CarNoGo

[uberjames]

I tried to leave for work on Tuesday and found my car wouldn't start. This gave me a chance to test my emergency get to work plans. I planned to test them at some point, but this week is probably better than other since we're doing disaster preparedness practice at work this week. If anything major happens in California, you'll still be able to

Comments

[dripp]

So the car just randomly failed to start, and showed electrical symptoms (like, no lights) while not starting? Or did it, perchance, start crapping out while you were still driving, and then fail to start next time? In my experience, the first scenario is almost always the battery, and the second scenario is almost always the alternator. I've had both happen to me a few times each.

If it's the battery, it's an easy fix: Get a jump start (I'll be happy to drop by and give you one if you want, and I do have jumper cables) and take it to a car parts store. If your battery is an easy-to-access one (i.e., you look down under the hood and you see your battery just sitting there), most car parts stores will even do the replacement for you. I even managed to get the parts store to replace this one! Most battery replacements are in the ballpark of $80.

And what's really cool about the parts stores is that they'll even do a free diagnostic to separate battery problems from alternator problems, whereas I've been personally gouged by a mechanic

[uberjames]

I didn't mean to ignore replying to this. I left town straight from work for the weekend that day, then one day of work, then off to Pittsburgh for 5 days, back in San Jose for a day, then to LA for 3, then sick for several.

I've already bought a portable jump start battery thing, but when I went to use it, the car started. I still don't trust the car, so I bought a new one. I'll post about that shortly.