At Home Mechanic

The mistake I made was to ignore what my car was telling me. My car is not a special car; it has no KIT technology out of the old Knight Rider TV show. It does not tell me, "Your door is ajar," when I leave the door open with the motor running. (Do you remember when Japan sent the US "talking" cars in the early 1980's? Adapting the technology of talking dolls, the Japanese manufactures led the automobile industry in cars with prerecorded messages. Very quickly, American consumers got tired of being nagged by their cars to put on their seatbelts, get more gas or turn off their lights when the motor was stopped.)

My car was talking to me just like every other car on the road speaks to its owner. Your car and mine all speak the same language, although there are no recognizable words in this language. The language of "Car" is composed of the calliope of sounds plus the subtle nuances of symptoms our cars exhibit.

Being a car mechanic is a bit like being a Veterinarian or a Pediatrician, your patient cannot tell you what the problem is in words. But like a Veterinarian or a Pediatrician, an At Home Mechanic has to be able to interpret the signs of trouble.

Back to me and my problem: My 2003 Honda Accord was telling me that my car's battery needed to be replaced. The signs were clear, the hesitant start was a dead give away. I had a week's worth of starts that there were weak and tentative. Intellectually, I knew that all I had to do was to pop the hood to check the fluid level in the battery. At the very least, I could have put the battery on my at home charger for a couple of hours to top off the charge.

But I was swimming in an ocean of denial (And that ain't just a river in Egypt. That's a joke. Get it? Denial... river in Egypt? See? If you have to explain your jokes I guess they are not very funny). Anyway, I knew that there was a problem and I did nothing about it. And just like any dieing battery, mine died at the least opportune moment. You know what I am talking about: You are running late to an important meeting. You jump in the car, pray to the Gods of All Things Automotive to give you just one more start, turn the key and get that sickening lack of anything happening that tells you your luck has run out.

The key mistake I had made was not popping the hood to check the battery. I assumed that my new-ish car came with a modern sealed battery that has no provision of service. Of course once I did look at the battery I could see that it was an old fashioned battery with a service port. The recent spate of hot weather had allowed the fluid in the battery to evaporate to the point that the cells were uncovered and the battery was cooked. I could have gotten another year or so of useful life out of that battery if I had been paying attention.

A handy set of jumper cables, and a helpful neighbor got my car started. It cost me about $75 to replace the battery, which is a financial kick in the butt to remind me to not ignore what my car is telling me.

Listen to your car; be sensitive to the warning signs. And then act on the problem when the car starts telling you about them.