![]() It is usually green to indicate that the battery is fine, red to indicate the need for charging, and white or black to indicate the need for a water refill. Your terminals need to be bright, clean and free from grease, dirt or any other detritus.Some car batteries are equipped with a charge indicator, often called an eye. Your battery could be perfect, but if the terminal clamps on your car are covered in filth, old or battered, the battery’s power is a moot point – it can’t get past the connectors to the car. A small battery will have fewer CCAs (cold cranking amps) and a lower AmpHour rating, meaning it will struggle with a bigger engine, or a diesel engine. You need to check your Haynes manual or owner’s handbook to make sure your battery is the right size. If you drive a 2.5-litre V6 car, but it has a dinky battery, something is awry. You should be seeing 12.7 volts for excellent health, 12.4 is okay, whereas anything less than 12v is a battery running out of life. You can get one for a tenner online, and then you just need to set it to volts and put the connectors on the battery terminals. The easiest way to check a battery’s health is to run a multimeter on it. Use a multimeter to test your car battery ![]() So if your car is letting you down in winter, this could well be it. In warmer weather, the battery doesn’t have to work as hard as it does on a cold winter’s morning. One of the first warnings that your car battery is on its way out is how it performs on a seasonal basis. If it’s green, the battery has at least 75% charge, if it’s black, it needs charging, if it’s red, it’s dead. If you look at the top of the battery there will be a round shaft you can look down. ![]() Some modern batteries have a visual indicator. It could something as innocuous as a loose terminal or bad earth, or it could be something more serious, such as a snapped auxiliary belt or failing alternator. So it means the car is now relying on the power in the battery and nothing more, and it will run out quickly. Has a battery symbol appeared on your dash? This doesn’t always mean the battery is at fault, it actually means there is a fault in the charging system. How much does it cost to replace a car battery? Battery symbol on the dashboard Hopefully it'll always stay charged until the day it dies, but if you leave the lights on a few times and it goes completely flat, there's a good chance its life will be drastically reduced because lead acid batteries react badly to being fully depleted. There's another thing to consider here, though, and that's how many times the battery goes flat during its life. If you use your car for commuting or business, and take it on regular journeys where the battery can be recharged fully, it should last at least five years and maybe more. Do you tend to use your car for local journeys, perhaps using it once or twice a week, with the car sitting unused for days at a time? Your battery may give up the ghost in as little as three years. How long should a car battery last?Ī car battery's lifespan depends largely on how you treat and drive your car. ![]() So, to avoid all that, here’s what you need to do to check your battery’s health. It’s the battery that provides the spark and that’s why you need to make sure it’s happy and healthy.Ī tired old battery will let you down and it could cause electrical problems within the car’s systems. The engine is supposed to be the heart of the car, but that’s not really the case. When is your car battery too old? Car battery not holding its charge? Read on and let Haynes take all of the guesswork out of battery health.
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