How Often to Replace A Car Battery

The battery life of your vehicle depends on several factors. However, many experts generalize that you should replace your battery every 4-5 years. At Carlock Honda in Birmingham, we help explore the ins and outs of car batteries. Contact us if you have any questions, and we will happily answer your inquiries.

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How to Know If Your Car Battery Needs to Be Replaced

Your car battery often gives you warning signs that it needs to be replaced. Here is how to know if your car battery needs a replacement:

• Dimming headlights
• More frequent need for engine revving or jumpstarts
• It takes longer to start the engine when you turn the key/push the button.
• Unusual power fluctuations

What Causes Car Batteries to Decline?

Several things cause a car battery to deteriorate, affecting how often to replace a car battery. Here are some of those causes:

• Heat: Liquids evaporate inside your car battery during hot weather. Therefore, if you live in a hot climate, you will have a shorter car battery lifespan.
• Vibrations: If you frequently drive over challenging terrain, the pulsations to your car battery’s internal parts break down faster, such as loosening of hold-down clamps.
• Needing Regular Jumpstarts: If your vehicle requires frequent jumpstarts, leaving dome lights on or idling your engine for too long shortens battery life.
• Time: The car battery only has so many charge cycles before it dies completely. Although inevitable, you can prevent your car battery from dying too early.

You can get an idea of how long your battery should last with proper maintenance. You can consult your owner’s manual or maintenance schedule.

DIY: How to Test a Car Battery

There are various ways on how to test a car battery at home. Mountain Brook drivers who want to test their car battery in between scheduling service can with a free test or by doing one of these easy methods:

The Headlight Test:

1. Park the vehicle and turn on the engine with headlights on.
2. Check to see if the headlight brightness changes when you rev your car while in the park position.
3. If your headlights get brighter, it means that the current from your engine is not strong enough to keep the lights’ average brightness while your vehicle is idling.
4. Take your car to a service center for further inspection.

Using a Digital Multimeter:

1. Set your voltmeter to 20 DC volts.
2. When under the hood, touch the negative terminal (black) with the negative meter probe (black)
3. Next, connect the positive terminal (red) with the positive meter probe (red)
4. Ask a friend to turn on the headlights while you check the voltmeter reading.
5. Your battery is fully charged at 80?, 12.5 volts or higher. If the voltmeter reading shows 12.3 volts, then your battery is close to 75% charged. However, if your reading is 11.8 volts or lower, you have 25% or less charge left.

How Much is a Replacement Car Battery Near Mountain Brook?

Just like causes for car battery replacement vary, so can the cost of replacing a car battery. So, how much is a replacement car battery? The typical car battery cost ranges between $75 to $120. If you have a premium battery for your vehicle, a car battery replacement can cost upwards of $200 or more. Hybrid batteries cost much more as they have a bigger job to do to keep power running throughout your vehicle. Therefore, a hybrid car battery replacement can cost between $1000 to $6,000.

Update Your Vehicle’s Service With Carlock Honda

Get your car battery replacement with us at Carlock Honda near Bessemer. Our certified technicians can have your car battery replaced promptly. Take a look at our parts center, parts specials, and service specials to see where you can save and get back on Birmingham Area roads faster.