Day 3 of our trip to Oregon in the Commander has gone badly. After a grand total of 11.4 miles - the distance from our hotel to our breakfast stop at the Big Blue Cafe in Arcata, California, the Jeep refuses to start. Click, click, click, is all I get after a twist of the key.
It's not a dead battery, as the car sat for 12 hours overnight and started on the first twist of the key. After driving to our breakfast stop and sitting for about five minutes, I decided to move the car to a better parking spot and... nothing. I have plenty of power, as the power windows, lights, NAV screen and everything else works at full strength. And Editor Karl, who had a similar no-start incident, replaced the battery about five or six-thousand miles ago. No, something else more sinister and hidden is at work.
A sympathetic motorist who saw me fiddling under the hood offered me a jumpstart, but as expected, that didn't change anything. Click, click, click. So I've called roadside assistance, and a tow truck will be here in 30 minutes, they say, to haul me and ONE of my family to the dealership. According to roadside assistance, the other three of us need to get a taxi, at our own expense, or simply wait here, on a park bench presumably...
I'm going to try calling the dealership directly to see if they can send a courtesy shuttle to pick up the others.
Needless to say, the hunt for Banana Slugs in the Coast Redwoods will have to wait for another time.
Day 3 tally: 11.4 miles
Dan Edmunds, Director of Automotive Testing @24,615 miles
ahightower says:
12:09 PM, 08/22/06
Look on the bright side - at least the gas mileage will improve while it's riding on the flatbed...
tsgeisel says:
12:28 PM, 08/22/06
Well, at least the next long-term update will be a bit more exciting than usual.
eriches says:
01:37 PM, 08/22/06
And at least you had a tasty breakfast at the Big Blue Cafe... (though I'm sure that doesn't begin to offset the hassle, hope you can get back to vacationing soon)