Gas Station Repairs…And Not in 1950.

[keithb7]

This morning I planned to fire up my ‘38 Chrysler coupe. The battery was dead. Hmm. Drat. I had somehow left the AM radio on, volume on zero. That was twice in the past year that the battery had slowly drained dead. Not good. Automotive flooded-acid batteries are not designed for this. Once they drain a few times all bets are off. 
 

I plugged in my new-to-me 1950’s 6V battery charger to recharge it. Got it to 6.35V. Not great but ok. The engine started fine, yet I was cautious. I had planned a dinner out with Momma later that night. A nice warm summer cruise after dusk, seemed like a great time to take the Chrysler out driving to dinner. 
 

I bought a brand new 6V battery 19 months ago. Its been sitting on a bench in my garage. I’ve been nursing it along, keeping it fresh. The battery in my Chrysler is 6 years old. That’s now in the “Ya never know when its gonna fail stage”. Maybe I’d better take the fresh new battery along in the Chrysler’s trunk. Just in case. 
 

I looked around, I couldn’t find my booster cables. My son probably took them and never put them back. Who knows? In my mind its easy to just cast blame on him though. Lol. So instead 1 took along a 7/16” wrench after testing it for size on the positive cable clamp. I also threw in a flashlight as it would be dark soon. 
 

We headed out, all seemed fine. Yet for some reason my dash gauge lights would only work on low. High power lights weren’t coming on. Hmm. I figured I’d have to check out the wiring and the switch next week. During a couple of higher engine revving episodes I felt a little miss. Nothing serious. Yet I know its not normal. Hmm. “Maybe I need to check my dwell?”, I estimated. The ammeter showed that the generator was feeding a good charge to the battery as we drove. It seemed like a higher amp charge than normal. Nothing crazy. Yet I did note it. 
 

We pull onto a gas station. I shut the ignition off. Fill up. Get back in. Stone cold dead. Not 1 electron seemed to move from the battery. I had Momma climb behind the wheel. I pushed the Chrysler to an empty area of the gas station lot. Time to install a battery. Momma has seen this type of roadshow more than a few times. She was not surprised to see that I had the exact wrench in the glovebox, a battery and work gloves in the trunk. There was certainly nobody in the gas station that could offer any help. 
 

10 minutes later the engine turned over with vengeance. The fresh 6 volts really cranked it. Over time, the old battery had lost it lustre. I had not noticed until the new one spun it so fast. The high power setting on the dash lights now worked again. High engine revs? Perfect. No slight miss anymore. I assume the weak battery couldn’t fully charge up the coil at higher revs. 
 

We drove to the restaurant and enjoyed a fabulous dinner. We walked out to the dark parking lot. I put the key in the ignition and said, “Well here we go. Did we get it right? Will she get us home?”  
 

You bet! Fired right up like it was new in 1938. As we pulled into the garage at home Momma said “If you weren’t a mechanic, we’d never own these old cars”. I laughed…I was thinking about how the situation might have unfolded very differently in 1950. 

 

A few pics from tonight’s outing. 

 

 

Edited July 30, 2023 by keithb7

[Merle Coggins]

Maybe you need to rewire your radio to be key dependent. 

[65bcoda]

Beautiful view from the driver's perspective.

[dpollo]

Glad all went well.    After a lengthy drive, my Fargo's one year old battery decided to retire !   No warning

but I was home.   Warrantee time !

[Ivan_B]

Good story. Should've just replaced the battery before the trip, in the comfort of your home. No need for taking chances and an extra stress later on

Did you put in some new bright bulbs into the instruments? Seem a bit unnaturally bright. As for the radio, etc., this sounds like a perfect case to install a battery disconnect, especially if the car is in storage most of the time.

Edited July 31, 2023 by Ivan_B

[Bryan G]

Oh, sure...you could have swapped the battery in your driveway. But, THIS is where great stories come from!

[soth122003]

 

13 hours ago, Bryan G said:

Oh, sure...you could have swapped the battery in your driveway. But, THIS is where great stories come from!

 

There I wuz, WW Denang....

 

Joe Lee

[Booger]

Back in the day, always kept and xtra batt in trunk

[soth122003]

After I posted my previous statement, I went to Taco Town that afternoon to get some dinner. I drove my 48. The trip went well, until I was about 1/4 mile from the driveway, then buuupppa, buuppa and the car died. Pushed in the clutch, coasted on to my street, popped the clutch and restarted the engine. It sputtered and stalled, but gave me enough speed to coast into my driveway.  Parked and then ate dinner. Next day went out and checked the car. Out of gas.

 

Now my gas gage has not worked since I bought the car. When I drove it all the time I'd use the odometer to fill the tank every 200 miles. (17 gal x 16 mpg equals about 270 miles). Since retirement I don't drive it but about 2 times a week and only for short trips, hence I fill up the tank about every 3-4 months (and use stabil in the gas). As we get older we get forgetful, and I forget when and at what odo mark I filled up the tank. Also before I got my SS checks, I was on a limited budget hence the gas gage was not a priority. 

 

Now I make enough to start fixing the 48 up right, so I ordered the sender, carb kit and a float for the carb last night from Andy B's. It was either him or MoparPro and with the recent thread on MoparPro, Andy got the business. 

Well that is my "There I wuz" story. Hope it brings a smile as you read it.

 

Joe Lee

[Ivan_B]

3 minutes ago, soth122003 said:

Out of gas.

That's a classic... ? Are you sure it's the sender? Did you check it for proper operation?

[soth122003]

It's the sender. The gage will work somewhat and after checking the sender, it is toast. The coiled wire that acts like a resistor is worn and I resodered one of the thin wires and it worked a bit but was never accurate.

 

Joe Lee