Essay: Five Steps To Check A Car's Battery

Checking your car's battery is an extremely important part of car maintenance. If you keep your battery clean and running in tip top shape, it will last much longer. When checking your battery, you should look for problems like corrosion, dirt, cracks, and broken cables. It's important to be cautious when working on your car's battery. You should always make sure the engine is off and you are removing the battery and its cables correctly so that you don't cause harm to yourself or the battery. Here are five steps to follow when checking your car's battery.

1. Clean up the terminals.

When checking your battery, you will probably notice a powdery substance on the positive and negative terminals. This powdery residue is made by battery acid, …show more content…
To do this, you can use a disposable rag that is made of a material that will not leave a bunch of lint behind. You also need to make sure that the rag is clean because you don't want to undo all of the cleaning you have just done.

3. Connect the battery terminals.

After you have cleaned and dried off your battery terminals, you can start putting the battery back in the engine. Be sure to reconnect the positive cable first and the negative cable second. After you have connected the battery again, apply an automotive grease to the terminals to ensure that powdery deposits will not continue to form on the terminals.

4. Check out the battery cables and clamps.

The next thing you should do when checking your battery is make sure that none of the battery cables or clamps are damaged. If you notice fraying or corrosion in the cables and clamps, they will need to be replaced. Additionally, if your car has not been starting lately or you have noticed that your headlights are dimmer, the electrolyte in the battery may be getting weak. This typically happens in older batteries, so it probably will either need recharged or replaced all