Further proof of the benefits of owning a classic car. When our Caravan wouldn’t start, it’s the 1963 Beetle to the rescue.
Of course the battery is under the rear seat, which makes for unconventional jumper cable routing. The van’s 4 year guaranteed Canadian Tire battery lasted 4 years and 4 months. 🙁
Isn’t the ‘63 still 6V?
I’ve jump-started my 6V 8N with 12V, but you have to connect the cables direct to the starter vs. on the battery posts. Come to think of it, I think the battery on the 8N is pushing 6 or 7 years old now. Our car batteries tend to last 4-5 years, too.
Good to see the Bug out!
Mine was already converted to 12V alternator when I bought it. That’s fine with me, the Lucas generator on my TR4 was enough to make me appreciate an improvement when I see it.
“And lo, in the springtime the garage didst vomit forth it’s contents onto the driveway. The chariots were recommissioned and there was much rejoicing amongst the peoples”
I thought so too. If the ’63 VW didn’t start, with an original style battery, putting water in the battery usually got it going.
Truth. I did similar last year. Having the VW in the lower driveway (we have two driveways off the street which is great) rotating the tires, I discovered a screw sticking through the tread in one of the tires. Fixable, but I needed the car early in the morning. It was also 5:45 and the tire shop closed at six. The VW was blocking both the van and pickup and it would have taken too long to put the VW back together.
So, tire goes into the Galaxie and off we go.
Have you got all the teething pains with your VW ironed out?
Uh, no. There’s a list, but there are many other things above it on the big list.
I’m a pool boy today. Washing smelly water bags and winter cover today, bleah!
“Uh, no. There’s a list, but there are many other things above it on the big list.”
Can I quote you on that?
(c:
Well, I was being optimistic for you.
Hopefully you have been driving it some this spring. If so, you are doing better than, ahem, some of us! 🙂
That old Caravan qualifies as a CC too.
Mine went the other way, with newer cars jump starting the Miata befor I got a new battery into it.
Been there, done that. It helped that the MX-5 battery is in the boot.
This might date me but…way back when.. It was a fix to put a 8 volt tractor battery in your 6 volt V dub, remove cover and tweek regulator points to get 8.5 volts. There you go, now it starts when cold and you can see at night. No other changes needed. Wouldn’t jump start your T&C but otherwise no other changes needed.
Hmmm… I guess that is rather useless information but perhaps it will help on your next game of Automotive trivial pursuit.
That’s a common “fix” on many 6V cars (and tractors). The 1950 International L-170 I owned for a few years had an 8V battery in it. It’s better, I suppose, to find and repair the root issue – ‘all connections clean, bright and tight,’ is always a helpful mantra with a 6V system – but 8V will certainly work in a pinch!
It’s been about ten years since I restored my ’50 8N, and I have a complete new ignition system and wiring harness out in the shop to treat the tractor to soon. Not because I’m having any issues with it (still starts on the second or third ‘rumpa’ even in the dead of winter), but more as preventative maintenance. Should be good for another ten after that!
See? You should have taken my long-standing and forward-thinking advice and sold the van when the battery hit the 3yr 11month mark. Or actually the month before you bought THAT battery. 🙂 I just see lots of needless expenditure here.
I think I’ve bought one battery in my life. Never again!
It must be nice to be rich:-) My policy has been to replace any OEM battery as it replaces the four year mark; I just bought a new battery for my 2014 Mustang. It was definitely time as the starter would struggle to spin the engine for a beat or two before finally doing its thing. Now it spins up quickly and starts after three or four revolutions. I splurged and bought the 84 month battery as I plan on keeping the Mustang forever, or until I can no longer get into and out of the driver’s seat.
I’m hardly rich, speaking very toingue-in-cheek 😉 Just gotten fairly lucky so far with batteries I suppose. Living in a generally moderate climate generally helps too I suppose.
It’s a running gag. I give Jim the gears for not keeping vehicles long enough to get dirty, and he gives it back when I keep them longer than I should. 🙂
That’s about what I’ve been getting in central Texas, even keeping the distilled water level up…4 years to the Day once, and within a few weeks another time.
Each time I’ve taken it in to claim on the warranty, the parts desk person always gives me a hard time…they put it on the load tester and claim it is OK…even though I’ve had it on a charger for many hours (8 or so) before I brought it in. Every time it fails on my 2000 VW Golf (going on my 5th battery probably next year…when I crank it you can only hear the load reduction relays clicking (sounds like knitting needles in action)…no starting, and the LCD instruments (odometer) goes blank. The parts desk person finally gives in and gets me a replacement battery, but also tells me I’ve got a problem with my charging system and I’ll be back to fix that shortly…but I never have been back…the battery always works great (for another 4 years)…I’ve checked the alternator, voltage is about 13.8. I have a fear of my Mother being stranded in her Impala, so I also replace her battery (this one I buy, since it hasn’t failed yet so no warranty claim). as a precaution.
My previous ’86 GTI had problems with voltage regulator/brush assembly on the alternator, replaced several times, the headlights and dash lights would “strobe”…fortunately the alternator was on top, easy to access, didn’t have to remove it to replace the regulator/brush assembly…but I had to keep a supply of them on hand….it was a Motorola alternator as I recall (but that was more than 18 years ago at the most recent, so my memory might be a bit hazy on the details).
My Dad had a ’59 Beetle with the 6v battery under the back seat (until the floor rusted out leaving the battery dragging on the pavement)..his first “second” car…I wondered about venting with the battery under the seat…wondered what happened to the hydrogen. But the car was totalled when one of our neighbors Sons at the end of our street plowed into it as it was parked in front of our house (which had a one car garage/driveway back then)…too bad…I never did get to drive an aircooled VW, though, unfortunately I was too young at the time.
Most of my jumper cable starts have to do with getting my 22 year old riding mower going, which amazingly is still on its second battery. I finally bought a battery tender.
I used to buy Canadian Tire Eliminator batteries with the 7-year pro-rated guarantee. I remember at the time they were made at a leading battery manufacturer and really did last that long. I vaguely remember being told CT stopped sourcing their batteries from there when they changed the labelling and went down to 4-year warranty, so I’ve been buying Interstate Batteries instead from my local mechanic.
This time we bought the 3 year battery. There’s no way I want to be still driving that Caravan in 3 years…
Done this many times several batteries have failed on my Xsara over the years Ive owned it and having an alternator in my Hillman has been a real bonus, I just screw the idling up and leave it runninng with the leads connected while I have a coffee then glow and crank and the diesel will start, a fully charged regular grade 12v battery will only do one starting action not both,I recently bought tidied and sold another Nissan Sentra and harvested its new 550CCA battery and swapped it with the one in the Hillman, it now cranks like the plugs have been removed.
I have never bought a new car battery before the old one failed to start AND hold a charge, over 43 years of car ownership. But I now have two LiOn jumper packs. And a battery tender (for my motorcycles) a regular charger and about 4 sets of jumper cables.
I DID mention in an earlier post that one of the last uses with my ’96 Aerostar was jump-starting a lawnmower battery; otherwise the van’s life was pretty much over. The lawnmower itself (still in use) is from the LA Series of John Deere riding mowers & used to belong to my grandmother. It replaced an old rear-engined Snapper. We’ve also had Wizards & Poulan Pros in past years, but I doubt any them will hold a candle to the John Deere in terms of reliability. It just comes to show that NEWER isn’t ultimately BETTER than OLDER or vice versa, it just depends on the specific application. Still need to watch out for brand service & reputation, though.