Wednesday, June 14, 2006
it died a slow and quiet death

Ugg. I totally killed my car today. Well, the battery anyway. I had some time to kill so I put my car in park, rolled down the windows, turned off the radio, took the keys out of the ignition and read my book. (I’m currently reading lost boy, lost girl by Peter Straub. I finished California Girl by Jefferson Parker earlier today.) When my client got home I turned the car on and went to roll up the windows and I couldn’t. So I tried turning the car on, and I couldn’t. Turns out I’d forgotten to turn off my headlights. It was cloudy and rainy when I was driving so I’d turned them on, like a good little driver. There was no noise to indicate the lights were still on, cause I never opened the door. I’m a dumbass. ;-) But two nice Spanish maintenance guys from the complex I was in came and jumped me. They first tried with their little go cart thing, but that didn’t work. Something about too MUCH power. Uh-hu. Then Jose got his car and that worked a-ok. They asked me what was wrong with my battery, since it’s a new car (we got it on Valentines Day) and they even said they were sorry that the extra battery they had at home wouldn’t work cause it was the wrong size. I thought it was sweet, and then had to tell ‘em what I’d done. I was surprised they didn’t laugh. I did. I had to reset my clock, but my car is a-ok now. When I told hubby he reminded me about the neat trick I can now pull since I drive a stick shift. Something about getting going to a walking speed and then “popping the clutch.” It sounds really scary, and it was just as easy to get a jump than to get people to push my car. But at least I know if I’m stuck someplace without another car around I’ll be able to get it started again. With help, but whatever. You ever had your battery die? I’ve done this before. Seems to happen when I forget about my car lights when it’s raining. How about you? Ever kill your car and have to get a jump? Leave your stories in the comments.

These 385 words were written in the early evening
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Avatar for Dizzyscorpio
Ms Luka, that is usually the same thing I do, everytime my battery has died it is because it was ranining outside and I put my lights on and forgot to turn them off, but one day we are going to have to show you how to pop the clutch. :-)
Posted by Dizzyscorpio  on  Thu Jun 15  at  10:29 AM
Stick shifts are very handy for the starting of a dead battery by popping the clutch. It's pretty easy to do (popping the clutch, that is), although it's a wakeup call to just how heavy a car is when there is no one around to help you push it to get it rolling!

I've heard that it is possible to do a rolling start with an automatic transmission, too, but I have NO idea how that is done, or if what I heard is just a myth.

I've never actually killed a battery by leaving lights on, out here in AZ the batteries die just fine on their own. We're lucky to get two years out of a battery out here.
Posted by niki  on  Thu Jun 15  at  11:55 PM
I totally killed my car battery a few weeks ago. Jump started it and then it died again, we ended up with a whole new battery.
I had left the lights on.
Posted by WendyWings  on  Sat Jun 17  at  01:34 AM
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