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swestrupWell, we went on our little leaf-watching car-testing expedition yesterday. I was up at 9:00 am to get ready for the trip, but I didn't really manage to wake up until around 11:00. I made us both bacon and eggs for breakfast. Then ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
taxlady made us sandwiches for lunch while I put tea into a thermos and collected some cheese and karnatzel for munching on the way. We finally got out the door sometime around 12:30.
Our first stop was at the local Volvo dealer to see if they could help us with a burned out headlight.taxlady had bought a replacement bulb, but neither of us had been able to get our hands into the tiny space behind the headlight to remove the old bulb. The Volvo place said they would sell us a new bulb and put it in for roughly $20, so we told them to go ahead. 15 minutes later they announced that they didn't have any of the right type of bulbs in stock. So, we let them use our spare bulb, and they decided not to charge us.
Anyway, with that all taken care of, we headed downtown for gas, and they took off east on the 40. We reached the edge of the island around 2:30 pm, much later than we had hoped. Anyway, we drove for the next hour or so, and were getting close to Trois Rivière when we decided to stop for coffee and a restroom break.
We were somewhat hesitant to stop already, but we'd been driving steadily for well over an hour at this point, and last Friday, that much driving had been enough to charge the battery so that it started right away after a 3-hour stop. Anyway, 15 minutes and two coffees later, we discovered that the car wouldn't start. This would tend to indicate that a) the battery is actually failing, not just low on charge and b) its rapidly getting worse.
We had brought the booster along with us, since we knew this was a possible outcome. I pulled it out of the trunk and set it up, only to discover that I had left its spotlight on when I had boosted the car that morning in the garage. For the last 3 hours the booster had been discharging itself while powering the light, and was not at medium rather than high power.
We tried it anyway, with no luck. I then decided to try something new. There were power outlets nearby at the rest stop, and the booster has a socket to plug an extension cord into for charging. It occurred to me that we could probably boost the car by plugging in the booster to charge, and trying to use it to boost the car at the same time. There was just one problem, we had left the extension cable back at the house.
I was about to ask my SO if she thought the coffee shop might have a spare extension to lend us, when she decided to try starting the car again. Lo and behold, this time it worked. I quickly disconnected the booster and stowed it back in the trunk (and almost made the mistake of leaving the light on again...)
We quickly decided that we would not continue as planned, and head up towards La Tuque, but instead take the 55 south from Trois Rivière to the 20 and head back that way, which we did.
There's not much more to report, except that we only started seeing nice autumn colors after we were on the 20. It seems its already too late to do leaf watching as far north as we were planning to go. So, if anyone else want to go leaf watching, we would recommend the townships.
taxlady made us sandwiches for lunch while I put tea into a thermos and collected some cheese and karnatzel for munching on the way. We finally got out the door sometime around 12:30.Our first stop was at the local Volvo dealer to see if they could help us with a burned out headlight.
taxlady had bought a replacement bulb, but neither of us had been able to get our hands into the tiny space behind the headlight to remove the old bulb. The Volvo place said they would sell us a new bulb and put it in for roughly $20, so we told them to go ahead. 15 minutes later they announced that they didn't have any of the right type of bulbs in stock. So, we let them use our spare bulb, and they decided not to charge us.Anyway, with that all taken care of, we headed downtown for gas, and they took off east on the 40. We reached the edge of the island around 2:30 pm, much later than we had hoped. Anyway, we drove for the next hour or so, and were getting close to Trois Rivière when we decided to stop for coffee and a restroom break.
We were somewhat hesitant to stop already, but we'd been driving steadily for well over an hour at this point, and last Friday, that much driving had been enough to charge the battery so that it started right away after a 3-hour stop. Anyway, 15 minutes and two coffees later, we discovered that the car wouldn't start. This would tend to indicate that a) the battery is actually failing, not just low on charge and b) its rapidly getting worse.
We had brought the booster along with us, since we knew this was a possible outcome. I pulled it out of the trunk and set it up, only to discover that I had left its spotlight on when I had boosted the car that morning in the garage. For the last 3 hours the booster had been discharging itself while powering the light, and was not at medium rather than high power.
We tried it anyway, with no luck. I then decided to try something new. There were power outlets nearby at the rest stop, and the booster has a socket to plug an extension cord into for charging. It occurred to me that we could probably boost the car by plugging in the booster to charge, and trying to use it to boost the car at the same time. There was just one problem, we had left the extension cable back at the house.
I was about to ask my SO if she thought the coffee shop might have a spare extension to lend us, when she decided to try starting the car again. Lo and behold, this time it worked. I quickly disconnected the booster and stowed it back in the trunk (and almost made the mistake of leaving the light on again...)
We quickly decided that we would not continue as planned, and head up towards La Tuque, but instead take the 55 south from Trois Rivière to the 20 and head back that way, which we did.
There's not much more to report, except that we only started seeing nice autumn colors after we were on the 20. It seems its already too late to do leaf watching as far north as we were planning to go. So, if anyone else want to go leaf watching, we would recommend the townships.
