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A little while ago I bragged about how my 10 year-old Interstate battery was still cranking my car. Well.....
I drove from Ohio to South Dakota this past weekend (March 1), not expecting to literally drive through the very heart of a major winter storm. Very slick roads, zero visibility (did I mention I was driving at night), doing 30 MPH on I-80 and still fish-tailing, powerful winds.
I finally found a motel and decide to ride out the storm. All night, wind chills were far below zero degrees F. Next day, go out to start the '84 244. I had the thing in gear and didn't depress the clutch when I started it (oops). It cranked once, the car lurched, then the battery simply ceased to exist.
At the time I thought I blew a major fuse since it cranked okay before the car lurched forward. After checking about every fuse I could find, I opened the battery to look at the water levels and found two cells were dry.
Thankfully there was a mechanic's shop across the street who gave me a new Interstate battery. He said two of the cells had "collapsed" or bent or something. He also said that I should have replaced the battery three years ago.
Now the car starts stronger than it used to and my lights seem brighter. Even the windshield wipers wipe faster. I always thought the alternator powered the car when the engine is on, but I guess the going-bad battery was slowing the flow of current, which caused slightly dim lights and sluggish wipers.
Other than that and a slow leak in a front tire, the car performed flawlessly, except for making a jetplane-like sound when decelerating, but other Volvos I've owned also made this sound in the cold.
This ends my bedtime story. Sleep well!
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Mike F - 1984 244 DL - 202K miles 'Bob the Butterscotch Beast'
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