How Often to Replace a Car Battery

Replace your car battery approximately every four to five years. However, various factors can affect the condition of your battery life sooner or in the future. At Wynn Volkswagen, we will go over how to recognize if you need to replace your car battery, causes of car battery deterioration, testing your car battery, and car battery replacement costs.

Contact us to book an appointment or to answer any questions.

How to Know If You Need to Replace Your Car Battery

Here are warning signs for King of Prussia drivers that it is time to replace your car battery:

• Dimming headlights
• Frequent engine revving and jump-starts
• The engine takes longer to start
• Unusual power fluctuations

What Causes Car Battery Deterioration?

Several things cause your battery to deteriorate and, in time, will need you to replace your car battery; they are:

• Hot Weather: Hot summer days evaporate the liquids inside your car’s battery. Therefore a replacement of a car battery will need to be sooner.
• Vibrations: When you drive on rough terrain regularly or have loose clamps on your battery, the internal car parts tend to break down faster.

• Jump-Starts: Frequent jump-starts to your car battery can shorten its lifespan.

• Charge Cycles: Car batteries only have so many charge cycles, which means at some point, they die. You will need to replace your car battery over time. However, proper maintenance and care can extend battery life.

How To Extend the LifeSpan of a Car Battery

There are preventative measures you can take to prolong the life of your car battery. So, before it is time to replace your car battery, Phoenixville drivers, take these precautions:

• Avoid parking in the sun.
• Park your car in your garage
• Keep off gravel, dirt, or unmaintained roads.
• Check on your battery fluid.
• Make sure that the clamps on your car battery are tight.
• Prevent jump-starts to your car battery by not leaving the interior light on for an extended time
• Regularly schedule a service appointment.

How to Test a Car Battery

Another way you can take care of your car battery is to have it tested at your nearest service center in Collegeville. However, if you want to check in between service appointments, you can buy a test at many retailers. Here is how to test a car battery:

The Car Headlight Test: 

• Park the car and turn on the engine. 
• Make sure that you turn on the headlights.
• Check if the headlights change in brightness when you rev the engine.
• Do the headlights get brighter? If so, the current from your car battery is not strong enough to keep brightness when idling.
• Your vehicle needs to be seen by a technician. 

Using a Digital Multimeter:

• On the Multimeter, set the voltmeter to 20 DC volts
• Take the black negative meter probe and touch it with the black negative terminal under the hood of your car.
• Touch the red positive meter probe with the red positive terminal 
• Have another person turn on the headlights and check the voltmeter reading
• If the car battery is charged, then the voltmeter will read 12.5 volts or higher at 80℉. Anything less means that the car battery is partially or barely charged. For example, if the voltmeter reads 12.3 volts, the battery is 75% charged. However, any reading of 11.8 volts or lower means that the charge of your car battery is 25% or less.

How Much is a Replacement Car Battery? 

To replace a car battery the cost can vary from $75 to $120, and up to $200 if you have a premium battery. Hybrid car batteries are more expensive due to the amount of work they have to do to keep the car running. Therefore, replacing a hybrid car battery can cost between $1000 to $6,000.

Keep Your Vehicle in Top Shape at Wynn Volkswagen

When you need to replace your car battery, want to test your battery or need vehicle service, you can count on Wynn Volkswagen in Norristown. Take a look at our service and parts specials and save the next time you need to service your car, truck, or SUV!