Auto Care PSA: Car batteries and Cold Temperatures

[Best_man23]

If your car's battery is more than four years old, it may not perform in extreme cold temperatures. If you have an older battery (four years or older), you may want to consider getting it replaced, even if the car still starts normally.

If you don't know how long the battery has been in the car, look at the battery's top and sides and see if you can identify a date code. It will usually be on a sticker on top of the battery and would read something like 419, which would correspond with April 2019. If there is no sticker visible, the battery should have a stamped code on the side.

"The battery will have a strip, engraving, or heat stamp with a decipherable alphanumeric code. Typically found on the battery cover and sometimes on the battery itself, this code can be several characters long, giving the date information in the first two characters in the sequence. The first character will be a number from zero through nine that corresponds to the last digit in the year in which the battery was manufactured. For example, a five would mean 2015. The second character is a letter that refers to the month the battery was made. The letters A through L directly correspond to January through December. For example, the letter 'C' would mean March. Putting it together, "5C" indicates a manufacturing date of March 2015. These characters can be interchangeable, so "5C" and "C5" mean the same thing."

Checking the battery for the date code would also be a good time to check and if necessary, clean the battery terminals.

https://www.jdpower.com/cars/shopping-guides/how-to-tell-how-old-a-car-battery-is

[Faux pas]

1. Lol

I just learned the hard way! Good tip tho

[hlthe2b]

2. Please don't go out and crank it periodically "just to check" AND when it does

warm-up in a few days (or you HAVE) to drive, drive a considerable distance so that your alternator can have a chance to fully charge your battery. Short trips might just well "kill" your battery.

I have a one-year-old battery, checked it (along with the antifreeze) prior to our
minus 21 degrees F past two days, put on a car cover (not expecting much) and let it SIT the past two days.

This morning I waited until it got up to 20 degrees in our "warming" spell and then cranked it and all is well. Drove it about 15 miles each way on the interstate before stopping to run a few errands.

I learned the hard way several years ago. You need not do the same.

[kacekwl]

3. My cars battery is 5 years old and

I've noticed it cranking slower lately. Sure enough as soon as the cold came last Monday it was click click time. I wasn't surprised as you stated 4 years is normal. If you don't have a charger or want to get towed replace it at 4 years or sooner. Stay warm everyone.