About That Drive in the Snow…

Well, that didn’t turn out like I thought it would. It was actually much more difficult. All I wanted to do was to bring my lady for a nice 4-wheel drive in today’s snow storm and things turned into a fiasco. I’ll tell you all about it.

It was still light outside. I don’t know what time it was, but I know it was light because I wanted to get in the truck before it got dark so Laura could get some nice photos. I went out and cleared the snow off the truck. Then, I sat inside of it, turned the key and waited for the glow plugs to warm up. When that was done, I tried to start it. Click. Click. Click. That’s all I got. I was actually really surprised. I never had a problem with this vehicle before and to find an issue just two days after it ran perfectly to the vet and back was a shocker. Very strange.

I suspected something was going on with the battery terminals. Well, first, I thought the batteries were dead (there are two). But after testing the headlights and the blower fan on high at the same time and having no issues, I concluded it was the battery terminals. Or, just one terminal.

I popped the hood, jumped out of the truck, lifted the hood and began twisting the terminals to see if any were loose. Low and behold, the negative terminal on the passenger side moved fairly easily when I turned it. I gave it a nice twist until it was seated a little tighter and tried to start the truck again. Nothing. It has exactly the same problem. I decided to run inside to get my tools so I could properly tighten it. I did that and tried to start the truck again. I got the same issue. This was perplexing.

Since I was standing in a blizzard and the snow was flying sideways, I thought I could make better use of the time I had by looking around online for answers. I found what I expected. The battery, the solenoid or the starter itself. I didn’t think it was any of these things, but I did want to go poke around under the hood one more time, just to see if any connections on the solenoid were loose. So, I got all dressed again with my boots and all that and headed back to the truck. I popped the hood and couldn’t even find the solenoid, much less see if any of the wires were loose. It was getting darker and I had already told poor Laura that she wasn’t going to go for a ride. I was so disappointed.

While I was out there, I decided to give the truck one last headlight/blower test, just to see if the lights would dim when there was another load on the electrical system. I did this and turned the ignition key to find the truck start up wonderfully. It was very odd. I turned it off, let the glow plugs warm properly and started it again and everything was okay.

I hightailed it inside to tell Laura she was going to get to play in the snow after all. She got her gear on and we headed out to the truck for our drive. Man, that took a lot out of me.

Anyway, as she was sitting inside the truck waiting for it to warm up, she snapped a pretty cool photo. Here it is.

She got a bunch of other ones, but I didn’t want to post too many interior shots here.

We got going in the snow after everything was warm. I would say we only had about four inches on the ground, but no plows had come by yet. Here’s a picture of us climbing the first little hill.

After we made it to the end of the road, we turned around and started to head back. That’s when we saw the plow coming. Our road is pretty narrow being dirt, so we knew it was either him or us – not both. I decided it was him, so I backed up for a while until we made it to our good buddy Dave’s driveway. I backup up there and waited for the plow to pass. Here it is.

As you can see, it was him who was going to get by, not me.

That was pretty exciting. We made it back to the house and I concluded that, yes, this is what you’re supposed to do when it’s snowing outside. It makes you feel alive. I haven’t run around like that in a while. I’ve been far too civilized. I need to get back at it.

Anyway, I have to pick up some stuff from the auto parts store. I need to get some tools for the truck, a battery terminal cleaner, a battery charger and some electrical grease for the terminals as well. I need to quit messing around and get stocked up.

Tomorrow is supposed to be sunny After that, between Saturday and Monday, we’re supposed to get upwards of thirty more inches of snow. That will add to the three inches we got on Tuesday and whatever we get tonight. Add all that to the foot and a half we already have and we might actually have almost five feet of snow on the ground. I find that insanely fun. I will surely take photos for you.