I guess you could say the e in e bikes stands for expensive.

Jim

 

Happy Humpeth Day!

Jim

 

Today is the first day of the rest of your life. Enjoy it to the fullest.

Jim

 

It's corned beef day

 

So is that beef that was fed corn its entire life?

Jim

 

It's Saint PAddy's Day too.

Get out your green hats and shamrocks.

 

Only in America, cultural appropriation has taken a day of religious observation, and turned it into a bacchanalian orgy. Or was that Mardi Gras?

 

Look at Christmas. Retailers love Christmas because they make more money in that month, than any other. However, do they all believe in Christ? I would be willing to bet they don't. Most "Christmas shows" are centered around someone named Santa, who incidentally uses the same exact letters as satan.
(I refuse to capitalize his name)

Jim

 

X-Mas has evolved, or devolved, into a retail season. Good or bad. It's now a global shopping phenomenon. Even all the people who are not Christian, participate in gift giving.

The Spirit of Christmas?

 

Never watched that show...Now I know why.

Jim

 

Got my truck back from the shop. Brand new catalytic converters. For what those cost, I could have bought another motorcycle, and had money leftover to go to Vegas.

Because the truck has been sitting around since last year, the battery died. It could be jumped. But it is not charging. You can't have a car that needs a jump start every time you need to start the car.

The battery was an Optima deep cycle. It was great for 6 years. Fired up and started every time. It had a 3 year, full exchange warranty. Sulfation and stratification. Damaged cell(s). Beyond repairable. I can get it to 13.2 volts on the charger. Then it drops down to about 9 volts overnight. So I bought another Optima battery. Which cost more than my food budget for a month.

I bought it on Amazon. They didn't charge a core deposit. I wonder if I can take my old battery to an auto parts store, and ask for a core deposit refund.

 

I don't know that they would give you a refund, but I bet they would accept it to recycle it.

 

O'Reilly's gave me $18 for my old battery. Cash. Not a gift card.

 

I used to have an optima red top battery in my F350 Dually. Worked great. They are too expensive for my current daily drivers though. I used to buy the cheap 1 year warranty batteries from Walmart, but got tired of replacing them, so now I have a 2 year warranty battery from O'Reilly's. That is in the ranger, I have no idea what is in the Stratus because it is hidden behind the left fender well.

Jim

 

I used to do that also. The cheapest battery on the shelf at the auto parts store. 12 month warranty. It would fail in 6 or 8 months. And it was a prorated warranty. So when the $99 battery died in less than a year, the store would give me $17.32 off the purchase of my next $99 battery. That grew real old, real fast. It only took me 15 years to learn that lesson.

Somewhere on the internet, someone wrote something about car batteries, who makes them for who, and such like that. There might be some sort of subforum thread on Ford Trucks dot com. But who knows if any information is up to date.

As I recall, Sears Diehard and Costco batteries were made by Interstate. I used to get Sears Diehard batteries when there was a Sears in San Francisco. I had an Interstate in my Explorer for what seemed like over a decade. It was still in the car and running great when I got rid of the car. On her Honda, my ex left the keys in the ignition in the ACC position, the radio on, and the lights on - parked in the garage for 3 weeks. That battery was toast. I got it jump-started. The alternator kept the car running. I drove it to Interstate. I just told them that the car wouldn't start, and that I had to jump-start it. They tested the battery and alternator. Alternator was fine. Battery was not. Then they installed a new battery - free. They didn't just give me a battery. They did the installation. No questions asked. No "do you have the receipt?" No hassles.

Optima was sold to Johnson Controls. Johnson Controls began manufacturing in Mexico, then closed their USA facility. Then the battery division making Optima was sold to Brookfield Business Partners, and spun off into a company named Clarios. O'Reilly's premium AGM batteries are made by Clarios. Allegedly, it's a good battery at a lower price.

Every auto parts seller now has their own brand of batteries. Walmart, Costco, Autozone, Pep Boys - all of them offer a premium line of AGM batteries which is suppose to be just as good as the major brands like Optima, Odyssey, Interstate, etc. The 1 thing that I would look for, is the warranty. Is it some "pro-rated" warranty? Do you really want to save a small percentage off buying another identical junk battery? Or is it a full replacement warranty? If it fails, I want a replacement. Not a discount off buying the same piece of junk again.

​​​​​​​On motorcycles, you can buy a lithium battery. I guess that is not an option for cars yet.