Mr. Sparks !
Going by the scene below readers who are familiar with Admiral's thread would state (and with a groan) another routine Sunday cleaning described in mind numbing boring details. Close, quite close.
Notice the change ? Take a closer look. Red's turned green. And thereby hangs a tale.
Last week, Thursday early morning, saw me all suited and booted (out by the wife, from home), all ready for another day of rat race, said a cheery hello to Admiral, sat and cranked up as usual. A dull groan. And the engine doesn't fire up. Tried couple of times. Nada. No go. Checked some of the vitals, saw all the lights etc coming on and thought to myself - battery of course. But then the odd fear gnawed at the brain. What if one of the wires was chewed up by a rat ? What if the alternator had picked up an alternate assignment and didn't want to work with me anymore ? What if...
Anyway went back home, called Toyota helpline who directed me to the local help line. Spoke to a bloke and he said that cavalry would come to the rescue by 9.15 am.
And bang on time (impressed, very impressed) I receive a call from the parking area that the help van had arrived. A very polite grease monkey jumped out from a Maruti van and after the initial pleasantries was taken along with the van to Admiral. He looked around tried cranking. No go. Did the mandatory checks of the battery and mentioned that the battery could be a goner as there was no pulse (the specific gravity reading wasn't showing anything healthy) or pressure.
And then he put in the service battery and cranked. Lo & behold and much to my relief Admiral growled to life. And he ( the grease monkey) then told me that we could drive to the ASC and have the battery changed there. But then I had other ideas. Put old Mr Sparks into the passenger cabin.
I asked the Toyotawallah to drive behind me and went across to my FNB - Friendly Neighbourhood Batterywallah. Who was up bright and early and grinning at me like a Cheshire cat. But a real friendly bloke ( the owner) whose place I had been frequenting for tyre repairs etc.
He got the battery boy to check the old Exide. And the battery boy (who insists on speaking in English) stated - "One dead in the cell." And I asked the owner, standing next to him, whether there was a custodial death. He smiled and checked again with the specific gravity bulb - no reading and dark mucky acid floated up.
And so after 3 years and 4 months Mr Sparks, Exide by birth, was truly dead. Nothing could be done about it. Bid him a silent goodbye and started discussions on the new Mr Sparks.
Got myself this:
And here are the details of the new kid on the block:
All connections checked, rechecked, terminals coated with P Jelly and engine cranked. Admiral burst into a throaty song.
Base cost - Rs. 6,500/-
Old battery discount - Rs. 1400/-
Additional friendly neighbourhood discount - Rs. 250/-
Final cost - Rs. 4850/-
The Toyotawallah didn't ask for any money but anyway tipped him Rs. 150/- for services so valiantly rendered.
And thank God this didn't happen on the road or some place I had driven to. And thankfully the change happened just before rains hit this part of the world.
Funny thing is that the same thing happened in my old ride, the Scorpio CRDe. Replaced the OE Exide with Amaron which ran till the time it was with me.
And now long live Mr Sparks !
And someone close who came from stateside got me the exact shade of paint pen for Admiral. The exact shade was pointed out to me by samish_g - offline. Thank you Samish. Now the old shade matches all the plastic bits and the new pen matches the metal skin.
And Sunday saw the first showers of monsoon hitting us.
And Admiral all ready for it.
And found that Admiral had turned eco friendly not only in the colour of the battery - but also in other ways.
Aloha !