Reviving Corona cars
The coronavirus has led to a lot of cars being laid-up for long periods of time. Some owners have been in lockdown, some have been shielding and, sadly, some have passed away. The result has been a lot of cars with flat tyres, seized brakes and dead batteries. Many families have also found themselves having to dispose of a late relative’s car.
After my father-in-law, Keith, passed away it was nearly 12 months before I opened the garage door to check on his Nissan Note. I tried the driver’s door and found it locked. Nothing happened when I tried the remote key fob. The battery was so flat that the central locking wasn’t working, neither was the Nissan NATS security warning light.
I was thrown when I tried to put the key in the driver’s door – no lock. I walked round to the other side to check the passenger door. No lock there either. When the world was young, I locked myself out of my Vauxhall Viva. The car park attendant had seen it all before and pushed a woven plastic packing strap through the door seal, looped it over the door button and pulled it up. That approach wasn’t an option here.
Thankfully, the owner’s handbook was in the kitchen. There is a cover on the passenger-side door handle. Levering it off reveals the emergency lock. Once inside I popped the bonnet catch.
Tools on site
Keith was an engineer by trade and his home garage was well-equipped. I found a battery charger on his workbench which was just as well – the car was parked nose-in to the garage and I didn’t fancy my chances of pushing it down the gravel driveway so I could use jump-leads to start it.
The best approach with a flat battery is to trickle charge it. On modern, maintenance-free batteries you
