My thoughts released; a mind set free |
Not completely out of juice, but pretty damn close. You may be asking, "What kind of juice?" Or something similar to this, so let me explain. Today I needed to drive into town and refill some water bottles; our water is not the best for taste and especially not the best for making coffee, so we use three gallon water bottles that we refill when needed. Normally, this isn't a problem, I put the empty bottles in the back of the vehicle, start it up, and then drive into a nearby town and refill them. But today wasn't normal. For starts, it's been cold here, bitter cold. The temperature has not risen above zero degrees Fahrenheit all week which means the vehicles are cold, stiff, and harder to start. But, they always start right up and seldom do we have to plug them and use the engine heater. Today, however, I should have plugged it in and pre-warmed the engine. I put the bottles in the back and got in and turned the key, but instead of a cold engine starting reluctantly, all I got was a low groan from the engine compartment; the battery was dead. Well, not completely dead, but low enough that it would not turn the engine over and start. Luckily, I have an old battery charger. My mother-in-law had an old Napa battery charger like they used to use in garages and shops. It has multiple settings, including a 250 watt jump start function. I put the charger on and it indicated that the battery was almost drained, so I let it charge for a bit, then switched it over to the jump start setting and tried to start the Yukon again. It started right up and I was able to complete my drive and return home without any further problems. I, of course, did not shut the vehicle off until I was back home, for fear of it not starting again. Tomorrow I'll see if it will start without assistance and put it in the garage and see if the battery is in need of replacing. I hope not, money is tight to say the least and I can't really afford to replace the battery right now. |