Success is getting what you want; happiness is liking what you get

Friday 1 August 2014

Two new Batteries = an Arm and a Leg

Winter always seems to bring out the worst in car batteries - our 4WD was getting sluggish in the colder weather.  We didn’t want to be in the position of camping somewhere out in the wop wops and being unable to start the car one of these days.  So our big car was taken on a trip to the auto electrician for a battery health check.

The sad news was relayed by telephone – our current batteries were close to death and there was no hope of resuscitation.  The 4WD needed two new batteries. But our others had lasted just 5 years, which is average,  the auto electrician said, especially on such a workhorse as our tow car.  So they were replaced for (gulp) lots of moolah (equalling an arm and a leg) and we were able to bring the car home again.

“Why two?”  I asked Robin later in the day,  “surely a car just has one battery?”  Some do, he explained, but our big grunty Toyota needs two, 24v starting, especially as it has a diesel engine.  Fair enough – I didn’t know that, but now I do.

Hopefully we are now all set to continue towing to places near and far for even more caravan adventures, without fear of being unable to start the car up in the chilly mornings. We will be able to carry on caravanning to our heart’s content.

P8010006Our 4WD had a battery transplant

1 comment:

Katie said...

LOL The Tramp just had to explain it to me too. :-)