Oct 07, 2023
New puzzler time. Just in time for the end of summer.
Here it is. This is from a while ago. Back in the 1990s.
I was going on a trip at the beginning of January and I parked my car at the bus station. The weather forecast was bitter cold and I was worried about starting my car when I returned.
I didn't have any of that fancy engine heater or special oil, but I did take one precaution.
When I returned from my trip five days later, the area had been suffering from five straight days of sub-zero temperatures. Yet when I turned the key, my engine roared to life to the surprise of all the other people in the parking lot whose engines wouldn't start.
They were all stunned. What precaution did I take that allowed my engine to start so quickly?
Remember, this happened a while ago now. So this wasn't a fancy EV or anything like that. Just a good old regular car.
Good luck.
So, cold weather, left the car at the bus station for 5 days.
And when I got back from my 5 day trip, my car started immediately, while everyone else's did not.
What precaution did I take, to allow my car to start up automatically after 5 days of bitter cold weather?
This was a bit of a trick question! Everything you needed was in the story, but just not very obvious. It is somewhat misleading. But here you go.
Okay, the car was parked at the bus station. And bus stations have lockers. And the precaution I took was, realizing it was going to be freezing temperatures out, I took the battery out and put it in the locker. And when I returned from the trip, I had a nice 70 degree battery inside the locker, which none of the other travelers had. All their batteries were all minus five degrees, since they had been in the parking lot, in the cold weather.
So, I took my battery out of the locker, put it in the car and it started right up.
Tricky one.
