Car problems today

(to be edited later)

Today I hooked up the trickle charger to the 944 and after about an hour, it started up. I was going to let it run for the recommended 20 minutes to charge up the battery, but the gas light was on (I forgot that I needed to fill up last time I drove it). So I went down the street to the gas station to fill up. After the tank was full, guess what, the car wouldn't start.

I, of course, had nothing with me... no phone, no jumper cables, not even my camera (two dog-in-cars went by while I was at the station). so, I bought some jumper cables and asked a few people who were filling up at the station to help me out, the first guy said he was in a rush and couldn't, the second guy said it was a company truck and he couldn't, the third guy (a young guy driving a 91 BMW) agreed, but didn't really look like he wanted to). So, we hooked the cars up and it didn't work. That guy and another guy who had just pulled up helped me push the car into a parking spot. And I walked home in my flip-flops. On the way, I was thinking about going to get a battery and swapping it out, but I decided to just call AAA. I renew in April, so I might as well use my last roadside assistance for the year now. Plus, it's such a pain to find stuff for this car, I didn't want to waste half my day looking for a battery.

I drove back to the gas station in the Cadillac, since I figured the AAA battery truck wouldn't take too long to arrive (it didn't - I pulled into the gas station and started filling up the Cadillac, and before the tank was full the AAA guy was there). The guy was really nice, we got into a conversation about cars and racing - he races a '67 Camaro. And we talked about my 944 and how cool it would be to put in some racing struts to replace to worn out struts that are in it right now (which is why I haven't been driving it).

He hooked up the jumper cables and battery to the car, and it still didn't turn over. He said he thought it was the starter, but I told him that there had not been any issues starting the car in the past, and usually a starter will give you a little warning before it gives out. So, he hooked up a second set of cables to the car. It started :-) I left the caddy at the gas station, and high-tailed it back home in the 944. I left the car running in the driveway while I pumped up the tires on my bike, hopefully it was enough time to keep the battery charged enough to start the car again.

Then I rode my bike to the gas station, put my bike in the Cadillac and came home. It can be such a pain in the ass to deal with the cars sometimes.

I'll need to bring the 944 to a Kragen or Autozone and have them test the battery to make sure it's OK.