Okay, quick question for people who know more about cars than I do.

[apocalypsos]

Which isn't hard to do, honestly.

Anyway, I stopped at the car before I made a run to the minimart to try to start it again. No luck this time, but when I tried to start it, the radio wouldn't even light up.

So, new battery, yis? Please tell me that probably just means a new battery. Just buying new parts is a hell of a lot better than, "You need to take it to a mechanic."

***

In other news, I'm currently downloading all of Battlestar Galactica up to the beginning of season three. Yeah, because what I need is another fandom. On the other hand, I can put it on the Zen and then go for walks while watching the episodes. See? I'll get exercise AND catch up on fannish pursuits. :)

Comments

[florahart]

Okay, so here's what you want to do. Jump start it, or get a burly neighbor to help you push start it if it's a stick. Run it a while.

The reason to run it a while is that the battery only provides start power. After that, the alternator recharges the battery from the moving of the engine parts. So, if you turn it right back off,the battery will still be dead.

Now, if it won't keep running (dies again in a few minutes), you have an alternator problem. If it will keep running, but then after you run it a while and turn it off, won't start again, you have a battery that won't hold a charge/is dead. If it's drained but will hold a charge, then after it runs a while, it'll be startable again.

[florahart]

Also,whether you can remove the battery on your own depends on the make of the car. Some manufacturers generally make it easier than others to do shit for yourself.

[corruptedjasper.livejournal.com]

Batteries tend to be fairly well accessible on most of even the tight-engine-bay japanese econoboxes, though I have seen an expensive german car or two with engine bay covers across everything and most of the battery that you'd have to take off before doing pretty much anything with the engine.

(incidentally, I see my comment above was mostly superfluous. Drat.)