How To Check Your Car Battery
A car’s electronics and the starting of its engine are based on the battery of the car. It’s important. Sometimes people find that it’s hard to start the car, especially in winter. When it happens, maybe it’s time for you to check the battery. If battery maintenance is not done well, at sometime you can’t start your engine while the interior light may goes dim. This is a sigh that your car battery is discharged or faulty, even corrupted. It’s time for you to do some job.
An important thing for you to do is clean up your battery. If there is acid around the battery, do not touch it, avoiding damage your clothes. One of the most common problems when it comes to car batteries is the accumulation of corrosion around the terminals. This is evident by a substance that looks almost like powder. If you identify this on your car’s battery, you should clean it off immediately. One of the easiest and most effective measures for doing so is by pouring a little Coca-Cola on the terminals and scrubbing them with a wire brush. It is best to do this when the battery terminals are disconnected from the battery posts. Use safety goggles and gloves when doing this job. Battery acid is dangerous!
Check the water lever of the battery, prying the cell covers off. If the cells inside the battery need to be filled to the top are low on water, it is not maintenance free. It is important that you take some water and fill all of these cells in the battery. Replace the cell covers carefully, preventing cracking or splashing of fluids. Recharge batter if necessary; best done with a slow trickle charge if the cells were empty.
You need check the wires running to and from the battery, figuring out whether or not they are covered and protected. If a bare wire hits the wrong thing under the hood, it can turn into many different types of electrical complications. You need to disconnect the battery terminals, it is absolutely necessary to remove the negative first. When replacing the terminals, attach the positive terminal prior to the negative terminal.
Help answer the question about car battery maintenance
Should I add water to my car battery? It is about 8 years old and I was told to check the water level.?
car battery: maintenance free? How do I check the water level?
What is the average life of a car battery?
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Tags: auto, automotive, car, checking car battery, compressor, maintenance, overheating, problems, radiator, repair, transmission, troubleshooting
9 Comments to “How To Check Your Car Battery”
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By sofia, November 14, 2009 @ 5:31 am
No your check-engine light won't go on if your battery is about to die. Your "Volts/Amps" or "Battery" light may.
By malcolm c, November 14, 2009 @ 5:31 am
If you have a completely sealed battery you can't do a hygrometer test. Take your car to any shop and request a *battery load test. It will reveal the reserve capacity of the battery.
If you have a hand held volt meter check your battery voltage in the morning or after the car has been sitting for 12 hours or more. A fully charged battery should test 12.85 volts. If it's under 12 volts it's getting tired. Most cars don't have volt meters on the dash. Most trucks do. When the engine is running the meter should read 13.5 -14.0 volts. This means that your alternator is sufficiently charging the battery and working properly. If it's not charging a minimum of 13.5 volts, you have an alternator issue.
By Anonymous, November 14, 2009 @ 6:40 am
After 3 year's start biting your nails.
By patti f, November 14, 2009 @ 7:20 am
first of all you should wear goggles to protect your eyes if going further to check and work with a car battery!..
Acid will burn your eyes in no time!..And batteries could explode even while in car and working!…
The easiest way to check is getting those positive and negative post together for a bout 1 second and see if the spark is good enough (I mean a nice strong spark)!..
Or take it to a mechanic shop or preferably to an auto parts store to be checked!…
if taking the alternator also could be checked at the auto store for free!…Auto stores won't charge you to test or re-charge your battery!…neither the alternator check!..
if you don't have any lights then your battery is completly drained!..You should go to an autoshop and recharged it for free and it'll take about 30 minutes!…
Put it back in your car and turn it on, and if you see the "check engine" light or any other "warning" light, then your alternator most probably will be at fault!…
By Gerry D, November 16, 2009 @ 4:17 am
Batteries have to warm up to perform well just the same as you or I do. A cold battery takes longer to charge and has a lower reserve capacity than a warm one does. That's why batteries have Cold Cranking Amp (CCA) ratings.
If the battery is somewhere around 5 years old, just replace it. My battery preferences are Motorcraft or Sears. Both types have given me great performance. The battery you should stay away from is Interstate. I've had nothing but grief with those.
By bAmA cHiCk, November 16, 2009 @ 11:43 am
In short, yes it would. If the battery is now fully charged, unhook the ground terminal for a few minutes and re-attach. The check engine light may still be on but it will re-set within 250 miles of use. If you are worried about the light on the dash your handy dandy Nissan Dealer can re-set the indicator code that's making it stay on, on the dash.
Good Luck to ya,
Are you really a Confederate Dolly?
By annina_888, November 16, 2009 @ 11:25 pm
Yes, If it is rated above the output of the battery. For instance, if it's a multi meter or 12V. Most common ones today should give you the choice of what type of readout you want.
My car does'nt have an ammeter on the dash, so I found a 12v plug that will fit in the cig. lighter, cut the wires and attatch the leads of my volt meter to that and plug it in. This way I can see the charge on my battery when the car is off, and watch the voltage jump up when the car is on. (the alternator is turning and recharging the battery)
By kap, November 16, 2009 @ 11:35 pm
Many newer cars, (almost 20 years now for some imports) have an anti-theft feature where you will need a code to re-set the radio. If it's not with the Owners Manual stuff in the glove box, you may need to contact a dealer to find it out. Most likely (although far from the only possibility) is that your car also has a computer of the type which needs a re-learn procedure performed if the battery is dis-connected. Without even knowing what kind of car you have, (why do people think that doesn't matter?) that's about all I can guess.
Oh, btw. There's a device that can be used to prevent all this hassle when changing a battery, but those bozo's at Autozone have probably never heard of such a thing.
http://www.nationaltoolwarehouse.com/xq/asp/prodid.47705/TID./qx/product.htm
By bozo, November 17, 2009 @ 8:28 am
your alternator is not working or your starter gets stuck and batterry may be bad.