BATTERY PROBLEMS

Along with flat tires, probably the most common issue that the average motorist comes across the most are battery problems. Fife Towing would like to do a couple of posts about how to safely and effectively deal with your car’s battery.

Batteries can die quickly when things such as the radio, headlights, or any other peripherals are left on without the engine running. In fact, a battery will usually die within just a few hours if the headlights are left on. If you end up stranded a fully charged booster box is probably your best bet to get the engine running again. Otherwise you will need jumper cables and a good samaritan to give you a boost. Jumping a car is a fairly straightforward process, however on newer cars finding the battery may be a little more difficult. On older cars the battery is very easy to find, just find the battery, which will have a red + cap and a black – cap. On some of the newer cars the battery may be a little more hidden. Look for a small red box (about 1.5” x 3”) that is usually snapped closed. Open this and you will find a large diameter bolt that will be where your + cable will go. Before actually hooking up the jumper cables, make sure to unplug anything you have plugged in inside the car, as there is a chance they will fry during the jump. The other thing that needs to be done is to connect the dead battery first, which makes it less likely to short something out. After a few moments of charging, the dead car should start, and there is a process for removing the cables that we will go over next time!