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I don't currently own a car but I owned an Olds Cutlass where they put crud over the battery area so that you couldn't easily access the terminals to give or get a jump.
I would never refuse someone asking for a jump if I didn't have a good reason to do otherwise (which doesn't include not wanting to or being in a hurry), and I would never accept money for that. I like to think that humans are at least half decent, and I would sure hate it if everyone around me had that "let someone else do it" or "I'll only help you people if it benefits me" attitude. How selfish. I try to treat others the way I would want to be treated if I were in their situation, regardless of how far-fetched the likelihood of that is.
i try to give people a boost when they need it, but at the same time i also try to read the situation, and if something seems off kilter to me, i will make the same excuse that i have to be somewhere.
I have jumper cables in the trunk, have been helped 2-3 times by others when they saw me with the hood up and cables in hand. I never asked them to stop, they just got the message and offered to help. I have also jumped quite a few cars. Due to the computers on newer cars, I refuse to let them hook it up, so it is done on my terms.
I would say if I had family with me and felt uncomfortable about the whole situation I would probably drive off. Being that there was a station right where you were, I would have my ears and red flags up all the way.
So you think they should have just asked the station's garage for a boost? Most garages have portable boosting/charging devices. Maybe the service costs to much?
Not really...12v is 12v with a + and - terminals. Hooked up properly...no problems.
Decades ago when moving and pulling a small rental trailer loaded with house goods at 3 AM lost my battery power. Sat there for a while and a couple of people were nice to stop and try to help but NO jumper cables.
Finally a Black man stopped with a NEW Merc that had less then 100 miles on the speedo. He drove the car into the tall weeds on the side of the road...took out a couple of 10 Ga wires with alligater clips...connected the batterys and got me started. That was a lesson I learned and never forgot to this day. Since then I always have a couple of 10Ga wires or a regular jumper cable in my car to get a jump or offer one where needed.
When driving back from Mexico City in Mexico I came across a man who started a bonfire waiting for a needed jump. NO cars were on the road and I saw the fire in the distance...stopped and gave him a jump. Told him that I was a Gringo and not all of us are bad people. He thanked me profusely.
well when I'm working, I'll gladly stop and do it, then write a bill for $30. but then again I drive a wrecker so generally I'm the one that someone doesn't want to pay.
on my off time? it depends on the situation. day/night/is the family with/location/etc
I asked this in post #19:
I was thinking something may go wrong and my car's electrical would fry. Is that possible?
Any thoughts about this?
There are potential problems for your car ... and the other car ... with a battery jump. The arcing which can occur when hooking up a cable can create a transient voltage spike.
Unfortunately, the power supplies of a lot of vehicle computers are not adequately protected against voltage spikes, and damage can happen to portions of the computers.
Some cars are more susceptible to this damage than others ... and you'll see in the owner's manuals for certain cars that they advise that the cars not be jump started. They even advise that any charging of the battery be done with the battery out of the car ... essentially, out of the electrical circuits. So, a dead/discharged battery would require removal, recharging, and then reinstallation to get the car going again.
In years past, I've seen cars jump started, but they lost various portions of their ignition/FI computers, as well as other computers in the car. The stranded car was thankful for getting the jump and getting going, but not happy at having to replace computers to restore lost functions at a later time.
As I live in a remote location, it's not uncommon to find stranded motorists from time to time who need a jump start. Absent any threatening signs from the people, I'll help ... I carry jumper cables in all my vehicles as part of my traveling kit. But to do so, I will shut my car off and disconnect the ground cable so the battery is isolated from the car, then do the jump start on the other vehicle ... unless it's from one of my older vehicles that doesn't have any computerized equipment.
The best advice re getting a computerized car started with a low battery is to recharge that battery outside of the car and then use it to start the car, or to replace the battery with a charged one. If you were stranded at a place where they could recharge the battery rather than jump start your car, it would be better to have the battery recharged.
Yea, let them hook their end up first, observe it's done right, and THEN do yours.
As for someone who wouldn't bother to help someone 'cause they didn't feel like it'
Yea, A**hole is a good description.
I've given and received jumps, always carry cables.
Wow.. thanks a lot, noname. I even mentioned the reasons why I declined, why I didn't want to mess with it. Obviously a lot of people at the gas station had reservations about doing the boost too. Not everybody out there is comfortable with lifting their car's hood and twiddling around, even with so-called simple maneuvers.
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