cold weather car annoyances
Jan. 3rd, 2008 07:06 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
chhotiiToday I was planning to take Mom's car, the Honda, because nobody has driven my VW since before the most recent snow-- I have been carpooling, taking the train, etc., so we haven't needed it-- and I knew it had a low tire that needed to be attended to. But I knew that taking Mom's car would be challenging, because I heard her come in last night; she got a wheel up on a snow bank and I heard the rrrrrrr-rrrrrr-rrrrr-rrrrrrrrrrrr of the wheel spinning. I went out there and sure enough, it was hung up on the snowbank in such a way that I was sure it wouldn't get any traction (based on prior experience with Hondas with automatic transmissions on snowbanks.)
I don't know whether the wheels would have spun fruitlessly. I didn't even get as far as getting the wheels going. I turned the key, the starter motor made a sound like "oh you've got to be kidding me", turned the engine a couple of times ineffectually, and then the battery sputtered out and died.
I don't know enough about cars, is this just because it was so cold? Mom didn't leave the headlights on (yes I checked). And it was plenty cold-- in the single digits in Boston, so probably around 0 dF here, and with a wind chill way below that. But--- but but but-- aren't there parts of this country where temperatures close to zero are not uncommon? Say, in the upper midwest? Certainly in Alaska, and in more northern countries such as Canada, right? What do people there do? Do they just not drive Hondas? I don't know how they manage. Oh, hey, maybe they ALL have garages. And, by trying to start the car until the starter motor gave up, did I ruin the battery, or will the car feel all better when it's warmer? I'm clueless. I'll have to talk to someone who knows something about cars. Mom, who has never lived this far north in her life, was incredulous that her car wasn't starting.
So, I just had to take the VW. With not enough time to fill the tire on the way, bad bad bad. Not after it took about half and hour of launching myself at the crusty windshield with the ice scraper to scrape off just enough ice to see. I managed to start this car right up (it's a diesel; I just had to be mindful to wait until the glow plug indicator went off, and, despite making noises that made it clear that it was really unhappy at me, it started right up). Even though the engine was running while I hacked away at the windshield, with the air was directed at the windshield, it never got warm enough to help get rid of the ice. Heck, it didn't even melt the ice on the INSIDE surface of the windshield, which I had to scrape off with a balled-up piece of paper because the ice scraper does nothing on concave surfaces. Even though I freed the windshield wipers from the ice, they never helped clear the windshield either, because the wipers just went right over the little chunks of super-hard ice welded to the windshield. I scraped the windshield until my fingers (encased in nice leather gloves) were screaming with pain from the cold, then sat in the car with my hands under my armpits, then scraped again until the windshield was just barely clear enough. Then I really had to go.
Oh, but then I had to get out of the driveway. The area around the VW looked like it was clear enough. But when I backed up, I bumped into a hard icy little snowbank, got stuck, had to wiggle the car forward and back several times. After I got home, I found that I had torn one of the mud flaps on that innocent looking little snow pile.
Added to the low tire and the torn off-mudflap-- Oh yes, I had forgotten that the VW was asking for a refill of windshield wiper fluid. It's just as well that the wipers weren't doing anything. Not a big deal. What is a big deal-- the VW shimmies alarmingly when I decelerate from highway speed. This is new. That and the low tire seemed to have appeared at the same time. Could it be shimmying alarmingly because of the low tire? Seems unlikely the more I think about it.
So there I went down I-95, with chunks of ice on the windshield (bad) and a low tire (really bad) and worrying about how the car handled whenever I stepped on the brake (really really bad), tearing along because I didn't want to be late. Fortunately, for once, there was plenty of parking at Dr. W.'s office, so I wasn't late. Perhaps some other patients didn't manage to get out of their driveways at all?
Should've taken the car straight to the dealer, I suppose. But, eh, it's going to be so much warmer in the coming days, I'd rather just stay in and wait to deal when it's warmer.
I don't know whether the wheels would have spun fruitlessly. I didn't even get as far as getting the wheels going. I turned the key, the starter motor made a sound like "oh you've got to be kidding me", turned the engine a couple of times ineffectually, and then the battery sputtered out and died.
I don't know enough about cars, is this just because it was so cold? Mom didn't leave the headlights on (yes I checked). And it was plenty cold-- in the single digits in Boston, so probably around 0 dF here, and with a wind chill way below that. But--- but but but-- aren't there parts of this country where temperatures close to zero are not uncommon? Say, in the upper midwest? Certainly in Alaska, and in more northern countries such as Canada, right? What do people there do? Do they just not drive Hondas? I don't know how they manage. Oh, hey, maybe they ALL have garages. And, by trying to start the car until the starter motor gave up, did I ruin the battery, or will the car feel all better when it's warmer? I'm clueless. I'll have to talk to someone who knows something about cars. Mom, who has never lived this far north in her life, was incredulous that her car wasn't starting.
So, I just had to take the VW. With not enough time to fill the tire on the way, bad bad bad. Not after it took about half and hour of launching myself at the crusty windshield with the ice scraper to scrape off just enough ice to see. I managed to start this car right up (it's a diesel; I just had to be mindful to wait until the glow plug indicator went off, and, despite making noises that made it clear that it was really unhappy at me, it started right up). Even though the engine was running while I hacked away at the windshield, with the air was directed at the windshield, it never got warm enough to help get rid of the ice. Heck, it didn't even melt the ice on the INSIDE surface of the windshield, which I had to scrape off with a balled-up piece of paper because the ice scraper does nothing on concave surfaces. Even though I freed the windshield wipers from the ice, they never helped clear the windshield either, because the wipers just went right over the little chunks of super-hard ice welded to the windshield. I scraped the windshield until my fingers (encased in nice leather gloves) were screaming with pain from the cold, then sat in the car with my hands under my armpits, then scraped again until the windshield was just barely clear enough. Then I really had to go.
Oh, but then I had to get out of the driveway. The area around the VW looked like it was clear enough. But when I backed up, I bumped into a hard icy little snowbank, got stuck, had to wiggle the car forward and back several times. After I got home, I found that I had torn one of the mud flaps on that innocent looking little snow pile.
Added to the low tire and the torn off-mudflap-- Oh yes, I had forgotten that the VW was asking for a refill of windshield wiper fluid. It's just as well that the wipers weren't doing anything. Not a big deal. What is a big deal-- the VW shimmies alarmingly when I decelerate from highway speed. This is new. That and the low tire seemed to have appeared at the same time. Could it be shimmying alarmingly because of the low tire? Seems unlikely the more I think about it.
So there I went down I-95, with chunks of ice on the windshield (bad) and a low tire (really bad) and worrying about how the car handled whenever I stepped on the brake (really really bad), tearing along because I didn't want to be late. Fortunately, for once, there was plenty of parking at Dr. W.'s office, so I wasn't late. Perhaps some other patients didn't manage to get out of their driveways at all?
Should've taken the car straight to the dealer, I suppose. But, eh, it's going to be so much warmer in the coming days, I'd rather just stay in and wait to deal when it's warmer.
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no subject
Date: 2008-01-04 12:20 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-01-04 02:51 am (UTC)I would put a trickle charger on the battery now and leave it overnight.
no subject
Date: 2008-01-04 03:37 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-01-04 06:30 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-01-05 05:52 pm (UTC)Personally, I carry a jumper battery + compressor in the trunk. Takes very little effort to top up the tires.