Click, Click! What Happened?

by Randy Waitman

OK , like I don’t have enough to worry about with racing — prepping the racecar, getting the trailer and truck ready. We stay on top of all maintenance items on both the truck and trailer, such as oil changes, flushes, tune-ups and brakes.

So, there should be no problems, right?

Wrong! I get up about 6 a.m. to make coffee, have some breakfast and read the paper before we leave for Hanford to go racing. All is well, and I couldn’t ask for anything to be better. Then, I go out to start the truck and hear “Click! Click!”

What happened? It was just fine last night — started just fine with no sign of a problem.

Maybe I left the lights on? Nope, they are off. What could have happened?

As it turns out, it’s the battery.

Here is the rest of the story: Your battery has a life expectancy of only about four to five years. To make matters worse, your battery will give no signs that it is about to fail at the worst possible time.

What makes batteries fail? They usually die when the weather makes a dramatic temperature change, such as summer to winter, or in our case in sunny Southern California, between Sunday and Monday.

What can you do to help this situation? Maintenance, maintenance and maintenance.

Keep those battery terminals clean. The growth often seen on terminals is battery acid attacking the lead. Batteries breathe. When you look at the top of the battery, it looks wet, right? That is your battery breathing/venting — and the wetness is acid.

So what do you do? Clean the top of the battery with soap and water only. If the battery terminals have gotten really bad, then take off the battery terminal end. In a plastic cup, put about 2 teaspoons of baking soda and fill the rest with water. Take the battery terminal and soak it in the solution about two to three minutes. This should be antiquate to remove all the “growth.”

Now you have a clean battery and terminals. Put it all back together and coat all the exposed lead with some kind of paint. This protects the lead from the acid.

Keep in mind, we had done this to my truck and the battery and terminals were perfect — but I still had a dead battery and it was only four years old.

My point is, in four years, this was the first time I had any problems with the battery. So in the long run, taking care of your car and staying on top of the maintenance will save you lots of frustration and money.

Oh yeah — the weekend of racing? Well, another frame in the dumpster — man, this Sprintcar thing is rough — but in the same breath, it sure is fun.

Until next month, happy motoring and keep the rubber down!

Randy Waitman is a licensed Master ASE Technician, Master ASE Engine Machinist, ASE L1 performance and California Smog Technician.