To all the batteries we loved before...

*note: when this picture was taken,
MissD24 was pressing the brakes,
and thus MC wasnt able to move the car
despite using all his strenth!

Friday Sept 11, 2008 - 911... Disastrous Day for MissD24....A comedic one for me though... Something happened today to confirm that I am not the only girl in the world to have murdered batteries before... This is common among girls and I think we should be forgiven for it... (hey, now you'd believe me when I say our hands and minds are not built to check our cars, let alone the batteries!!!! There are mechanics who have trained technical skills to do this...)

Anyway, we were happily having a Friday happy hour at our favourite hangout in Pavilion, KL... chilling, gossipping (yeah, now you know guys enjoys bitching as much as girls do), and basically having a good time... until it was time to go home. We got into the car, tried to start MissD24's petite Honda City and guess what... it gave a "Rat-a-tat-tat-tat" sound... but it wont start. Retry... Still only the "Rat-a-tat-tat-tat" sound... Boy, this is not good....

*note: Mr.Keyman and MC wondering which
cable or color goes to which battery terminal

MC went to get his car and Mr.Keyman went to get his jump start cables. The cables were thick cables... and we waited for it to charge around 10 minutes but still it wont budge. In my mind, I knew it's going to be a dejavu situation... A quick call to my uncle and he said he's going off to a dinner and can't come to assist... Bummer... Mr.MyHump made several calls to Honda and noted that they do give waranty for batteries if the mileage is below 40,000km, but the car has to be brought to the service centre. (Chevy only gives 1 year warranty for their new batteries.)

*note: Re-parking the car manually
so that the bonnet faces outside

After several tries, and moving the car manually twice... to get a good position to jumpstart the car and also to avoid blocking others in the car park, we gave up... and Mr.MyHump called the Honda Auto Assist to bring in a new battery. They were quite efficient ... coming within what seemed like half an hour and even diagnosed that the battery plates were broken. For RM160, I thought it was a good deal (judging that mine was RM250).

Anyway, Honda City uses dry batteries, so you can't top up battery water (so now we know.. ha, ha)... Initially, the guys wanted to open the battery to check battery water and MissD24 doesn't even know what kind of batteries the car uses. And MC wanted to add RO water to the batteries!

While MissD24 thank us profusely for our help and time, I felt a bit embarassed as I couldn't help despite my "experience". Anyhow, there are lessons to be learnt on a daily basis... what better way to learn our lessons if not with friends and on a "fun" basis... :)

We learnt that:
1) Auto Cars can be moved manually if the gear is set to 'N' AND the owner don't step on the brakes when the rest pushed
2) Auto Assist telephone numbers are very important and should be kept in the car
3) Dry batteries are maintenance free but do not last forever (In this case, not even 2 years). You will need to keep track to change it every 1 or 1.5 years.
4) Batteries with broken plates cannot be jump-started even with thick cables.
5) We should always park with our bonnet facing outside in case of emergency.

Well MissD24, I guess I can only help by documenting down the incident, and hopefully you can have a good laugh, and remember to check your batteries next time... :) And also remember the Honda Auto Assist number which is given to you whenever you renew your roadtax/insurance with Honda.