Batteries

Your steering wheel starts shaking under your hands and suddenly you're gripping it like you're trying to wrestle it into submission. First thought: something is very wrong with this car. Second thought: how much is this going to cost? I get it. Take a breath. Most of the time your car is telling you something, not falling apart. And when it shakes tells us a lot about why it shakes. Only when you brake? Only on the highway? Only when…

Every fall it's the same thing around here. The first morning it drops into the teens, a whole bunch of batteries that limped through the summer just quit. Somebody's standing in their driveway in Sycamore with a coffee in one hand, wondering why the car that started fine yesterday won't even click today. Winter doesn't really break your car. It just finds whatever was already on its way out and finishes the job. Here's what I'd look at on my…