A stone dead battery can present as a raw short from pos to neg until it absorbs some charge. Meanwhile it’s resisting every attempt to charge it.
I bet that’s what you were facing.
and also, some sub-systems of your car might be more forgiving to low-voltage-situations than others … so they might come alive at different stages.
If you have trouble mobilizing and getting price-raped by locals, isn’t it an option to buy a battery online? …
word to the wise: make sure you get the right one, which is by no means trivial (different terminals, different layouts, some have (+) to the right some the other way round, others have the terminals to the front others to the rear (and your connecting cables might be short) - so there is quite a bit to visualize before ordering)
Dateline: November 18th, My Driveway
Exclusive to the Straight Dope
It was raining when I woke up this morning, so I figured I shouldn’t leave my charger sitting outside getting wet. I unplugged everything, tried the car, and it started. Hooray. The radio was prompting for an activation code, but the nav screen said to just hold the power button for two seconds. I did that and it came right on. I listened to NPR for ten minutes or so, and shut it off.
I want to let the car sit for an hour or so and see if it still starts. Then I’ll know if I can trust it to drive to an auto parts store and back. Probably still a good idea to replace the battery, but I’m almost out of the woods.
Oh, I know about that. I used to have an MG; you have no idea how hard it was just to find the right windshield wipers for my year.
I searched AutoZone’s website, and one other, for batteries. Even though they let me enter the year, make, and model of car, the website still returned multiple batteries with different size specs. Maybe they’re close enough in size that they’ll fit in my car, but I’d rather not risk it. I found a page that listed the various specs and I think mine is 24F.
Drive 10 miles south of Carmel on highway 1 and just before the Arroyo Seco bridge make a sharp right to the Rocky Point Restaurant. Get reservations and go in the early evening. I guarantee a memorable dining experience.
I was looking it up, and I’m getting notice that it’s “permanently closed.”
I got that it was closed and then completely rebuilt. But you may be correct so I’ll look further. That would be a shame. The restaurant is on the edge of the cliff and has lights illuminating the surf.
I don’t know for certain. Google’s summary was telling me permanently closed and I couldn’t find it on Yelp. Looks pretty, though.
It was sold for 8 million in 2021 and I assumed for that price it would be back in operation, but I called their number and got a disconnected message. That’s really sad. In the eighties I always took visiting Silicon Valley VIPs there to wow them. It was not a tourist stop. Mostly upscale locals. You had to know it was there and make the hard right turn, like you were going over the cliff, just before the bridge.
Thanks for the update.