Be Excellent To Each Other

This morning I snapped the indicator stalk off in my 306. Long story. Anyway, I got it home (Lincoln to hull with hand signals!) and have a new part on order for wednesday. My side lights were stuck on (controlled by same stalk) so I disconnected the neg terminal in my battery to prevent it running down. This appears to have done the trick.

Thing is, I'm not the smartest with electricity and my pos terminal is still connected. Should I go back to my car and disconnect that as well or is it fine?

Bloody cars are hard work sometimes.

No it's fine. You could alternatively have found the parking light fuse and pulled it.

You will probably have to find the code for the radio when you put it back on though. How the fuck did you snap the indicator stalk off?!?

In a great mood after Dad's funeral, no sleep and the shits/puking this morning I had to rush out and drop the wife off somewhere in town then get back to Hull for a job interview this afternoon. White van is dawdling past my cul-de-sac with a small child behind the wheel, on the phone, looking out the side window with his blinker on to turn down my road. I wait for him, he drives past. I pull onto the main road and keep a distance behind him while he fails to turn down the next couple of roads. Then his indicator goes off and he starts decelerating without braking, so I stop behind him as he stops and from changing gear I bring my palm up to knock my right blinker on so I can pull round him as opposed to using my fingers as usual. Now, I'm not denying I'm the sort to beat the crap out of inanimate objects once I'm pissed off enough but while this guy was making me angry I wasn't intending to take it out on the indicator stem. But it sheared clean off at the base of the metal joint where it goes into the wheel.

Went home, fell out with entire family (like, really quite seriously), got back in car, drove to hull.

Got the job

£130 quid it's setting me back. And the job's for half as long as they told me it would be, which had I known would have probably caused me to decline an interview, as I'm supposed to still be in Lincolnshire recovering from week from hell and having a family I'm still speaking to. I think I'm going for a beer tonight.


/edit I've got the code for my radio programmed into my phone since I had to disconnect the bugger a few times in december.

urk! Take it easy fella

Well, congrats on that at least

This is not the day for trying new and potentially challenging things. Noted for the future, though.

Right, scones.

Hope you're doing okay mate! We'll have to have some LIVE fun soon - Reach or whatever! Chin up! And congrats about the job.

I know absolutely bugger all about car batteries, but hope things start to look up soon for you GY mate.

Thanks guys, I'm ostensibly ok, just a little spent this week (and not in the jizzy sense). Four weeks of going out of my way not to offend anyone, falling in with the plans of others and ignoring hypocritical behaviour isn't that sustainable, apparently. Who knew?

Sorry to hear about your shitty time mate, again, I am no expert but if the negative earths itself on another part of the car will this not create a circuit and potential cause battery to flatten. I might be talking nonsense, but I thought Id put it out there for the others who may know better than me.

Ramsea, no, the current has to flow 'back to' the battery, so it needs a connection between the chassis and the battery negative terminal for anything to happen.

The negative cable of the car is bolted to the chassis so it doesn't matter if the loose end touches somewhere else.

Thats what I suspected, its just when you use jump leads you dont connect negative to battery but to chassis.

Yep, you can, that a) keeps the sparks away from the battery an b) it's usually easier to get a good grip on a bit of the engine.