Battery problem

[fixerupper]

Last week it was scorchio here ....so we went of for a midday swim followed by a bit of lunch ...very nice ... however got back in the truck , and tried to fire up ....nothing ...no dashlights nothing ...switch on interior light.. very faint glimer.... anyway after a bit of messing about I discover that the battery has a broken terrminal inside the battery never known this happen.
With a bit of wiggleing I can get full power dash board lights and stuff ,but when I try to start the engine it's goes dead again ...goosed we ain't going nowhere ....
About 500 metres up the road there's a petrol station ....so we wander up...maybe they might ..I don't know, it's not a garage I use.
The guy in the petrol station says "I've got the right one for you truck but I'm on my own today so I cant come out " gives me a new battery off the shelf and some spanners ...I try to pay him for the battery and he says "no pay me later when it's fixed" .....so off we trot, pop in the new battery...starts first go and we drive back to the petrol station..return spanners and pay for the battery 110 euros ...what a great helpful bloke ,one of the great things about living here ...Seems a shame to give up on the old battery ,is it fixable as a back up ,I'm thinking large self tapping screw down through the terminal pole...jeff....

 

[rtbcomp]

A tapping screw will mostly get eaten away.

I tried to buy a contact breaker from a petrol station a few years ago, the yoof at the till didn't know what one was!

 

[cumbriasteve]

Although years ago the terminal was held onto the terminal post of car batterys with a screw through the top, I also don't think that would be the best fix.

I would be thinking more along the lines of drill a hole as deep as possible and insert a rod (tight push fit) of some material that would remain stable, brass? stainless? etc, although those are just guesses, I don't know which would be the best material.

 

[rtbcomp]

I think whatever you use will come into contact with the acid, and with the electric current it would dissolve pretty quickly. I reckon lead would be the only suitable material.

 

[AndyStobbs]

Scrap it and move on. Not worth the agro.

 

[slim_boy_fat]

Scrap it and move on. Not worth the agro.

Beat me to it. That's typical of how modern batteries fail - fine one day, like the original Flat Eric the next.

 

[DanielW]

I tried to buy a contact breaker from a petrol station a few years ago, the yoof at the till didn't know what one was!

Whats a contact breaker?

 

[Robotstar5]

Whats a contact breaker?

Here you go - link study carefully, we'll be asking questions later

 

[the snooper]

Whats a contact breaker?

when you log out of the forum you break contact with us all

 

[DanielW]

when you log out of the forum you break contact with us all

Behave yerself...its a person that seperates two people havin a fight.

 

[slim_boy_fat]

Nah....that's a referee. Ding, ding,......round one!

 

[rtcosic]

here you go:

http://www.directindustry.com/prod/...SimilarProduct&utm_campaign=CA&utm_medium=Web

 

[normspanners]

I tried to buy a contact breaker from a petrol station a few years ago, the yoof at the till didn't know what one was!

They dont know what a distributor is now, let alone points.
Battery is dead mate not worth the hassle


BTW typical Greek outback way eh!, great isnt it. the number of times that has happened to me, where I have forgoten my wallet or not had enough cash and they say OH pay me later/ tomorrow, BUT I MAKESURE I ALLWAYS DO !!

AH I Lie, there was one night we were wrecked on the last night, Now on the flight home the missus said how much did we spend last night, I said how do I know, you paid, she said I didnt !!. O.F.
we landed and before we got home on the M56 I was speaking with Philip at the bar and he said I know, I forgot too, we were all drunk never mind pay us next year !!
so the next year cometh, first job I went to Soteris (the bar owner) house and said I owe for last year and he said, AH that was last year mate forget it !! and would not take a drachma, so we bought presents for his newborn instead.

 

[slim_boy_fat]

My recollections of Greece are -

a) wandering round Athens in the heat and fancied some tangerines for the thirst. Stopped at a market stall, stuck 3 in a bag and held them up for weighing/payment. The stall-holder looked at me as if I'd suddenly sprouted another head, then made a 'shooing' gesture indicating that I should just take them.

b) went to hire a jeep on one of the islands and agreed a price with the agent for a price for a week. Came to pay and produced Travellers Cheques. He just looked sadly at me and said "Just take car, we pay later". Apparently, since it was around mid-day, it was too much hassle for him to calculate the currency equivalent [they were still on Drachmas]. All sorted VERY amicably at the end of the hire.

c) Got a taxi to the airport when leaving Greece, and after a short distance the driver pulled over and after a conversation I didn't understand with two blokes at the kerbside, they got into the car with me. Although they looked reasonably neat & Tidy, I worried that I was about to be whisked off to somewhere remote to be beaten& robbed [or worse], but a short distance we pulled over and a young[ish] woman got in. The started to get dropped off en route to the airport and each paid a proportion of the total airport fare, so I got there for a fraction of the cost of single occupancy. Bonus and really sensible arrangement. Mind you, that was in the days before it was overrun by migrants - I'm not sure I would repeat the experience now, I suspect it's become more like Spain and Malta where crime figure have jumped in recent years.

d) one occasion I got off a ferry and jumped a taxifrom a rank to an address for B & B, which was written down and given to the driver. He drove round for a while but appeared incapable of finding the place. Afer some time he pulled up at another rank, turned and said simply "Get out". left with no alternative, and beginning to despair of finding the place in the dark, I tried another car. After a short confab with the other drivers, he drove off and straight to the address.

 

[fixerupper]

Yeah I've lived here for ten years now and it's still like that , amazing acts of kindness a generosity that still leave us gobsmacked ..like if if my partner goes of to England to visit her elderly mum for a few days ...I get the ladies of the village turning up with plates of food ...they just don't believe I can and like cooking ...last week I had a mate of mine visit and I took him into a local bar taverna for a bit to eat and drink one evening ... A local guy I know, as he was leaving the bar with his wife came over to our table to say hello ,we chated for a bit, I introduced my English pal ...as the local guy and his wife left he touched my arm and said "your bill here is paid jeff,
my treat ".... ....

 

[normspanners]

they just don't believe I can and like cooking

My sister inlaw was married to a greek and lived with them in greece, if he wanted drink/water in the night he used to shout his mum and she would get up and fetch it into their room for him, as males are doted on !! the girls are not though, strange ways.
I still love their old values though,we where doing the Acropolis rally and we stopped at the road side in the mountains and we were scrumping grapes and we were saying how nice they were, next minute from nowhere the farmer came shouting OHI OHI which is NO NO and grabbed us by the hand I though OH F he is gonna be mad,BUT he led us further into the field and said ones these are for eating------- those were for wine !! and not as nice !! and it was embarrassing how many he gave us!!