Give Your Cars Battery Some Tlc To Stay On The Road In Winter
There are plenty of things that car owners will need to consider when the winter weather arrives
, such as clearing the ice and snow off their cars windows and driving a little slower, but there are many other aspects of your car that you need to keep in mind when the temperatures begin to dip. One of the biggest causes of cars not starting in the colder winter mornings is a flat battery, with a flat battery you are not going to be able to go anywhere until you either get a jump start off of another car or use a portable battery charger to get it back to life.
The winter conditions can make batteries run flat much quicker and if you have left your car sat on the drive over the weekend and the battery is old then it may be dead by the time you come to use it on the Monday morning.
So how can we avoid this type of problem and keep our cars on the road? Firstly it is worth getting your cars battery checked, some later models will have an LED Indicator to show what the batterys health is like, as long as the light is green then your battery is in good shape and ready for the winter season.
If the light is dim then it may be worth seeing if you can get it charged there are plenty of home chargers that you can buy from garages or car accessory shops. If the battery is frequently losing charge or you find you are using your jumper leads more frequently then theres a good chance the battery is no longer holding charge effectively.
Buying a new battery may be the best way to solve this issue but in some cases may not actually be the problem, in some cases there may be an underlying fault with the car itself such as a faulty alternator (the part of your car that recharges the battery as you drive). A service at your local garage can often spot these faults as well as other problems such as a battery that is leaking which can cause a lot of damage.
One habit some people have recommended is to turn off all extras lights, window wipers and the radio before you turn the engine off, this is said to help push as much extra charge into the battery as possible when you exit your car. This may not actually help significantly but other habits such as not using the radio or heaters without the engine running and limiting short trips where the engine doesnt get a chance to top the battery up.