You see I went to go get my neighbor's kids from school. They do pay me for that. But at the school I tried to start the car and nothing. Like the battery went completely dead. I thought how could the battery go completely dead and it started so strongly getting here.
My mind went to Sci Fi type of story like there is something out there sucking all the electrical energy out of all the car batteries in the area, but the cars in my area where driving their kids home just fine, so nothing was sucking energy in the area.
I tried to start the car again and again I don't even see the lights. You know the lights like Check Engine light and car door open and put on the seat belts and all those lights that light up on the second click right before you turn the key further to start the engine. But even those lights didn't come up.
I told the kids, that we might be in trouble, we might have to take an Uber home. I am a member of Uber so I can do such a thing. But I didn't really want to do that.
So I thought maybe I should check under the hood. I opened the hood and everything looks normal. The positive connector was covered with that red covering letting you know that post is positive.
So the cover was on it, I removed the red cover as you see in the picture. It looked OK, but my late dad used to always tell me to make sure the battery connectors were on tight.
Well, that was the problem, you see the last time I did check the battery connectors they were tight, but that might have been many months ago. You see the vibration of engine can loosen the connectors over time and with that red cover over the positive post, I might not have thought to check the tightness of the connector on the positive post.
So I handle the connector on the positive post and so it was really loose. I thought, I hope I have a 10mm wrench in my car. The 10mm is the wrench needed to tighten the nut on the battery connectors.
So I checked my truck and there it was, the 10mm wrench. Well most Japanese cars like Toyota do use 10mm nuts for their battery connectors. My car by the way that I use to pick up the kids from school is my 2001 Toyota Avalon XLS, and it does take the 10mm wrench to tighten the connectors on the battery posts.
So I do take my 10mm wrench and not only to I tighten the positive connector, I also tighten the negative connector too, just in case.
So I put my 10mm wrench away in my tool box and lock the trunk.
I get back in the car, and the lights go on at the second click and I turn further and the car starts. Hey, we didn't have to take an Uber home. I told the 2 kids that I fixed the car and that it was the positive connector that was loose and I tighten it and it is all good now.
Were the kids happy about that? No, so I just drove them home and they gave me some money for the ride. Well, maybe to kids car problems are not their concern, I'm just happy I got the kids home on time.
Maybe 20 years from today, one of the kids will have a car battery problem and he will remember how I solved the problem and will do the same. Just like I remember my dad telling me that I have to make sure the battery connectors are in tight enough so many decades ago.
Let's end with a scripture, as it is written, Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it. Proverbs 22:6.
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Thank you, David.
Image is mine, taken with my Samsung Galaxy Note 9.