Begging your car to start

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My BIL calls his '98 LeSabre (gold on tan) "Davi", that spelling intended to be feminine.

My Cruze is "Scarlet" - metallic red on red/black.
The Mercedes is "Pearl" - off-white.
The '88 Samurai I had for a few months got the name "Chuggaboom".
My sister's XJ Cherokee is "Puddle Jumper" or PJ. About as masculine as it can get for a 4 cyl. automatic.
Other BIL's '03 Beetle is "Buggie".
And my friend's four Ford E150 vans:
'77 Club Wagon: "The Tank"
'86 StarCraft conversion with 4 captain's chairs and three sunroofs: "The Battleship"
'78 short/panel with fender flairs, windshield visor, stepped roof, diamond porthole windows, jet black paint, 11"? wide tires, and a 351 breathing through glass packs: "The Beast"
And my favorite, for his white '89, six-cylinder, short/panel DD: "Van Go"
 
Originally Posted By: Blokey


Have actually done that in the car park here, but that was because it had rats under the bonnet (hood) and I'm scared of rats.

Got some puzzled looks from passing locals, but I'm known to be foreign so commital proceedings did not follow.
 
Found myself apologising to it for being in entirely the wrong gear yesterday. Nothing too self-abasing, just a terse "Oh ****!, sorry car".

Think I probably usually do that.

I don't think it counts as "begging"
 
Originally Posted By: Scienceman
Does it annoy anybody else when you hear somebody talking to their car, especially the "come on baby" or the "please start?" I mean, come on, sweet talking the piece of junk won't get it running.


Annoying?
No
Amusingly pathetic?
Yes

I have used words avoided in polite company when discovering new ways in which to practice the ancient remedy of bloodletting when working on a car, but I've never begged one either to start or to help in the repair process.
 
I think its somewhat normal for people to anthropomorphize things they are in constant contact with. We are a social species after all. Attaching human emotions to things to justify why they arent working. If your coworker suddenly decided to ignore you one day you'd be trying to figure out how hes feeling towards you. Same thing.

I myself beg machines to start on a regular basis. We are into the part of the year that diesel engines do not like to start. As a equipment tech at a large rental company pretty much everything is diesel powered.
You climb into at excavator that someone just put an order in for and want delivered 2 pm that afternoon and its 10am, 23F out. The machine has also been sitting for 2 weeks. That helps.
You stick the key in, turn it on and let it pre heat. It runs the full pre heat timer since its so cold, and you roll it over.
It cranks and cranks, refusing to light off. The cranking started off strong but is rapidly slowing. Finally you give in and shut it off. You just know you have MAYBE one more attempt left in the batteries.
If it doesnt light off, you're gonna have to go to plan B
Plan B could be,
Find something thats 24V to jump it with. Might not be easy.
Separate the batteries, and charge each one individually with a 12V charger. It needs to be on a truck in 3 hours though. Do you have time to charge 2 8D-size batteries sequentially with a single 40A 12V charger?
Manhandle two 150# batteries out of it, and two new 150# batteries back into it.
All of these involve being out in the windy cold for far longer than you want to be.
If you didnt beg it to start, I'd consider you inhuman. Sorry not sorry.
 
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