I thought I'd seen most everything but today...

A friend stopped by and left his car, a Saturn, sit in the drive running.  I asked him why he didn't shut if off and he said "I have to use this jumper battery thing to get it to start".  He held up of of those little lithium jumpers he bought at Costco.  I asked if he needed a new battery but he told me he'd gotten one a few months ago and it still wasn't better then the old one.  I'd just gone to Harbor Freight this morning and bought one of those little battery testers that is supposed to tell you all about the battery and charging condition and wanted to try it out so I asked where the battery was.  It's behind the passenger seat under the floor in front of the rear seat.  The cover was already off as he would have to jump it most every time.  I got to looking at it and noticed what looked like black plastic on top of the negative terminal.  I asked where he got the battery and if he installed it, told me O Reilly's and the guy at the store installed it for him.  I took off the terminal and sure enough, the plastic post protector was still on the post!  It had torn a bit when the clamp was tightened down so a bit of juice was able to get to the system.  I was trying not to laugh too hard but it wasn't easy.  After tightening down the terminal clamp, I tested the battery and it was in pretty good shape.  I know they have trouble hiring compliant help, but really, I mean he took the red positive cap off, why not the neg?  Later, I called a buddy and told him the story, he told me I'd made his day!


Edited by JohnColo - 18 Jun 2023 at 1:55am

Years ago there was a Homelite chainsaw dealer down the road from me. I was cutting firewood out of fence rows and would need my chain ground from hitting objects that were in the trees. One day when I was at the shop an elderly man came in with his saw very angry. He said to the owner "You sharpened the chain on this saw and it won't cut butter"! The owner looked at it and calmly said " Any chainsaw will cut if the chain isn't on backwards"! The old man looked at his saw and said " I'll be damned your right"! Picked up his saw and left!

Has happened for years just as this, ran a tow truck as a sub, was a full time mechanic and saw this firsthand all too often!!

Few years ago, my neighbor worked for a forklift company, drove 2-1/2 hours to find the same thing and the guy was mad that he charged him.  Stupid on 2 counts!!  All my battery cables barely fit without the plastic, they really have to work to screw it up.