:: Saturday, January 21, 2006 ::

I'll take a $50 battery over a $250 alternator anyday

So for the last few weeks or so (I really don't remember how long this has been happening), our car has been randomly (or so it seemed) deciding to not start in the morning. Eventually we noticed a pattern and determined that the cold was getting to our vehicle and he just needed some warmth. Ann's dad had previously reminded us to put anti-freeze in our engine, but we youthfully ignored his suggestion.

After the fifth time of our car deciding not to start at a critical moment, we decided he was right. However, being so youthful, we had no idea what to buy, where to put it, or even remember what the stuff was he told us to put in the car. So Ann called him up and he then told us to get the battery checked. "Yeah, right," we thought. The battery! What a silly idea. The car doesn't start only when it is cold, so the obvious solution is to put anti-freeze in it. That way our engine would be anti-freezed.

Once again, we youthfully ignored him and bought two bottles of anti-freeze, only to discover (after reading the directions nonetheless) that the old radiator fluid must be drained before adding new. Great. And who knows how to do this? Ann's dad. So we call him up again and again he demands that we get the battery checked. "Fine," we tell him. "We'll get it looked at." However, we still held to our vast knowledge of the automobile and insisted that anti-freeze was the answer to our problems.

And this brings us to today. This morning, on our way to Wal-mart to purchase chocolate (yes, I said chocolate), our car wouldn't start. Since it was cold outside, we chalked it up to that being the reason, but Ann figured it can't hurt to get the battery looked at. After all it is free.

So we get our chocolate and then venture down the road to the local AutoZone. A red-haired fellow serviced us and wheeled his little battery machine out to our car. After a seemingly neverending 45 seconds, the technician told us that the battery didn't even have enough charge to test. Hmm...that sounds suspicious. So we drilled his head for a minute or two, trying to get any idea we could as to what might be the problem or even greater, what might be the solution. After our 20 questions speal, we determined that there could be numerous things wrong with our car:

A) the cold is draining the battery
B) the battery just doesn't work and we are using our alternator too much
C) there is a short somewhere, but we (I mean that red-haired dude) has no idea where
D) and endless amount of other things too numerous to mention

The tech told us that we could have them charge it up for us and then we could see if it is good or not, but that would take at least 45 minutes. Waiting at the AutoZone is not my favorite pasttime (especially on a Saturday), so we journeyed home, much to the dismay of my better half. She wanted to get it done and over with. On the way home, we decided it would be better to get the battery looked at now instead of at another crucial moment in time. So back to the AutoZone we went.

After pulling up, we talked to another guy who took our battery out of car and into the store. We decided that we would just wait in the car (I was thinking we could listen to music, but that thought was quickly shot with the realization that the radio needs the battery). About two minutes later (I don't even think it was that long), the first guy comes out and tells us that our battery won't even start charging, its just that dead.

Great. So now we have a dead battery and no radio. Fantastic. Somehow a few months back we picked up Jack's (our brother-in-law) battery from his old truck and its been in our car ever since. We haul that monster out and into the store thinking we could just use that one. Much to our surprise, we couldn't. It was too big. So we were forced to buy a brand new battery (thankfully a two-year replacement warranty) for just over $50. Not too expensive I guess, when you compare it to the price of other car parts.

After shelling out those big bucks, my wifely creature and I ventured back home with smaller wallets, smarter minds, and a life lesson to teach our children:

Your grandpa (both of them) may act retarded, make no sense at all sometimes, and say some pretty retarded stuff, but sometimes they know what they are talking about.

God is good. All the time.
Peace

:: Ben 8:41 PM [+] ::
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