The average dead car battery replacement service costs over $300. Learn how to replace a dead car battery and save. PLUS: How to test a car battery at home in minutes!
In general, most car batteries last 3-5 years, depending on the battery and your vehicle. While extremely hot or cold temperatures are especially hard on your car battery, even if you take every precaution to winterize it and care for it during summer, it will still wear out at some point.
Since the cost to replace a car battery isn’t cheap, it’s best to know how to replace your battery yourself.
To get ahead of a dead car battery and avoid embarrassing parking lot breakdowns, pay attention to the signs of a weak car battery.
Alternatively, if you see a battery light on your dash while driving the car, this probably doesn’t mean there’s a problem with your battery. More likely, this could be a sign of other battery-related issues such as a failing alternator or required maintenance like a poor body ground wire or excessive corrosion on the terminals.
Car battery with corroded terminals
A battery is considered fully charged at 12.6 volts or higher. Even the slightest drop in voltage can make a big difference in the vehicle. At 12.4 volts, the battery is considered charged, but only at 75%. If the battery reads 12 volts and below, the car may not start. A battery by industry standard is considered discharged at 12.39 volts or less.
A surefire way to find out if your car battery is dying is to test the voltage with a car battery tester or volt meter. Or you can simply use your FIXD Sensor to test your battery at home!
Most newer vehicle batteries are connected directly to the OBD-II port, allowing a versatile car scanner like the FIXD Sensor to read the battery and measure the voltage in seconds.
Plus, if there are any other issues with your car’s engine components related to the charging system, many times there will be a fault stored, and the FIXD OBD2 scanner will be able to pull these codes to tell you what the faults are in plain English.
Battery voltage good? Let the FIXD app track your battery life for you and send you an automated alert when it’s time for a new one.
If your battery died because you simply left the lights on, follow these steps to jump start your car and recharge it by driving. However, if the battery doesn’t hold a charge properly and you’re still experiencing the symptoms of a weak car battery, then it’s probably time to replace it.
Under 2 hours
Beginner
Electrical
Even if you think your car battery is completely dead, don’t take any chances. Never let any metal object contact both the negative (-) and positive (+) posts on the battery at the same time.
Replacing a dead car battery is an easy repair shop upsell that can add anywhere from $120 to $350 to your bill. Good news is most car owners can do it themselves without any specialized tools or knowledge by following these basic steps:
SAFETY NOTE: Do not allow any metal objects to touch both battery posts at the same time. Also do not allow your wrench to touch the positive terminal and the vehicle body at the same time.
SAFETY NOTE: Removing the positive cable before the negative cable can result in an electrical short if the terminal touches metal.
PRO TIP: If you remove your old battery first and take it to the auto parts store, you won’t be charged for the battery core. This also makes it easier to match up the new and old batteries.
SAFETY NOTE: Pay close attention to the orientation of the battery and the cables as connecting the battery backwards will result in a short and possibly an electrical fire.
