Cold, and damp. 37F when I went to bed, and probably starting the day from there too. It did clear up yesterday although it stayed chilly. And once the sun went down, it got pretty dang cold.
I did get a couple of pickups done. Went by my secondary and moved some stuff around to make room for some other stuff. Just a quick stop, as I couldn’t shut off my truck and be sure I could get it started again. Rust never sleeps, and neither do other forms of corrosion. A vise grip pliers from my mini car toolkit saved the day later on. Details in yesterday’s comments.
Mini toolkit- 6″ vise grip, phillips screwdriver. Flat screwdriver, medium sized. 6 in one screwdriver. Slip joint pliers. Diagonal cutters or wire stripper- minimalist. 6″ adjustable wrench. Roll them up in a shop towel to keep them quiet, or put them in an old snack mix can… That little kit helps me all the time, although it mostly helps me disassemble stuff for transport and not to repair my truck. The ‘snack mix can’ is a heavy duty steel can for japanese bar mix that I happen to have saved a dozen of. You could use soup cans, especially if you could find a set that slightly nest… and wrap a couple of feet of duct tape around the can. If you don’t carry a knife (and why not?) add a thin stanley knife or a wallpaper knife with break off blade tips. The idea is it all fits in a can to keep it neat.
Admittedly, if I’d looked under the hood sometime in the last few months, I might have seen and headed off the whole problem. Stitch in time, and all that. But I didn’t. I do have replacement terminal clamps in the stacks, which should save a trip to the store. Might try putting the treated felt washer on it this time.
It’s always something. In this case, having an understanding of the systems involved, having done the previous repair, and having a tool with me that could be pressed into service, all helped turn a potential issue into a non-issue. I wasn’t prepared for this exact problem but I was prepared for some sort of problem.
And that is the best you can hope for, that your preps help solve the problem.
Knowledge, and stuff, stack them up.
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