Timing Youth versus Cranking Old Man

"Hire a teenager while he still knows everything"
-Anonymous

The teenage boy got his new old car. The old old car had just croaked. The new car always started with a bit of shudder and sometimes would not even start at the first attempt. It would simply be totally quiet. Then after a break of couple of minutes it would start fine. It was the best they could afford then. The boy had looked at the 'timing belt' and developed his own theory as to the cause of the problem. Even though he was not a student of the mechanical, electrical or automotive sciences, he was 'confident'.  His middle-aged (Old-in-the-son's eyes) father was not sure. He jokingly said the car must be a deep sleeper and sometimes needed a bit of thought and motivation - to decide if it really wanted to wake up and go.

The boy had grown up with friends who had grown up around cars.He was a kid of TamBramh (Tamil Brahmin) lineage who grew up with typical Australian kids in the city and the country side who knew how to take apart and put together various assemblies in a car. He had learned to drive at a relatively early age compared to his city mates. He had friends who were studying to be auto-mechanics. He and the other boys had talked cars and it seemed like they would arrive at a consensus theory on what was the cause of a problem - often by the forceful effectiveness of whoever spoke in a manner to awe or somehow intimidate the others. It was quite fun to watch or listen to from a distance.

It was typical - teenage boys all trying to sound grown-up and knowledgeable. The father of the boy, though not an automechanic, had been driving and gotten to know a little bit of the common issues with cars. He had done a few oil-changes, tyre-changes and odd bits of work on his cars and saved a bit of the costs of expert labour over the years. He knew, he did not know everything and deferred easily to the experts - realising that a little knowledge can be a dangerous thing and even if one were right, it is sometimes better to trust the experts. He was not sure, however, of the expertise of the teenagers, but realized that is how they grow into one - fake it until you make  it. It is so typical of boys that age. The father always listened to them with respect (even if suppressing a smile sometimes). However, he was an old engineer at heart and certain things were logical and compelling for him too. He too was irresistibly led to diagnose problems out of an engineer's soul.

The new old car ran predictably (occasionally requiring multiple start attempts) for sometime. The boy decided that once he had saved up enough money he would ask his friendly car mechanic to take a look at the 'timing belt' when he took it for its next service. He had looked up the price and estimated the costs of replacing the timing belt would be steep and decided it is best left until inevitable. The father felt if it were something that severe, it would not be running as it was. But it was difficult to argue or convince a teenager who knew.

One day the new old car decided it was not waking up. Fortunately, it went to sleep in front the house and not somewhere at the boy's school or work or at the mall or elsewhere. The boy was headed for work. The father then had an idea based on a hunch and decided to see if a jump start would work. He had saved the car battery from the boy's old old car before it was junked. That battery was a fairly new and he had saved it in the shed. The boy had been a little embarassed at the father for scrounging it before junking the old car. They tried a jump start with the newish battery from the old old car and it worked. The sleeping car woke up and the son drove off. The car continued to run as before again for a couple of weeks before deciding to hibernate again late one evening. May be, it was the growing cold of the deep winter and the car could not 'bear' it anymore and had decided to sleep through the winter, the father theorized. The son was again headed to work and the father decided against trying a jump start in the dark outside. That newish battery from the old old car had not been charged again now for a long time and any silly moves might result in a short-circuit and a bonfire of sorts. He gave the son a ride in his car and picked him up from work that night.

The father had noted that the jump start had worked even with a not-fully charged battery and that it was perhaps that the new old car had an older battery that was not quite up to providing the required cold-cranking current. It was a bit like him, but ahead of him in age - probably past middle-age. He theorized that perhaps replacing the battery would solve the starting problem for good. Perhaps it was not a timing belt issue at all...or at least not to do with starting up the car with a shudder. All the while the son was sticking by his 'timing belt' theory. Now, he would have to go to the mechanic and he was expecting a hefty bill that they were not sure they could afford at that time. He realized he may have to wait to get his car back on the road. He would have to depend on the father to drive him everywhere - just like when he was a 'baby' a few years ago.

The next morning, the father decided to give on attempt based on his hunch.  In the light of the midday, the father woke up his son (whose seemed to be synchronized to the native land of his father,  about five hours behind rather than the Australian city he lived in) and got him to sleepily sit in the driver's seat of the car, pop the hood and wait for instructions while dozing, reclined in the sporty bucket seat.

The old battery from the new old car was quickly replaced with the newish battery from the old old car. The father asked the son to turn the key in the ignition. It started without a blink!  The boy wanted to shut it off now and go to sleep.

"Keep it running for 10 minutes. Then you can turn it off and go back to sleep," said the father.

"Why?" asked the son sleepily.

"That battery has not been charged for months and has already provided enough cranking power twice. Let it get charged up and you should be fine now," said the father.

The cranky, sleepy son waited 10 minutes, turned off the engine and went straight to sleep. The father went back to his household chores feeling not-cranky but silently happy. He had no one to share this with and crow about it. So, he found time the next day to sit and write up the whole incident.

Copyright (c) Kannan Narayanamurthy 2017
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