[Jager]

I got the extremely rare, never seen before, red battery warning light on my way into work this morning. I was about five miles from the office and was at awe about seeing this alarm (actually got a little excited about troubleshooting a problem). It took me a few minutes to realize I needed to turn off the heater fan to conserve battery life but turning the headlights off was not an option since it was still dark. After parking the Jӓgermobile I contemplated having it towed home or driving it home later this afternoon. I thought there was a slight chance of making it home on the battery so what the heck, I’ll have time to sit alongside the road and wait for the tow if the battery didn’t make it.

During mid-morning I ordered a new alternator, because odds are pretty darn good the alternator, having over 282,000 miles on it, gave-up. I could rebuild the original alternator (in fact I probably will) so it will be nice to have another alternator in the Jӓger’s inventory anyway.

The drive home… First thing when I started the motor, the starter did not crank as fast as normal (first clue). The battery alarm light was still on (second clue). After driving about 7 miles the PSM alarm came on (third clue), then the ABS alarm came on (fourth clue), shortly after that, about 10 miles down the road, the Air Bag alarm came on (this is your last and final clue) shortly thereafter the Jӓgermobile shutdown. No more gauges or spark going to the motor, it just died. So I pulled over and called the tow company (I had their number handy… Just in-case).

After getting the Jӓgermobile home I had to use my portable power to connect to the fuse box to open the frunk so I could access the battery. Then I connected the battery charger to it. More troubleshooting tomorrow.