The Skylark (almost) saves the day!

These photos were taken just after the battery in the family truckster gave out, and just before I tried to dick with the choke on the Skylark and ran the battery flat trying to restart it.

More details in a few

The full story is as follows. 

Woke up this morning, fed the kids (my son actually slept in and my daughter helped me make breakfast), and got loaded up in the minivan for school (it was about 8:10, I had a work conference call at 8:30, but that was plenty of time to get them dropped off and back in front of my computer). 

Aaaaaaaaand, she no start. A few days ago I had a similar situation but I was able to wait a minute or two, lock and unlock the doors, and then restart. But this morning no luck. The battery was toast. So around 8:12 I run to grab an extension cord and the battery charger, thinking I may be able to boost the battery just enough to start. Around 8:28 I had to call uncle on that, run inside, email my coworkers that I was having car trouble and would not be on the 8:30 call. 

Enter the skylark. Battery looks about the same size as the honda battery. So I pull out the honda battery (there was TONs of blue corrosion on the positive terminal - nasty), and the skylark battery. Skylark battery fits perfect! but wait, the leads aren't long enough to reach the posts and the terminals are swapped. Yep, the honda has a 24F and the skylark a 24R or whatever. Well, let me see if I can re-arrange it enough to work. No dice. Crap. 

At this point, I should have just loaded the kids into the stroller and walked them to school. Since it was already about 9:00. I could fix the battery on the honda later. But did I listen to reason? Heck no! 

I ran the battery for the skylark back over to the skylark, hoped in, and fired her up! I've recently been messing with the choke to try and get it adjusted properly, so its not running perfect but I figure I'll let it idle a bit while I get the kids and car seats switched over. Which worked just fine. Backed her out and parked in the driveway for a moment to take the above photos. Both of my kids love the skylark, so I was also listening to such comments as "I love this car", "this car is sooo coool!", and "can we take this car to school everyday?". I was feeling pretty proud of myself. 

Then I went to drive away. Touch the gas and the engine dies. Doh. restart the car (it has trouble starting, I need to floor it). Note to self - it would seem the choke is too tight. touch the gas again. Dies again. Crap, can't drive like this I think to myself. I'll adjust the choke quickly. 

Run back to house, grab screwdriver, go adjust choke. Notice that it was REALLY tight. Like tighter than when the engine was bone cold. I figured the engine was warm after idling for 5 or so minutes at this point, so I just released the choke completely. 

Turns out the engine was NOT fully warm, and I promptly killed the battery in the skylark trying to restart (I think the existing battery is a bit undersized for the skylark to begin with). Doh. So I threw the kids in the stroller, and the battery charger on the skylark (which was still basically parked in front of my house). And at 9:24 I left the house and I walked the kids to school. 

Walking home and thinking to myself I confirmed the revelation I had a couple weeks ago, that I thought the choke spring may have been installed backward (ie as the engine warms up it gets MORE choke). So when I got home I quickly flipped the spring, and the skylark fired right up. I drove to the parts store, got a new battery for the odyssey, drove home. And went to swapping the battery in the odyssey. 

Speaking of which - did you know you need to wear safety goggles when using a wire brush to clean corrosion off of a battery terminal? Yes, I did get a spec of corrosion/dried battery acid in my eye. Felt great. 

Full story added now. 

How was your morning?

BTDT with the corrosion. Everything got a little more blurry after that. I wear glasses for everything now. 

My wife doesn't understand why I put the snow tires on the (not yet driving age) kids' Miata that's just sitting all winter.  She says 'but you already have the Expedition as a backup', and I say, 'there's no such thing as too many backup cars'.

pkingham said:

My wife doesn't understand why I put the snow tires on the (not yet driving age) kids' Miata that's just sitting all winter.  She says 'but you already have the Expedition as a backup', and I say, 'there's no such thing as too many backup cars'.

Try:

"Three is two.  Two is one."

Robbie said:

Speaking of which - did you know you need to wear safety goggles when using a wire brush to clean corrosion off of a battery terminal? Yes, I did get a spec of corrosion/dried battery acid in my eye. Felt great. 

I'm pretty sure that every single thing you buy from Harbor Freight clearly states that you must wear safety glasses to use it, including the moving blankets and plastic ammo cans.

I, too, subscribe to the F.O.R.B.S theory of economic vehicle ownership AKA "Fleet Of Redundant BeaterS". I tell that joke a lot a parties.

I don't know how many times the 48-year-old yet trusty El Camino has saved my skin, or at least made my day much less convenient. 

maschinenbau said:

I, too, subscribe to the F.O.R.B.S theory of economic vehicle ownership AKA "Fleet Of Redundant BeaterS". I tell that joke a lot a parties.

I don't know how many times the 48-year-old yet trusty El Camino has saved my skin, or at least made my day much less convenient. 

And this is why I'm still waiting to start tearing into the Jeep for winter projects.  I want to get a few more miles on the BMW to ensure all is good (or at least limited to needing things that can be easily worked around DD-ing the car) before I do anything that makes the Jeep non-driveable for a period of time.  At least for now, I can fish it out of the back of the garage and drive it if I really need to.  Plus, SWMBO and I only work about a mile apart and on pretty similar (and similarly flexible) schedules, so worst case, being briefly down to 1 car if something happens that cripples a car while one is torn apart for work is annoying, but not world-ending (fleet is currently 3 total).  

Wait, including the Skylark you only have 2 (3 including your wife's) cars that both run and can fit more than 2 people? Don't you have 6 (7 including the wife's) cars? I think you need another car.

Dad, you best start my hooptie or I'll bitch-slap you!  (is probably NOT what she was saying) 

mtn said:

Wait, including the Skylark you only have 2 (3 including your wife's) cars that both run and can fit more than 2 people? Don't you have 6 (7 including the wife's) cars? I think you need another car.

Running and can fit more than 2 people:

2010 odyssey, 98 XJR (which my wife had already taken to work this morning), 65 Skylark

Non-running and cannot fit more than 2 people:

Fiat X1/9 (I actually own 2 of these, I guess, but the one in my buddies garage in detroit will be sold shortly), MGB-GT

Ah, I thought you had two minivans.

mtn said:

Ah, I thought you had two minivans.

We did, and that wouldve been convenient on a morning such as this one! But we sold the older one. 

Quick update on this: 

Since I fixed the orientation of the choke spring this morning, the Skylark was running great when it became time to go pick up the kids from school. 

So I took the Skylark even though the minivan was fixed. And the kids and I cruised the neighborhood looking at chirstmas lights. So that was a good end to this whole mess!

This seems to be the highest use for this car!  

While it's not a "fun" car in a driver's sense of the word, it sure is a fun car for transporting 4-6 people around in quirky style.  

I don't recall if that was the correct size battery for the Skylark or just one I knew would fit and threw in there.  It's probably at the end of its service life in any case.  If you're interested, I can hook you up with a good deal on a new battery (you can pick up at one of our Chicago locations).

Dr. Hess said:

pkingham said:

My wife doesn't understand why I put the snow tires on the (not yet driving age) kids' Miata that's just sitting all winter.  She says 'but you already have the Expedition as a backup', and I say, 'there's no such thing as too many backup cars'.

Try:

"Three is two.  Two is one."

Does not apply when asking for a blerjerb.

when ensuring the Versa fully comp the ins. rep said  " I'd offer insurance for a rental if you break down but it looks like you're covered. "   Yep they might not run perfectly but three beaters have saved me in the past.