this<\/a> except blue and with crummier paint). I drove down the grocery store to pick up a few things, and on the way down the hill, noticed the ammeter on the dash spiking abnormally whenever I would go over a bump or inadvertently hit a shallow pothole. Thought it was odd, but didn’t think any more of it until the car cut out on me rounding the bend into the shopping center complex… It’s a manual, so I immediately pushed the clutch in, put it in second, and let the clutch out, which started the engine again. The ammeter was completely pegged on +45 amps by this point, and I immediately suspected the alternator, which the faint smoke coming from the vents seemed to confirm. I’ve smelled electrical fires before, and this was one. I pulled into a parking space, stopped the engine, and popped the hood, ready for an emergency in the alternator vicinity, but it looked fine. The battery, however, was a different story. I replaced the battery last week, and the new one was significantly smaller in size than the old one, such that the metal bracket\/tie-down didn’t fit over it properly, but I had secured it around so that the battery wouldn’t move around TOO much. Turns out the bracket had contacted the positive terminal of the battery, providing a path to ground, and the full electrical load of the battery was being poured through said bracket and the ground strap that attaches to the negative terminal. Needless to say, the bracket, which was already rusty, was completely burnt in half by the current, and the ground strap had most of the insulation melted off. That’s what caused the ammeter spikes–at that point the bracket was hitting the positive terminal and the alternator was the only thing running the car. Fortunately the ground strap was still intact, so I pried the bracket from the terminal (they were fused together) and drove off, and here I am.<\/p>\nI’d like to have a chat with the engineer who decided the positive terminal of the battery should be so close to the frame, though. Ah well. Thanks God :o)<\/p>\n
[\/car geek]<\/p>\n
Finished Pride & Prejudice<\/i> last night… That movie’s a marathon, but a pleasant one. The acting and chemistry between the actors are just top-notch. Can’t fault it. Oh, and have I mentioned I want to inherit Pemberly at some point in my life? Now for my hummus (“with 40 spices!”) and whole-wheat pita bread lunch. Yum.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
[car geek] Had a minor emergency in the Datsun on the way to lunch today (What does the Datsun look like? Like this except blue and with crummier paint). I drove down the grocery store to pick up a few things, and on the way down the hill, noticed the ammeter on the dash spiking […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.boldulysses.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/617"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.boldulysses.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.boldulysses.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.boldulysses.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.boldulysses.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=617"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.boldulysses.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/617\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.boldulysses.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=617"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.boldulysses.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=617"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.boldulysses.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=617"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![this<\/a> except blue and with crummier paint). I drove down the grocery store to pick up a few things, and on the way down the hill, noticed the ammeter on the dash spiking abnormally whenever I would go over a bump or inadvertently hit a shallow pothole. Thought it was odd, but didn’t think any more of it until the car cut out on me rounding the bend into the shopping center complex… It’s a manual, so I immediately pushed the clutch in, put it in second, and let the clutch out, which started the engine again. The ammeter was completely pegged on +45 amps by this point, and I immediately suspected the alternator, which the faint smoke coming from the vents seemed to confirm. I’ve smelled electrical fires before, and this was one. I pulled into a parking space, stopped the engine, and popped the hood, ready for an emergency in the alternator vicinity, but it looked fine. The battery, however, was a different story. I replaced the battery last week, and the new one was significantly smaller in size than the old one, such that the metal bracket\/tie-down didn’t fit over it properly, but I had secured it around so that the battery wouldn’t move around TOO much. Turns out the bracket had contacted the positive terminal of the battery, providing a path to ground, and the full electrical load of the battery was being poured through said bracket and the ground strap that attaches to the negative terminal. Needless to say, the bracket, which was already rusty, was completely burnt in half by the current, and the ground strap had most of the insulation melted off. That’s what caused the ammeter spikes–at that point the bracket was hitting the positive terminal and the alternator was the only thing running the car. Fortunately the ground strap was still intact, so I pried the bracket from the terminal (they were fused together) and drove off, and here I am.<\/p>\nI’d like to have a chat with the engineer who decided the positive terminal of the battery should be so close to the frame, though. Ah well. Thanks God :o)<\/p>\n[\/car geek]<\/p>\nFinished Pride & Prejudice<\/i> last night… That movie’s a marathon, but a pleasant one. The acting and chemistry between the actors are just top-notch. Can’t fault it. Oh, and have I mentioned I want to inherit Pemberly at some point in my life? Now for my hummus (“with 40 spices!”) and whole-wheat pita bread lunch. Yum.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"[car geek] Had a minor emergency in the Datsun on the way to lunch today (What does the Datsun look like? Like this except blue and with crummier paint). I drove down the grocery store to pick up a few things, and on the way down the hill, noticed the ammeter on the dash spiking […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.boldulysses.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/617"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.boldulysses.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.boldulysses.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.boldulysses.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.boldulysses.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=617"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.boldulysses.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/617\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.boldulysses.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=617"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.boldulysses.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=617"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.boldulysses.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=617"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}](\"http:\/\/www.boldulysses.com\/old\/26_3.JPG\"target=\"_blank\"){kind=link}