Battery Life

Every vehicle has one, but most of the time we pay little or no attention to the battery until one day we turn the key and the engine won’t crank. There are a couple of things to do to help extend the life of the battery. First do a visual inspection every couple of oil changes and make sure there is no corrosion building up on the terminals. (Terminals are where the cables connect to the battery) There are two different types of terminal designs in vehicles today. They are located on the top or the side of the battery. This first picture is a top post battery terminal that is corroded. The second picture is the side post design. Corrosion on the terminals will need to be cleaned.

 If you’re up for the challenge here’s a link to a video that will give you the basic idea on how to clean them.

http://www.5min.com/Video/How-to-Clean-Car-Battery-Terminals-142076734

Please keep in mind when working with batteries there is some danger involved. You do not want to create an arc (short the positive to ground). So if you’re not comfortable with this procedure, please take your car to a mechanic to have it performed.

Also VERY IMPORTANT!!! DO NOT LET THE BATTERY CABLES TOUCH EACH OTHER OR ANY METAL AT THE SAME TIME. I recommend wrapping them up and cleaning them one at a time.

There is also something else to keep in mind that the video did not cover; a memory saver for the radio. This very inexpensive tool plugs into the cigarette lighter socket. This keeps all the preset radio stations and music settings from having to be reset.

Most of us are guilty of leaving a charger for aftermarket devices plugged into the cigarette lighter or auxiliary power socket. This will cause a slight drain and decrease the life of the battery. Always remember to unplug any of these devices when the vehicle is shut off. On some vehicles the cigarette lighter socket will not work with the car off. To check this, leave the device on and turn the vehicle off. If the device quits charging or working then they can stay plugged in. I recommend simply unplugging them at all times.

Now let’s discuss maintenance versus maintenance free batteries. Even though they are rare there are a few maintenance batteries still around. A battery that requires adding distilled water every once in a while will have removable caps on top. Remove them and fill with DISTILLED WATER ONLY. Depending on the climate you live in will determine how often they need water. These two pictures show a couple different maintenance style batteries.

A maintenance free battery will have no caps and it usually says “maintenance free” on it.

Today there are battery testers that can determine how many CCA (cold cranking amps ) a battery still has available. This is the reserve power that the battery is holding and should be checked with every oil change. This is an important step for the prevention of early morning jump starts.