Fri, 26 Mar 2004
Revenge of Friday
Ah - what plans I had for early today, all dashed by the fickle workings (or lack thereof) of the common automobile. Today started out early, with me hopping out of bed around 5:15, hoping to catch some good surf before work. We had a nice swell arrive yesterday, and I was drooling over decent sized waves with glassy conditions. I squeezed into the wetsuit and made my way towards the beach.
Approximately 10 minutes away from home, on the 76, my 1985 Nissan 300ZX just died, with me in the fast lane. I pulled over as far as possible, noting the lack of a decent emergency lane at this point of the 76. I try restarting it, and it is just dead as a door nail. Great. Here I am, barefoot in my wetsuit, and I need to get the hell out of the fast lane before traffic really starts to pick up. When I notice a break in the traffic, I hop out, and push the Z accross the freeway and up a slight incline to make it to a turn-off, cutting my foot in the process. Luckilly, the turn-off is down hill, so I coast into a parking lot.
Quickly changing into my shorts and shoes, I call my wife at 5:45 (which I am just sure she loved :>) and asked her to please come on down here with the kids, because I know that there is nothing else she would rather do at this time of the day. They all show up in their pjs, and I jump the Z with no problem. Unfortunately, the Z dies again at the next stop light on the way back home. So I get to push it again. This time, I just left it in a hopefully safe location, and I'll try and do what I can after I get off of work this afternoon.
Replacing the battery should fix the immediate problem. However, I suspect that the alternator may be bad, causing the battery to drain. Once the engine is started, the engine should generate electricity to power the rest of the system, but it is my belief that this is not happening. I noticed last night that the headlights seemed a little dim, and my speedometer has been acting very wonky as of late. We'll see what happens...
posted at: 10:10 | path: /general | permanent link to this entry