How to Replace My Car Battery

The car battery of Your ride, is it still good, or time for a replacement?

A no-start condition is not a good thing, no matter where you are or when it happens. In this article, let’s find out how to replace my/your car battery with “safety above all” in our conquest.

But why doesn’t it start or struggle to try to start my car, seemed to work and start my car okay yesterday, or did it?

Why is my battery starting to give me problems?

Let’s check to see if the positive and negative cables are tight, try a wiggle test on the cables, if they are secured and tight on the posts that connection is good. If they move or can be twisted sideways then try tightening the terminals and retest for no movement.
If the Pos and Neg cables are corroded then loosen the ends and remove them to clean with a battery post-cleaning tool to make a good tight clean fit. Then grab a box of baking soda to sprinkle on the corrosion that has formed around the battery terminals. Doing this will neutralize the corrosive acid that can be washed off later. A warning here, wear goggles and gloves to prevent acid from contacting the skin. Hey! make sure you’re not wearing those new designer clothes while working around batteries, somehow the battery acid loves to munch on clothing, usually after washing the clothes there will be these little holes where you guessed it the battery acid made contact with the cloth fabric of the clothing worn.
Still poor starting condition, well then time to check the power of the battery ( battery voltage) If the voltage is under 12.65 volts then like 12.35 or 12,25 volts then a weak cell in the battery make be the culprit for a poor starting condition.
Note Here If the battery is six or seven years old, then consider retiring that battery, probably about a year ago would have been the best time.
Okay, You have determined the battery life has expired, now let’s buy a new battery that fits your car manufactures specifications, your local parts outlet can certainly help here.

Changing out the Battery – Precautions

Rubber gloves and maybe safety goggles would be good to use for protection against battery corrosion if there are signs of it.
Okay this is important to remember there is gas around the battery, (hydrogen gas) invisible of course but can be very active around the battery, so a no spark condition is critical here and to be respected to prevent personal harm to one’s self
A couple of tools needed would be a socket and ratchet and a small hand wrench. See the battery post and bracket holding down the battery to confirm the size needed.
I should mention here that you may want to have a battery-operated device that plugs into the cigarette lighter. This tool will maintain the memory of things like the radio, the CD player, and other components that have memory functions. This would just make things easier by not having to reset the car’s devices, only if you are in a hurry to get to the coffee shop of your choice.
Remember no spark here, let’s defuse this by removing the negative post cable end and wrapping it in an old cloth tightly, then concealing it in a non-metal area, I like to tuck it between a couple of plastic parts areas where no metal lives. If that doesn’t work for you then remember the old clothes around the negative cable just slip a rubber glove on it and the cable end is now very well insulated against a metal environment condition.
Okay remove the positive cable from the positive post and tuck it out of the way, not as critical as the negative post cable end. If there is a lot of that (greenish-bluish) battery corrosion lurking in the bottom of the battery holder tray, then bring out the box of baking powder and sprinkle a good portion onto the corrosion to help neutralize it. Then after about ten minutes hose down with a light flow of water, no splashing here.
Let’s get that new battery in its holding cradle and strap it down with the secure bracket.
First Hook up the positive terminal then unwrap the negative cable and hook it to the negative terminal tighten up securely and the job is now down. Congrats the new battery is installed.
Unplug the memory saver device from the cigarette lighter or the OBD2 connector on the left side down low under the dash and start the Car, SUV, or Truck whatever your ride is. Happy Motoring now for years to come.

Conclusion of Article

This is geared more toward the home (DIY) and may be a first-time battery replacement. Remember always exercise caution (Safety).

Have a watch here on the video to see it all happen

It may appear to be a simple task, but with some harmful consequences if done without Safety as your main ingredient for a trouble-free battery replacement.

If you have a comment or even a story to tell about your battery replacement and how it went, let me know.