When It Comes To Batteries, It’s Best To Be Proactive
I was talking to my good pal Jeff the other day about car batteries.
Q: How often should you replace your battery? I’ve been left on the side of the road a few too many times with a dead battery, is there a certain amount of time that you should replace your battery?
A: I recommend being proactive instead of being reactive and replace your battery every 4 years. A battery may seem fine but could go out anytime due to things like the onboard computers which keep alive memory, phone chargers and or gps which might be charging all time and battery age.
Q: Do you have any tips for buying a battery?
A: When purchasing a battery always make sure it is the correct type of battery for your vehicle.Make sure the battery CCA- cold cranking amps- is enough for the vehicle. CCA is a measure of a battery’s ability to start a car in cold weather. In cold weather, fluids are thickened, and it makes the car harder to start. CCAs denote how much current the battery can deliver to the starter at 0° F.
Also, look at date code sticker on the side of a battery. The oval sticker will have a letter and number. Most codes start with the letter indicating the month: A for January, B for February, etc. The digit means what year it was made: 8 for 2008, for example. So B9 would be February, 2009. You don’t want to buy a battery that you are going to have to replace sooner since it has been sitting on a shelf for 1 year.
Q: Do batteries need any sort of maintenance?
A: You may notice heavy white or green buildup on battery terminals where battery cables mount.The corrosion can eat into battery cables causing your vehicle not to start and the corrosion can actually put a drain on the battery causing premature failure.If you see this on your car’s battery, I recommend you come see us. We can remove battery terminals, clean off the corrosion and spray on a wax-type protectant. It’s very inexpensive to have this done, only $12.90.
Q: How do I know if I have a bad battery?
A: There are several indicators that your battery is bad or might be going bad: The vehicle is slow to crank before it starts, the battery/charging system light might come on, when you try to start the car and lights are dim or not on, if your radio has reset to an AM station or clock has reset to 12:00, or if you try to start vehicle and just hear a click or nothing at all.
Do you have battery issues? Come on down to the shop and we’ll get you fixed up.
Tagged as: car batteries
