Your battery may be on the way out if
- The engine cranks slowly, especially on cold mornings
- You have needed a jump more than once this season
- The battery is more than about four or five years old
- Dash lights dim or flicker when you start the car
- There is white or green crust on the terminals
- The battery case looks swollen
Why cold weather kills batteries
A battery makes less power when it is cold, and a cold engine takes more power to turn over. A battery that was getting weak in October often gives up the first sub-freezing morning in December.
That is why January is the busiest month for no-start calls in Tooele County.
Test first, then replace
A new battery will not fix a bad alternator, a parasitic drain or a corroded cable. If one of those is the real problem, the new battery dies too and you are back where you started.
- Load test the battery to see how much it really has left
- Check the alternator output with the engine running
- Clean or repair corroded terminals and cables
- Check for something draining the battery with the car off, if it keeps dying overnight
Done in your driveway?
Battery testing and replacement is a driveway job on nearly every vehicle.