thegoat4
New Member
- Joined
- Aug 12, 2007
- Messages
- 613
- Reaction score
- 6
- Points
- 0
- Vehicle Year
- 1998
- Make / Model
- Ford
- Transmission
- Manual
So I spent last weekend in Ft. Worth celebrating christmas. Late Sunday I had to drive back to Austin. Not too far out of Ft. Worth I decided I was too tired to drive, so I pulled over for a nap. Slept about an hour and a half. I woke up because it got cold inside the truck. Went to start, no power.
I didn't leave anything on, not even the radio. When I key on, the dash all comes on, but as soon as I try to crank it, everything dies. Doesn't even click the starter relay.
I spend the next hour trying to push the damned truck far enough to start rolling down the hill so I can pop the clutch to get going. When I tore the sole off one of my shoes I decided that wasn't a workable plan. But it did keep me warm until then.
So, I hauled out my jumper cables, stood on the side of I35, and waved them at everyone passing by. I counted 214 cars and pickups drove by. I didn't count semis or buses since I figured they wouldn't stop anyway.
Then, one guy pulled over. Brand new mustang, really pretty, all waxed up. He didn't hesitate or anything. Drove right off into the dirt and crap and gave me a jump start. I offered him money, he refused it, wised me well, and drove off.
I drove straight home, parked on a hill, and shut off. Tried again, still wouldn't start. The next day I popped the clutch to start and get to work, and tested the battery. It was putting out nine amps at two volts, and would not take a charge at all. The day before it failed, I stopped and started the truck a few dozen times with no problem. The battery simply decided it would stop working right there on the side of I35 in the middle of a cold night, miles from everything. Good thing that guy in the mustang drove by!
Story number two is a little shorter. A couple of months ago I stayed late at work, helping to repair the suspension on a house mover. Heavy assed little truck with 25 years of grime all over the back end and the owner had very little money. I spent three hours with a torch, a sledge, an air hammer, and two bottle jacks salvaging his suspension. In the process I broke my favorite chisel for my air hammer.
Anyway, after I was done and the foreman was working up the bill, the owner and I got to talking. I picked up the chisel when I lived in Waco at some oddball little hardware store. Turns out he lives in Waco and knows the guy who owns that store.
Yesterday, I get paged to the counter, and he's standing there! And he hands me a brand new chisel. We chat a little and he heads back out. Said he'd been driving around for weeks with that in there and finally made it back into Austin, so he swung by the shop to drop it off.
Yay for humanity.
I didn't leave anything on, not even the radio. When I key on, the dash all comes on, but as soon as I try to crank it, everything dies. Doesn't even click the starter relay.
I spend the next hour trying to push the damned truck far enough to start rolling down the hill so I can pop the clutch to get going. When I tore the sole off one of my shoes I decided that wasn't a workable plan. But it did keep me warm until then.
So, I hauled out my jumper cables, stood on the side of I35, and waved them at everyone passing by. I counted 214 cars and pickups drove by. I didn't count semis or buses since I figured they wouldn't stop anyway.
Then, one guy pulled over. Brand new mustang, really pretty, all waxed up. He didn't hesitate or anything. Drove right off into the dirt and crap and gave me a jump start. I offered him money, he refused it, wised me well, and drove off.
I drove straight home, parked on a hill, and shut off. Tried again, still wouldn't start. The next day I popped the clutch to start and get to work, and tested the battery. It was putting out nine amps at two volts, and would not take a charge at all. The day before it failed, I stopped and started the truck a few dozen times with no problem. The battery simply decided it would stop working right there on the side of I35 in the middle of a cold night, miles from everything. Good thing that guy in the mustang drove by!
Story number two is a little shorter. A couple of months ago I stayed late at work, helping to repair the suspension on a house mover. Heavy assed little truck with 25 years of grime all over the back end and the owner had very little money. I spent three hours with a torch, a sledge, an air hammer, and two bottle jacks salvaging his suspension. In the process I broke my favorite chisel for my air hammer.
Anyway, after I was done and the foreman was working up the bill, the owner and I got to talking. I picked up the chisel when I lived in Waco at some oddball little hardware store. Turns out he lives in Waco and knows the guy who owns that store.
Yesterday, I get paged to the counter, and he's standing there! And he hands me a brand new chisel. We chat a little and he heads back out. Said he'd been driving around for weeks with that in there and finally made it back into Austin, so he swung by the shop to drop it off.
Yay for humanity.