Thank goodness for S M A L L problems

[hittman]

As annoying as this is, I'm at least in a good frame of mind to laugh about how very minor my problems are this morning.

Thought I'd drop off a couple letters at the post office, maybe fuel up the truck and a couple other things where I don't have to have contact with people.

My 2019 High Country wont start. No problem, backup is the 99 Explorer XLT with under 70k miles on it.

Yep, it's dead as a hammer too.

So, I do NOT have a vehicle at the moment and I also do NOT have the flu, virus, tornado, cancer, flood, snow, or a bad attitude. Frustrated .... yep. But man oh man things could be much worse.

 

[NH Rugerman]

Hittman

Congratulations on your attitude....and may you continue to be so blessed

Good luck getting those vehicles running....and your errands done!!

 

[Cholo]

Naaa, the motorcycle wouldn't work.

I've had a portable jump starter since '97 or so. Worth its weight in gold when I need it. You wouldn't need one with a compressor, but I can plug a tire in the boonies and air it up.

http://www.amazon.com/Jump-N-Carry-JNCAIR-1700-Starter-Compressor/dp/B000KPU8F2

 

[Ale-8(1)]

Had the same problem twice so far. Fortunately, both times the truck was in the garage within reach of the battery charger.

I've decided I'm going for a little drive every other day or so to keep the thing "charged up" and check out the local situation. With gas at $1.24 per gallon it's no biggie to keep it gassed up as well as keep a supply at home for lawn vehicle work.

What I've noticed so far is that folks seem to be out-and-about, even if not in as large a number as "normal". I'm gonna make a post office stop myself later today.

 

[coach]

I’ve been putting a charger on the cars recently just to be sure. I made a post office run today too and got me some of that $1.89 gas for the lawn mower and topped off the 4Runner. May all your problems be that small during these times.

 

[hittman]

Yeah guess I'm a sissy since I hit age 60. ..... my Road Glide sitting here on the trickle charger but it's 38 degrees this morning! :shock:

Ain't nothing I need today bad enough to ride the bike in these temps.

 

[Cholo]

You'll have to manually charge the battery on your newer vehicle. They don't charge well from being dead by just driving around. I have a '14 Nissan that had a dead battery. I drove it around for 2 1/2 hours without shutting it off. Next time I went to start it--click. I put my battery charger on it and it's still going strong 4 years later.

Another reason to have a portable jump starter.

 

[hittman]

Hmmm...I may have to look into getting one of those.

Of course I can't afford the FLEET of vehicles like YOU have Ken! :lol:

 

[SAJohn]

Trickle chargers are you and your batteries friend.

 

[Fox Mike]

If you have a year old vehicle that the battery dies on you have something draining it down. That is what I would be looking for, not a trickle charger.

 

[blume357]

Speaking of vehicles.. I still can't believe what I almost did yesterday:

I was backing my work van up to hook up to my trailer that I have not used in over a year and it is in a difficult place to get to and kind of hard to turn the van just right to get lined up on top of that where I'm backing is up hill... I got close and my front tire went over a block I have set up to usually stop me from backing up in this drive way to far... I need to pull forward and adjust my back end a little and so I put the van in forward to go over the block and it jumped over the block and started to shoot down hill.. I tried to put on the brakes and when I did the engine started racing... I'm headed out of the drive into the street and there is nothing but a gulley across from there.... I could not figure out what is going on and finally just tried to hit the gear shift and get out of drive into neutral... actually went into reverse but I don't think I messed anything up... I'm sitting there trying to figure out what went wrong with the van.... and realized.... maybe it was me... seems when the front wheel went over the block in the drive and I tried to put on brakes I used my left foot to do this and when I did that the left foot was a bit too far to the right and besides pushing on the brake it was also pushing down on my right foot that was still on the gas! Talk about being both stupid and real lucky!

 

[hittman]

Pump the brakes Blume ...... your heart can't take that excitement!

- pun intended -

 

[Pat-inCO]

Had a somewhat similar problem with my Outback. It was cranking the starter a lot
slower than it should, so I put it on the trickle charger. Much better . . . for a day or
so. Talked with SIL and he said that he usually replaces his batteries at about two
years (something about the heat here). Mine was three and one half years, so I
got a new battery and refreshed the no-ox on the connections. 8)

Nice that it was a slow degradation rather than OK, then nothing.

Now if I could just get the wood peckers to leave my house antennas alone. :roll:

 

[Cholo]

Of course I can't afford the FLEET of vehicles like YOU have Ken! :lol:

Ha! My 4 wheel fleet is down one; my 2 wheel fleet is up one. The way I figure it I'm down 1/2

One jumper no matter the fleet size. Like Frank said, find out what caused the battery to drain. My Nissan mentioned above? Seems the power outlet in the console that I'd never used stayed hot when the van was off. I think I had a GPS plugged into it.

 

[hittman]

The 2019 is an electric problem I'd bet .... these new vehicles are touchy and delicate. Regardless, it's under warranty.

The 21 year old Explorer had a 7 year old battery that simply needed to be replaced. A new DuraLast GOLD 65 cranks it over nicely now.

And I've about decided to spend $200 on a Micro-Start brand XP-10 portable charger. They made a XP-1 that's about $110 but it's not rated for the bigger V8 engines.

Another option is a $90 Battery Tender brand 1000A. Good review online on both.

 

[sncup]

Had the batteries go bad in my diesel pickup after being gone for a month. Thinking about how I use the truck these days, IE: not so often, I purchased AGM technology batteries.

These have deep cycle capability so that the batteries do not suffer premature death if the truck sits too long. A bit pricy but better than buying a new set of regular batteries if setting too long.

Another option was to put a battery tender on regular batteries if I went away, but with all the details of a trip I wasn’t sure I would always remember.

 

[Dan in MI]

Newer vehicles with all of the new "gotta have" stuff have an acceptable level of battery drain to keep all the computers alive. From anecdotal evidence it appears about 2.5-3 weeks of no start/run is the wall.

Again, newer vehicles, have "smart" alternators that just put out enough to run the vehicle and top off a battery. At idle or a short run it won't help.

Think about this. In the 80's a heavy duty truck alternator was 75A rarely a 125. Now a standard alternator for dinky 2.0L is 175A. For a loaded 2.0L, 240A. New cars are dang near electric. :lol:


If you don't go out a lot, a trickle charger, better yet a battery tender (smart trickle charger) is almost required.

 

[coach]

I had a battery tender on my boat and forgot to unplug it when I moved it. I only ripped the end of the extension cord off. I made a small cardboard sign that says charger that I put on my seat when the charger’s in use. It’s saved any more damage a time or two.

 

[radicalrod]

I have a Yuasa smart charger on every vehicle in the barn....makes life much easier.....

They make a 20' extension that comes in handy too....

I buy reconditioned batteries and have had excellent results too....RR