mechanic. They can't look at it until morning, though.

I told the mechanic that I was going to bring the car in for a full inspection in 5 days anyway, so hey... at least it died here and not on the road to Boston. So now I'll get this fixed AND the complete inspection done.

Now, just how to pay for it...

Comments

[kishpa.livejournal.com]

I hope its something simple!

[juldea.livejournal.com]

it's probably the starter.... since delivering pizza means off/on/off/on/off/on/off/on.

[vambot5.livejournal.com]

I doubt it. sounds like the battery. I've had this happen to me before, with the same symptoms, more than once. on/off/on/off is probably harder on the battery than the starter. have you considered leaving your car running all the time? you'd probably use less gas that way, and put less stress on everything else. you could get an extra key so that you could lock the door and leave the car running.

[mongonoodle.livejournal.com]

my vote is actually for not-the-battery, since all the auxiliary things came on, but the engine didn't try to turn over. when it's the battery, usually the clock and the radio and things won't come on, and the engine will try to do its thing but just poop out. my car has done that twice. once it was the starter, and once it was a bad alternator cable ($0.65 repair!).

wooeee.

anyway, best of luck to you and your car, o julia-friend.

[juldea.livejournal.com]

On/off is much harder on the starter than the battery. But staying on is much, much harder on the engine. Especially when it's hot outside. I've heard that the rule is "if the engine will idle for longer than 25 seconds, turn it off".

When my battery died, turning the key made it go click-click-click and no accessories came on. Since that happened within the last two months, and the battery was completely replaced, I think it's safe to say that the problem is definitely not the battery.