Yesterday at self-spray car wash to rinse off a few day's worth of road salt--something you gotta do here in Canada.
Our turn at the bay comes, but van will not restart! Shoulda taken those aging-battery warning signs seriously: had a few tough starts in -20 weather when we didn't plug in the block heater overnight. Battery is over 5 years old . . . gettin' lazy because we don't drive all that much. So we loosen the terminals, clean up some corrosion. Still no start.
Soooo, next step is a quick boost from another car, drive to auto parts place very close by; extract battery and lug it inside for testing; yes its reliable days are truly over! Purchase high-quality battery (Canadians don't skimp here), lug outside, reconnect terminals.
High-mileage minivan starts like a dream.
My spouse and I did all of this together over the course of almost an hour (some tough bolts to deal with). Later it popped into our heads that 90% of our friends would have called AMA or some private company, got a tow, taken car to garage. Never crossed our habitually-frugal minds for one second. I mean, it's a matter of undoing a few bolts. Both of our DIY dads would kill us if we outsourced that. Truly not a huge deal, or maybe even a massive savings. But multiply by maybe once/twice a year, for a few decades, and even minor DIY house/car etc. resourcefulness will get you far.
