Lighter jump-start kits inefficient

Lighter jump-start kits inefficient

Q My wife has brought home a device to replace her car's regular emergency-jumper cables. The device connects from her car's cigarette lighter to the cigarette lighter of a Good Samaritan's car. Are these things safe?

TOM: They're safer than jumper cables. They're just inefficient.

RAY: Right. It's like drinking a gallon of water through one of those really thin stirring straws that bartenders use.

TOM: In order to jump-start your car, you have to get a bunch of electricity from one battery to the other. Usually, you do that with jumper cables, which are thick copper wires that can move a lot of electrons.

RAY: If you make the wire thinner by using really cheap jumper cables, or by using one of these lighter-to-lighter devices, the "pipe" is thinner, and fewer electrons can travel through the wire at one time. That means it takes longer to transfer the electricity. In the case of the lighter-to-lighter connections, it takes a lot longer.

TOM: So depending on how dead her battery is, your wife could be sitting there waiting for an hour or two before she can start her car, assuming the Good Samaritan thinks she's cute and doesn't mind chatting her up for that long.

RAY: If your main concern is safety and time is less of an issue, then they're fine.

TOM: On the other hand, you might consider getting her a jump pack. A jump pack is basically a plastic-encased auxiliary car battery with its own built-in jumper cables. You plug it in at home to charge it up once every six months or so, and then toss it in your trunk.

RAY: It's not as easy to use as the lighter-to-lighter cables because you still have to attach the clamps to your car battery, but, on the plus side for safety, you never need to flag down a stranger to jump-start your car.

TOM: Some jump packs also have emergency lights, AC power adapters and even air compressors built in to fill a flat tire. You can get a basic one for $50 or less.

RAY: They're particularly good for people who have cars that frequently break down.

Q. I was just in a flood, and my Honda Del Sol got flooded up to the hood latch. It was not running then, and I have not tried to start it. It was in the water for about six hours. Will my engine be ruined? Will my computer be ruined? If the answer to both of those is no, would my car be fine at that point, or do I have to worry that it is going to rust and fall apart slowly?

RAY: Give it a goodbye kiss.

TOM: Your engine's not ruined, and neither is your transmission, most likely. But the rest of the car is toast. Or, more accurately, compost.

RAY: The computer is cooked. The interior of the car is going to rot. And even if you did get the thing to run again, the smell would kill you.

TOM: If you have insurance, this is an excellent time to call your agent and ask him or her to send the appraiser by for a little look-see. He or she will confirm that the car is a total loss, and will write you a check for two-thirds of the value of the car. Then you can fight with them to get the rest of your money.

RAY: If you don't have insurance, you still can get some money by selling the car to a junkyard, which can resell the engine and transmission. But DO NOT TRY TO START THE CAR. There's probably water inside the cylinders, and if you try to start it up, you'll bend all kinds of important internal engine parts and make the engine worthless.

TOM: The safest thing to do is to get the water out of there, just to make sure no one else wrecks the engine by trying to crank it. To do that, remove all four spark plugs, then crank the engine for a few seconds. Water will shoot out of the spark-plug holes. Then call the junk man.

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