What's Wrong With My Car: 5 Signs You're Battery Is The Culprit

Your vehicles battery is like it's heart. Without that battery, your vehicle wouldn't have the power to do anything else. So it's important to understand at least a little bit about your battery, and to know the most common signs of a battery that needs to be replaced.

For the purpose of this hub, I'm going to be preferring to your average vehicle battery, which is usually a wet-cell battery with two terminals (either side or top post). These batteries are usually the stock battery, and most drivers/mechanics use the same brand/type of battery for the rest of the vehicles life.

Now that we've cleared that up, I want to impart on you, some general wisdom about your average battery. Make sure to write down this info or bookmark this page if you have any trouble remembering it all:

• Batteries normally have a life expectancy of 2-3 years max
• Optimally, you should replace your battery every 2.5 years (BEFORE you have problems)
• Your Battery is dependent on three main components to do it's job properly - your alternator, starter and battery terminals.
• An old battery, even if it doesn't give off any obvious symptoms, can effect your vehicle in negative ways that will slowly add up to a big repair bill. (hence the importance of replacing your battery before you have problems with it.)
• Unless you have a special battery, you're average battery doesn't do so well in extremely cold whether, which is often why you have to pump the gas and do a little dance to get he truck started on chili mornings.

If you're engine is turning over, but won't start, the likely culprit is your battery. If this happens, you'll want to use jumper cables or a jump state box to your vehicle running again. Then make sure to let it run for at leas 30 minutes. After that time has passed, the real test comes next. You'll want to turn the engine off for at least a minute, then start it again.

Now, at this point, most batteries will recharge from the alternator and be fine for a little while. Though you don't want to take that time for granted. Use that time to hunt down a new battery, and then replace it, BEFORE you end up stuck in the middle of no where with no juice in your cars battery. It always happens at the most inconvenient time, as I'm sure you know. So be proactive and replace the battery if you find yourself in a "engine cranks, no start" situation.

Be aware, that if your vehicle doesn't even have the juice to work the lights, crank or turn over - that it could be a combination problem concerning your battery and your alternator.

This is what's considered an "intermittent" problem, and is a sign that your battery terminals are loose, broken, corroded or calcified. Check them out and do what you need to do to make sure they have firm, secure fit onto the battery posts.

Keep in mind, that sometimes the terminals may only be the tiniest bit loose, and that can still cause many big enough problems. And for that matter, when it doubt, check the battery cables out =)

If you look at your battery, somewhere on it, you should find a label that says something to effect of "Cold Cranking Amps". Those amps are responsible for giving your engine enough energy to get started for the first time of the day, which is generally referred to as "cold cranking".

Often times, your battery will give drivers the most obvious sign that it's losing it's longevity, and yet most people miss that really obvious symptom of a dying batter.

Have you guessed what this? That's right!

It's when you find that you are regularly having to put extra energy into starting the vehicle. You know what I'm talking about. You get in your car, and the first thing you find yourself doing - is tapping on the accelerator pedal to start out with gas in the intake. Then you go to start the engine, and all you get for the first few minutes is lots of week rotations of the engine, but no starting. After that, ad after you've officially gotten frustrated with the car that's going to make you late for work, it suddenly starts up and sustains idle.

Now, what I mean by "Regularly" having to do this more than 3 times per week. That being said, if it is particularly cold when your vehicle does this, that is fairly normal. Though if it doesn't stop doing that (even if it's only doing it a little bit in comparison to when it's cold), when the weather warms up, you'll want to get a new battery within the next 3 months.

I have a simple and hard rule that I follow when it comes to having to jump your battery, which can drain the battery for others reasons besides being old, such as having a bad starter, fuel pump, bad alternator, you left your headlights on or door slightly open or you ran out of gas.

Now, for whatever reason your battery has died, requiring you to jump it - the rules is this:

***If you have had to jump your vehicle more than 3 times per week, it's time to replace your battery.***

You would be surprised, but even a fairly new battery can turn into a dud really quickly if it has been jumped more than three times in a weak. It isn't the batteries fault though, it's actually the fault of the jump box or use of jumper cables, because they work by figuratively "shocking" your battery.

Now, you might think I'm crazy about replacing the battery after such a low jump count, but hear me out. One of the most common things I see happen in relation to vehicle battery problems, si that the driver will assume that because the battery wasn't old or wasn't the specific culprit of the battery draining, that they don't make the time to get a new batter. Then, when they can't seem to figure out what the problem really is, they keep jumping it until finally the alternator and starter go bad, leaving you with a need for an new alternator, starter AND battery.

Save yourself the headache and just replace the battery if you've had to jump the battery more than 3 times in a week. You won't regret it.

In my years as a mechanic, one thing I have learned is that an old battery or loose battery cables, can cause really big problems that make it appear as if there is something wrong with your vehicle all together. Even experienced mechanics and DIY'ers are sometimes stumped by a simple problem with a battery past it's prime, until they realize they've ruled out all other potential problems. That's one of those "doh!" moments, when you realize you could have saved yourself an hour of diagnostic time, just by checking the battery and surrounding components.

Now, there are other signs of a dying or dead batter vs. other issues with your vehicle. Though I'm going to save them for Part 2 of this hub. In the meantime, I'm glad you've read through hub and have started to consider when you will next replace your battery.