A Battery Revolt

This morning I was actually looking forward to the errands I was going to do today just because it was such a beautiful day: sunny, mid-70s, slight breeze. Perfect. I was looking forward to opening up my sunroof and cruising with my windows down. The problem began when I went out to start my car this morning and it just wouldn't turn over. The radio would come on, the dash would light up, but I just couldn't get enough juice to get my engine going. I assumed I would just need a quick jump to get me going, only the jumper cables were still in my brother's truck from when his battery kicked about a month ago. No matter, my dad's truck was readily available and I was able to take his vehicle to get my stuff done.

When my brother got home I got the cables out of his truck but didn't jump my truck right away because, let's face it, I don't really have anywhere important to be. When my mom got home from her meetings I thought about jumping off her car, but figured it could wait until she got home from her various running around. Only when she went to start her car nothing happened. No noise coming from the engine, but a distinct clicking noise coming from under the hood. For all I know about engines, it may have been the magic gnomes that make cars start trying to signal us in morse code. It was actually the fuse box making all this noise so I assumed it was an electrical problem. A quick check of all the fuses turned up nothing. We tried cleaning off the towers and connections, but the car still wouldn't even make a noise. Let's take a moment to review the situation: three cars in the driveway, only one that would start. We were a Jeff Foxworthy joke in the making.

We tried jumping my mom's car off my dad's truck and it still wouldn't start. At this point we figured since the cables were out we may as well jump my truck, which started with little problem. My father decided that we just didn't have a good connection when we tried to jump my mom's car and we tried again. After charging it for a few minutes we managed to get the car started, only then something I've never seen before happened: we decided to let the engine run for a couple minutes to see if the battery would hold a charge, but when my dad disconnected the cables from the battery my mom's car just shut off. That is how dead my mom's battery was - it couldn't even run on it own. It was extra odd because she had just driven home from work without a hitch or any indication the car was having an issue. At this point we gave up the fight and after a quick trip to the autoparts store and an even quicker battery replacement (we're getting quite good at doing those around here) it appears all is right in the driveway once again. At least, as long as my truck starts tomorrow.

Either way, it should be pointed out that the MVP of the driveway is my dad's truck which, despite being the oldest vehicle here, was the one that managed to give juice to all the others around it.