I’m No Mechanic, But I Can Change a Battery

This is not what I wanted to do on the first day of a short week before a vacation; deal with a broken down vehicle.

Yesterday I went to leave my house and my truck wouldn't start. The battery still had juice, but not enough to turn the engine over. Took my wife's car to run around and then jumped it when I got home.

I knew this battery was nearing the end of its life. I got it at least six years ago and it sat outside in one of the colder periods of weather I can remember. So of course the battery will be just fine in the morning, right? Went to leave for work, with the truck in the garage, and it was dead again.

So after the show this morning I hitched a ride to get a battery and get dropped off at home and then, also against my better judgement, set out to replace the battery all by myself without investigating to see if the battery was partially buried under other machinery under the hood or if it was simple. I was lucky and only seven screws needed to be removed to get the old battery out. I'm sure a mechanic would have recommended a few other measures I should have taken, but it's done and I didn't have to pay for the labor.

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