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Charging the Battery
2 January 2025
So, as it turned out, we didn't drive our 2001 Honda Civic HX after Aug. 12 last year. We did put a charge on the battery a couple of times but that was the extent of our automotive ambitions.
Charging into 2025. Olympus E-PL1 with 14-42mm II R kit lens at 14mm (28mm equivalent), f8, 1/4 second and ISO 1600. Processed in Adobe Camera Raw using the Adobe Vivid color profile.
What better time is there than the start of a new year, we thought, to turn the engine over?
Of course, when we tried on New Year's Day, we found the battery dead. That little clock never stops draining it.
So we hooked up our antique Schauer trickle/charge/starter box to get a little charge going and tried to start the engine from the Schauer.
Nope. Hardly a grind.
We let it charge until we had to leave to take three buses in two counties to visit Joyce at the nursing home. Wisely we had armed ourselves with our smartphone before we left. The third bus features free WiFi so we looked up starting a car that's been in storage. A Civic, in fact.
And in a few seconds we learned the trick. Turn on the electricity but don't push the ignition far enough to start the car. Do you hear the fuel pump? Leave the key in that position for five seconds. Then do that again.
Apparently it primes the fuel line. Which in six months had undoubtedly gone dry in our HX.
We like the HX. It gets 33 mpg no matter what we do. That rivals today's hybrids. We remember paying $16,000 for it new (or first new car) and wondering where we'd ever get another $16,000 when it stopped turning over. Although, these days, we'd need something like $60,000. But at least, at our age, we won't have to worry about getting another $60,000.
So we were looking forward to trying that fuel pump trick. But first we connected the Schauer again so we weren't taxing the charged battery.
Grind, grind ... kaboom! It started. It ran rough for few seconds and then smoothed out to the familiar idle we remembered.
If it weren't for our double vision, we'd have taken it for a little spin.