<p>It’s only supposed to get up to 17 tomorrow, which may help, but if the battery is dead from the cold, it may not 
Do you have AAA or other road service?</p>
<p>I don’t think my battery is dead… it turns on just fine (like radio and all that) but my engine won’t turn over. </p>
<p>Disclaimer: I know <em>NOTHING</em> about cars. Like not even the basic things you <em>should</em> know (how to change a tire, change oil, etc). It’s something I keep meaning to address but… </p>
<p>We do have AAA. Luckily, my mechanic is literally right down the street but I have a feeling every place is going to be backed up with cars after this cold. I only have classes on Thursday so if push comes to shove, I’ll stay at a friend’s place out in AA and get my car looked at tomorrow, Thursday, and/or Friday. I don’t have classes on Friday and my job doesn’t start up again until next week.</p>
<p>One suggestion I was given (because my truck wouldn’t start this morning) is if you have a battery charger, to hook it up and let it warm the battery up. I was also told you could use a (now-banned) light bulb as that would help heat it up. </p>
<p>My truck wouldn’t start this morning as I was attempting to go to work at 5:30 this morning. It was -6 out at that point. But my dad tried again while I was at work and he got it started. Then he left it running and forgot about it for a half hour ;)</p>
<p>LOL, hops! </p>
<p>I do not think I have a battery charger but I think I know of one I could borrow… how much do they generally run? I think it would be a good investment to just purchase one anyway.</p>
<p>I don’t know much about them, but it looks like you could get one for well under $100…</p>
<p>Hmm I think I’ll do that anyway. I didn’t even think of that. Thanks for the tip!</p>
<p>It is a brisk 65 degrees in Hawaii. My mom has been wearing the vest I gave her for Christmas–to take to the national parks (Yellowstone has been known to snow every month of the year, depending). It is nice to be able to wear some of my snuggly clothes and D has been living in her flannel pants. :)</p>
<p>Battery chargers are great! We finally got one because we didn’t want to have to wait for AAA when it was a simple dead battery at our home. Good luck, Romani!</p>
<p>I’m hoping silence from our S is OK. It’s in the teens where he lives. His parking garage is nice and toasty but I don’t know whether his parking at work is covered or brrrr uncovered!</p>
<p>I hope the roads aren’t too bad in the Rochester/Auburn Hills area… I have to be at campus by 8am, but my mom and I worried about the black ice and everything. </p>
<p>She wants me to skip work and class and stay home one more day, but I have a hard time justifying that. I CAN get out of my driveway, and even though I only have one class and 3 hours of work that’ll be completely dead, I still feel like I have to go.</p>
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<p>There are actually cars now with seat coolers. I think maybe they are called “ventilated seats”?</p>
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I drove from Grosse Pointe to Rochester last night and the roads were good. Allow extra time though because you really shouldn’t be going 70. And the crazy people on the road is what makes it dangerous.</p>
<p>When my cousin was stationed at an Air Force base in North Dakota he had some kind of engine or battery heater for his car that he plugged into a heavy duty extension cord at night. Do many people up north use these type things for their cars? Sub-zero weather has to be hard on a car battery.</p>
<p>We had a diesel car years ago that had an engine warmer and we would plug it in in the winter. I hear that in Minnesota they will plug in their gas powered cars when it gets this cold. It’s very hard on your battery. </p>
<p>My S spent a winter in Wisconsin and all of the apartments had garages for cars which is pretty unusual. His complex now has garages but not enough for all of the apartments and it is an extra cost. His complex in Wisconsin had garages for every apartment and it was not an extra charge. I’m sure it was because it gets so cold there.</p>
<p>This was the SCARIEST drive of my life. If anyone lives around northern Macomb County and central Oakland County, don’t go out unless you have to. </p>
<p>There are parches of road where it’s solid ice, and there are people who tailgate you and honk at you when you’re going 30 and are petrified to go any faster. </p>
<p>So glad I made it back okay, and I will not be driving again until everything melts.</p>
<p>The roads in the Farmington/Bloomfield area seem fine with some common sense. I haven’t been on the freeway yet. I am still having my fiance drive me to work just in case because we are trying to sell his car and I don’t want anything to happen to it, we are just sharing my car. I am a bit worried about the ice. He’s generally a good driver and has never had an accident, and is from a much snowier climate than this, but he never seems to get that just because <em>THIS</em> stretch of road isn’t icy doesn’t mean <em>THAT</em> stretch of road isn’t icy. I’ll be a lot more relaxed when this passes.</p>
<p>I’ve heard the black ice is really bad. He takes the Southfield freeway to Dearborn for work and he said it was fine until you got to the Ford Road exit and then it’s solid ice. I would almost prefer all the roads were terrible just so people wouldn’t get a false sense of security and then hit one of these black ice patches.</p>
<p>harvestmoon, glad you made it back OK.</p>
<p>Ack! I have an appointment in western Wayne county (MI) this afternoon, and I hate these stories about ice. Looks like I’ll be leaving plenty early and taking it slow…</p>
<p>We’ve hit as low as -10 below in the Boston suburbs over the past few weeks (6 degrees this morning) but looking forward to 40s and 50s by this weekend!</p>
<p>I take it back about the roads being fine. They were last night. Today with a lot of people going back, both my sons said the roads were terrible and the drivers are crazy.</p>
<p>Bah. The roads were fine in Wayne County last night. I still don’t have a starting car so I won’t find out how they are today. I hope they’re better by tomorrow. Is salt working yet or is it still too cold?</p>
<p>I take 23 in to Ann Arbor. I’ve been <em>told</em> that Ann Arbor’s roads aren’t terrible so I’m hoping 23 will be mostly clear.</p>
<p>We have to remember Wayne County is a pretty big place.</p>