1994-2002 [Subscribe to Daily Digest] |
It is now Monday night. I am cold... (temperatures in the low teens).
This morning, I drove to work (3 miles). No warning chimes or lights except the battery light (since alternator wasn't charging).
I called and arranged with the mechanic to get the car to them tomorrow. I called and confirmed that Walmart will charge my battery for free so I can make the 50 mile journey to the mechanic tonight.
After work, I went to my car: the remote didn't work. Thats bad. The battery was dead dead. Nothing. I got another car and connected the battery (with the good car running)and let it sit for 5 minutes. I then tried to start the car. The engine started right up, but the head light went on and flashed, and I get the ding ding chime telling me front head light failed. Twice! I turned the car off and let the battery charge for ~1 hour. I sat in my car, without heat for the entire time...
While the battery was charging, I noticed a ticking sound. It turns out it was the ACC "fan" that was beside the on-star button. I guess somehow, it was stuck on and was draining the battery! This must have happened recently. I found the fuse that turned this fan off.
After ~1 hour of charging with another running car, my car started, but idled a little rough. However, the concerning thing is that the airbag, !!brake!! and traction control light came on and stayed on. If I rev the engine a little, they go away after a few seconds, but replaced by a chime and the battery light. I did not feel confident I would make it to Walmart. Also, they close in 1.5 hours...so not enough time to charge my battery anyway.
So I may have killed my head lights (hopefully, its only the bulbs, but I found later that the fog lights don't come on anymore, and they weren't turned on when I initially blew the headlamps....I won't know until I test some new bulbs later).
I also have to figure out why the ACC fan is continuously spinning/ticking and disable it (and still have fan control).
On a brighter note, I found a friend with a working battery and a charger....I wonder how many battery changes I need to get to Toronto.
One observation was that if I rev the engine pass ~2500rpm, the battery light came on, meaning that the other car's alternator was not keeping up. In general, I wonder if I should drive as fast as possible (safely) to keep engine revs high, or drive as smooth and slow (rpm wise) as possible to maintain battery life?? Any ideas?
posted by 76.230.141...
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