car woes update

[edenfalling]

Dad and I took the car to AutoZone this afternoon, where they checked the battery and said there seemed to be something wrong with the alternator because the battery wasn't charging, even though I had the motor running. AutoZone doesn't replace alternators because of liability issues. So we asked about places that could replace alternators. The guy said Mavis and Goodyear had Sunday hours and might do that kind of work.

We checked Mavis first (it was closer), and they said they don't really do alternators and it would take a while to get in the part. So then we tried Goodyear, and they said they didn't have the part on hand either, but could get it within a day, so we left the car there and called Mom for a pickup.

About an hour later I got a call from Goodyear saying they'd checked the battery themselves, and actually the alternator DID seem to be working, but the battery was so old and/or the connections were corroded which meant almost none of the generated charge was getting through. I asked them to replace the battery with the longest life/warranty battery they had, and to please check the alternator again after they'd installed the new battery.

I should get a call sometime tomorrow to tell me the car is ready for pickup, at which point I will walk into town, catch a #15 bus*, get off at Walmart (unless I can sweet-talk the drive into letting me off at Mo's even though that's not an official stop anymore), and then walk another 15-20 minutes to Goodyear. (They are all the way on the edge of town, by Home Depot and Buttermilk Falls, because of course they are. *sigh*) I have enough credit to cover the bill, and Dad wrote me a blank check which I will fill in when I get a receipt.

Trivia: everyone we talked to was somewhat impressed that the battery had lasted this long. The car is a 2004 Camry, which makes the battery ~13 years old.

*[[If the timing works out, I might be able to catch a #67 bus, which seems to have a stop near/at Home Depot and is thus obviously a better choice... but that route doesn't run very often. My options are limited to 11:30am, 3:00pm, 4:47pm, and 6:02pm. Route #15, on the other hand, runs hourly.]]

Comments

[tephra]

Ask them if they cleaned the corrosion off the connectors/replaced them as well. My Jeep was eating batteries and we thought it might be the alternator too, but the mechanic I took it to said the alternator was fine and thought it might just be the corrosion on the connectors and terminals. He cleaned that up and told me to come back if that didn't solve the problem with the battery draining if it sat just a few days. It's been over a year and I haven't had to take it back.

[edenfalling]

Yes, that is an excellent idea. Thank you for the suggestion! :)

[rahirah]

Wow. Around here, we're lucky if a battery lasts three or four years. Five or six would be a miracle.

[edenfalling]

Yeah! Dad inherited the car from Ardis (my step-grandmother), so we didn't have much by way of service/repair records for it, but we didn't think that was an issue since she drove it less than 5,000 miles a year. And then my parents never had any issues with the battery, so I guess we just started taking it for granted. Which in retrospect was a little short-sighted, but still. That was a good battery.