Car Battery Care and Maintenance Service
Routine Vehicle Maintenance and Vehicle Battery Service
Aug 14, 2009
Servicing and maintaining a cars battery should part of a routine vehicle maintenance regiment to keep the battery performing as it should. Getting in the car and turning the ignition first thing in the morning and nothing happens, isn’t the best way to start off the day. Routinely servicing and maintaining the battery will help to minimize battery failure.
Checking the Battery as Part of a Routine Vehicle Maintenance Program
The vehicle manufacturer may not even mention checking the battery as part of the maintenance schedule. Even if the manufacturer doesn’t mention anything about checking the battery, it should still be included as part of the routine vehicle maintenance.
When the car is brought into an auto shop for routine maintenance, the auto technician should perform a comprehensive vehicle inspection. An important part of the vehicle inspection is to check the performance of the battery. A hand held battery tester only takes a minute or two to check the batteries performance.
In most cases a battery doesn’t go bad overnight. Checking the batteries performance will often indicate if a battery isn’t putting out the amount of amperage that it should and recommend that the battery be replaced. This test should be performed every time the cars brought in for service, at least a minimum of every 7,500 miles. Performing a routine battery test will help insure that the vehicle will start each and every time.
Maintaining and Servicing a Cars Battery
Besides performing a periodic battery performance test, the cars battery should be visually inspected and cleaned as a routine, at least every 30,000 miles. The following are the steps to maintaining and servicing a cars battery.
- Remove the positive and negative battery cables.
- Visually check battery for leaks and cracks, replace battery if any cracks or leaks are detected.
- Visually check battery cables for corrosion and exposed wires.
- Clean battery terminals and the inside of the battery cable terminal ends using a wire battery cleaner tool.
- Clean battery using a spray battery cleaner and follow instructions listed on the spray can.
- Use a battery protector spray on solution to help prevent future corrosion.
- Reattach battery cables to battery, positive cable first.
To help prevent battery problems in the future, adding a battery service as part of the vehicles routine maintenance schedule is a must. Testing, servicing and maintaining the cars battery will help give the driver some peace of mind and create a better driving experience.
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