** Image borrowed from www.jamesbest.com

The weather has started to get pretty cold this past weekend and that's been causing some problems with the battery in Lynn's car.  After jumping it a couple times, I decided it was time to let my inner Grease Monkey come out and play.  So I went to AutoZone and checked out the replacement batteries for her car and picked up one of the best ones they had.  When I got back home I started to do the swap, but it wasn't as simple as it should have been since the hood lifts on her car didn't work either and there wasn't a hood prop, so I had to have Lynn come out and freeze with me while holding the hood up.

Taking out the old battery went fairly smooth except when one of the clamp posts fell in to the engine compartment.  Not a big deal though.  Putting in the new battery was a different story.  It actually fit in well, but the posts were on the wrong side and one of the cables wouldn't reach. Story of my life; always an inch and a half short.  It turns out that when the battery chart suggested a 24F, the F indicated that the posts would be on the front side and was fairly important in this case.

So, back to AutoZone we went where we suffured through another round of having somone enter Lynn's information in to the computer for the 4th time for warranty information.  Side Note: I'm far from the worlds fastest typest, but waiting on someone to bang out 2 words per minute with the single finger chicken peck isn't my idea of fun.  This time I took back the original battery (avoid the core charge) and purchased a new set of hood lifts (Lynn isn't talented enough to provide me with beer while holding up the hood).

Armed with the correct parts, I proceeded to install the hood lifts and the new battery as well as cover myself in grease.  After getting everything installed and enjoying a few drinks of a wonderful winter ale, I hopped in the car and tested it out.  SUCCESS!!!  The car started right up and re-ignited my inner Grease Monkey. :)

Lessons Learned

• A 24F battery isn't the same as a 24.
• Doing a Google Image Search for "Cooter" doesn't return as much bad stuff as you might imagine.