5 Signs Your Battery May Need Replacing
With over 200 electronic control units in modern vehicles, our batteries are working harder than ever - even when parked! Combine this with lots of short drives, that actually use more energy than the alternator puts back in and you may start to see some problems with your battery.
So, what can you do to avoid the inconvenient scenario of a flat battery, particularly as the colder and darker nights draw in? The below are signs that your battery may need to be charged or replaced:
1. Your car struggles to start
That sinking feeling you get when you try to start your car and it splutters and groans at you in return is something we’ve all probably experienced at one time or another. If your car doesn’t start with one simple turn of the key (or push of a button), then that’s a sure sign your battery needs charging up or potentially replacing.
2. Loss of power to your car’s electrics
If your windows, lights, heater and other electric systems are slow to respond or experience a complete loss of power then it may be a sign your battery is struggling to hold a charge.
This kind of problem tends to be more noticeable in the colder months when your battery has to work particularly hard to keep everything ticking over and you’re more likely to be using a greater number of your car’s electrical systems like the lights and heater.
3. The battery warning light on your dashboard comes on
When that pesky battery symbol lights up on your dashboard then it suggests there’s a fault in your alternator, battery or electrical system. All of which means your car won’t be charging itself properly while you’re driving and there’s probably going to be a flat battery at some point in your future.
If this symbol appears, we recommend contacting us for a member of our team to diagnose the fault and provide a solution.
4. Your car’s start-stop function stops working
Start-stop systems can monitor your battery and detect how much current is being drawn from it. So if the system senses that your battery is struggling, it may disable the start-stop function to avoid the battery being drained so much that your car won’t actually start.
Again, this is something that can be more of an issue in the winter when there are more demands on your battery like your heaters, lights and wipers. And again, it’s a sign your battery may need to be replaced or charged (Just check your charger is compatible with stop-start batteries)
5. Your battery’s more than five years old
Most car batteries are designed to last between five and seven years, so a struggling battery could simply be a sign that yours is approaching the end of its life. You can check the age of your battery by finding the date that it was manufactured, which is stamped on the battery itself.
If it is the case that your battery needs to be replaced, please get in touch with our professional team for a replacement at a competitive rate. We hold stock of the main battery types for common vehicles and it’s a service we can usually offer very quickly.