I just left Target, got into my truck turned the key and get a click click. This truck is going nowhere fast. I did have a prior warning though, it had a little hesitation early in the morning when starting the truck but it did roar to life. And it did start up the next 5 times until the 6th time. Damn. Another day not making money. No good. Pop the hood and try my little trick of banging on the terminals with the handle end of a big screw driver. Worked many times for me before. Not this time however. The battery says it is a 6 yr battery and in two more months it will be 6 yrs. They do know their batteries. Six months before your battery hits its life expectancy I suggest you replace it now. Or you will be pondering your next move like me. Next move was get a new battery. Call up auto part stores, 100 bucks and up too much. I try junk yards. Way better 30 to 50 dollars for my battery. Call my wife jump in her car half hr later get to the yard and paid 30 bucks. The guy put a tester on it that places a load on battery which drains it and then I saw it return to 12 volts after the load is removed. When he did it to my old battery , there was no recovery. Got it back in truck started right up. But the day was done.
It's now a week later. I start it up and there was a just a hint of hesitation. But it started. I notice that the battery gauge is hitting 12 volts. Too low, the alternator should be charging the battery to the tune of 15 volts. Come to the traffic light the truck dies. Flashers aren't working. I get out of truck and push it via the door frame and steer it walking alongside it. So I'm trying to enter the right lane, and 2 people sneak past me in their cars, I can't hit the brake... some people. I get the truck off onto the side road and there's a little rise into the gas station parking lot. I'm now in the driver's seat look in the rear mirror and there's a young guy pushing me with his hands on my tail gate. The truck's too heavy to get it up the rise. The young guy says he'll pull it up the rest of the way with his truck and a strap it works fine. I walk to close by auto part store. Talk to guy says if vehicle is running and motor cuts out it's probably the alternator. Go back to service station tell him to replace alternator. 225 bucks..... ouch! Call my neighbor, who happened to be home, thanks spirit. He came and got me. The breakdown occured near home and not 10 miles away where I was a half hr later. Thanks to spirit it was closer to home. Plus I broke down at the gas station. All these little coincidences helped me immensely. Thanks to spirit. The truck episode developed over 2 weeks. Spirit brought me through it, step by step. My part was to keep pushing forward, thinking how to fix my problem and spirit helping me behind the scenes.
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