Today started out absolutely like shit. Fortunately, it got better although not a whole lot.
I was about a block from my house at about 6:30AM when I heard something under the car go clunk under a wheel well. The school where I work is about 30 miles away. I didn't see anything coming up to it, but something did not sound right. As I accelerated onto the highway, it sounded normal so I didn't think much more about it. I just passed the next to the last exit and the car starts feeling funny so I pull over, get out and see the left rear tire is very low. I'm in a horrible place to change a tire, so I roll back to where the end of the guardrail is and turn back onto the grass. This gives me about 3-3.5 feet to the edge of the slow lane.
I digress slightly. I have a first generation Honda Insight, and with a few minor modifications and slowing to 55mph, I typically get about 80mpg. In town it is much worse, only about 60-65mpg. Since it is a hybrid, the 12V battery is used to run the computer to control the 144V battery and the 12V is the size a Harley Davidson motorcycle uses. It is a very lightweight battery that should be changed every 4-5 years, but it hasn't given me any trouble.
I leave the flashers on, but shut the car off. I didn't even think about the headlights until after I moved all the junk in the back out of the way to access the trunk. The trunk is a misnomer as it is the size of a medium sized cooler. You have to remove the trunk which has a few items in it, then the plate beneath it to where you find the dinky spare. At this time I shut off the headlights and leave the flashers on. I change the tire, get everything into the hatch area and try to start the car. $#!%#!!!!!!!!!! it doesn't have enough juice to run the computer. Not 2 feet away from me is 144 volts and I have no way to access it. My car can be jumped, and I don't need big jumper cables to do it, just enough wire to get 12V to the computer.
A teacher from my school saw me and went up to the exit to turn around to help me. There is not enough room for him to get close enough to jump start my car without turning the wrong way on the Interstate Highway. I sent him on, but borrowed his set of dinky jumper cables. Our School Resource Officer was already on the way and while I was waiting, I thought, "How could I get 12V from his car to mine?"
I remembered that I had an extension power cord in the back of the car, but how could I hook a set of jumper cables to each end? I could cut the ends off and strip the wires back, and then it hit me. I could bend the plug terminals sideways and if I could find a paperclip, I could cut it in half and put the pieces into the receptacle side to hook the other set of cables to. Lo and behold, there is a paperclip in my console! The SRO stopped and was backing up and appeared to be waiting for an opening to turn around. I ran to his car and said, "I think I have a solution so you don't have to turn around." I just backed him up to a few feet from my car. I hooked everything up and the computer came up and car started. It doesn't sound or start like a regular car, and he said he didn't know if it was running until he saw the engine vibrate.
I unhooked everything and still made it to school before it started, although I was about 40 min late than my usual time.
Usually when a tire gets too low at speed, the sidewall is too damaged to use again, so I went online to see if I could get another tire. Of course MY car has to have special tires that are ONLY made for that kind of car. The last time I ordered them about a year and a half ago, I had to wait almost 6 months for them to come from Japan. I went to the website I got them from, and they showed 1 tire in stock. If that is correct, It will be here on Thursday.
I'll see if my buddy will let me borrow his classic Camaro with over 400 horsepower and then some.
Of course I won't get much fuel economy, but our hot secretary says it was her favorite car of all time....then she asked what color? Red. I wanna ride!!!
