If this summer and its freaking heat was hockey, it would have accomplished the rare hat trick on our cars this summer. Last night, at 10:00pm, of course at 10:00pm, it wouldn't fail at 2:00pm when it is easy to deal with shit, Wife's car decided that the battery was no longer going to work. Boy was merely trying to move it because his car was in front of Wife's in the driveway, but all he got were clicks and clacks. I went out there to double check, he never drives her car, so I thought maybe he didn't do it right, but I got the same thing.
First, it happened to Boy's car, and I handled it easily enough, then it happened to my Excursion and of course Ford decided I needed a new alternator, which whether I did or didn't, they paid for it because I was still under warranty from the last one. Although these are the very last hot days of the year, I think it was time for the battery to die. As I was told, they last about three years and we did get the Kia in 2016, so it was not surprising, just annoying that it happens on Sunday evening. I guess the better way to look at it is that it didn't happen to Wife while on the road or at some dinky gas station at 5:00am, driving to work.
I don't get why there are so many batteries to choose from. They are all 12V and then there might be a difference in cranking amps at 500 or 700 or whatever, but we went to the Walmart here in Southpark Meadows and although there were like 20 different batteries, including a handful of marine rated ones, they didn't have the Maxx-124R. Boy is much more used to relying on his phone and him and Sweetie were headed to Walmart to get some sandwich things, so I tagged along with them and he told me the Walmart on Ben White had 5 of the correct batteries in stock. I was tempted to just one of the other ones, but oh well, they were driving. I don't have a problem buying, or even replacing the battery, I just get a little nervous going in the motor and then uncovering other problems. There was a time we just kept switching cars so we wouldn't get to this point, but I think we have grown up a bit. The cost of the battery was only $93.80 and I get back like $12 if I bring the old one back, and replacing the batteries took two different sockets and some extension rods. The one worry is that the positive wire fit very tight, the connecting posts were like lower on the original battery, the battery top was sunken down about a half inch where the posts were as a design, but the new one was not like that. It still fit, but very snug, it should be alright.
I tightened everything and checked the battery voltage, it read 12.25v. I wanted to see if the alternator was charging and so I drove around the neighborhood. I checked it after and the voltage was up to 12.50v, which tells me the alternator is ok and doing its job. I guess Wife will get up in an hour (it is 3:40am) and drive into the night where we will really see if I know what I am doing, fingers crossed.
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