The mechanical trials of a Precidia MX3

I've decided that "vehicular mechanical" type sales people are stupid. I formed this opinion last weekend when Garrett and I replaced the battery in my car. My experience so far with car repairs is that most problems that seem to be complicated are actually very simple to solve. Vehicular mechanical sales people, however, seem to want to believe the most difficult solution is the most likely one. Let's call these sales people VMSP. They include those individuals who work at Crappy, I mean Canadian, Tire and Part Source. These VMSP seem to think that all non-VMSP are idiots and could not possibly figure out how a car works on their own. Let's look at some examples.

First of all, Garrett figured my car had a battery problem because it had some trouble starting in general, but these problems were amplified when the weather got colder. As well, my alarm stopped honking when I turned it on or off, unless I drove for a long time before turning it on (eg. if I drove down to Calgary). We thought that replacing the battery would be a good idea before the weather got even colder here, since I don't have a block heater and don't intend to get one (I park on the street so I don't have an outlet to plug in to, anyway). Since my car was having trouble starting when temperatures were in the low positives, its ability to run come double negatives was less likely. So, we headed off to Crappy Tire. Once there, the VMSP was worried for us that it might not be my battery that was the problem.

"Hopefully it's not your alternator (insert correct word instead if I used the wrong one) that is the problem. It might be your alternator," he offered uselessly, considering he hadn't even looked at my car or the old battery.

After purchasing the new battery, which immediately looked WAY LARGER than my old battery, we went home to install it. Once we popped the hood and pulled out the other one, we were immediately aware that the new battery was 1/3 bigger than the old one. Installing the bigger battery caused some difficulty, since we had to loosen some pretty rusty bolts, but with the help of WD-40 and some elbow grease, we got it eventually. When we returned the old battery to Crappy Tire for my ten-dollar refund, the VMSP said "Wow, looks like someone put the wrong battery in last time!" Yea, duh. That's probably why I was having battery problems in the first place. Good thing Garrett and I didn't change the alternator after all!! (Keep in mind that I am not mechanically inclined, so I have no idea if Garrett and I could actually change the alternator ourselves anyway).

So, first problem solved - new battery plus correct size battery = happy car.

The next problem was caused by Garrett and I, and I can admit it was a moronic move. We hooked up the new battery backwards. To our credit, the old battery did not have positive and negative electrodes labeled on the outside casing and we were faced with two black wires attached to either electrode, rather than a black and red like we expected. We quickly figured out our mistake and righted the connections, however the car still didn't start. After some reading of the manual and an attempt at jumping the battery, we finally got a voltmeter and a new fuse. While at the parts store, the VMSP usefully told us that we had probably completely fried the entire wiring system of my car and that I would likely have to take it in to a mechanic to get all the wires replaced. We suggested to him that it might just be a fuse (since fuses are supposed to prevent things like "entire wire-frying" from happening) and he said "Yea, it could be that too. You should check that first."

Duh.

The voltmeter indicated the battery was not dead.
The replaced fuse allowed us to start the car.
Voila!! It took us a bit more time than we expected, but not much extra cost, and we managed to get the little baby running again!

Two problems and two simples solutions:
1. New battery to replace the old, undersized battery (not an alternator problem).
2. New fuse to replace the old fuse (not a complete re-wiring of the car).

And lastly, on the topic of cars, tonight I perfectly parallel parked my car on the left side for the first time. I was very proud of myself.

Thank you for listening. Don't judge me too much for knowing very little about cars. That's why I have Garrett around.