Have you ever been in a situation when you need to go out for some urgent work but your car doesn’t starts? Honestly speaking I have been in such a situation many times especially when I used to drive my old Maruti Esteem. I can understand that is a worse situation when you need to rush somewhere and you come to know that your car battery has died. Well I came to know about a few things about how to deal with dead car battery that can help us in such situation so thought to share them with my friends. First of all, let me tell you why your car battery dies.
Reasons for why your car battery dies
There might be several reasons for that but some of the most common ones are here in the list below-
- A car battery dies when you leave the car interior lights or the headlights on, which is a most common cause with me.
- Using the car AC when your car is not running may also result in a dead car battery.
- Using of radio or music player for long when the car is not running. This is the problem with my driver. Our car music player is always ON when he is sitting idle in the car.
- Not starting the car for long time.
- Improper maintenance of car battery which includes the terminal cleaning mainly may also result in a dead car battery.
- Failure of voltage regulator in the car alternator is a very important cause of a dead car battery as it is the alternator which charges the battery when a car runs.
- Lower temperatures may cause batteries to freeze. This is the reason that battery often dies in the chilling winters.
How to Deal With Dead Car Battery
What do you do when your car battery dies, I usually opt the method of jump starting and I guess most of the car users do so? To get your car jump started you need a set of jumper cables to attach your car with another car running on battery. Here I would like to tell you a very important point, never try to jump start your car if your car battery is leaking acid or is visibly cracked.
Steps to jump start your car-
- You first need a rescue car to get your car jump started. Park that rescue car with your dead battery car facing the same direction. You can also park it side-by-side or nose-to-nose.
- Get the jumper cables and connect one positive end of the cable to the positive terminal of the battery in the rescue car. The other positive end of the cable will be connected to the positive terminal of the dead battery in your car. I am sure you know what a positive end of a jumper cable is. A positive cable is red in color; the black colored cable is a negative cable.
- Now connect the negative i.e., the black cable end to the negative terminal of the battery in rescue car and other end grounded part of the engine bay in your dead battery car.
- Now when the cables are connected properly, start the rescue car and leave the engine running for 5-10 minutes. This running engine will charge your dead car battery.
- Finally try starting your car with the rescue car running. If your car starts leave the engine running for a few minutes so that the alternate gets active to recharge your car battery. If your car battery is still incapable of taking the start, allow it to charge for a few more minutes.
Now when your car has finally started, disconnect the cables. It is not hard to deal with dead car battery but you can’t do it alone, you might need someone to help you in connecting the cables and starting both the cars simultaneously.
WARNING
- Don’t let the cables’ edges touch each other, it may result in sparking.
- Do not connect both positive and negative cables together when they are in your hands.
- Do not touch the positive and negative knobs of your car battery with your hands, use some pliers.
Push Start Your Car
If in any case you are unable to opt the option of jump start, you can start your car by getting it pushed. This is also a common way to deal with dead car battery. Below are the steps to push-start your car with a dead battery.
- Turn the car ignition ON and put first gear. Press the clutch pedal fully.
- Ask someone to push the car forward. Before getting started with this process, make sure that there is no running traffic on that road.
- When your car starts rolling smooth, leave the clutch pedal at once, this may turn your engine start.
- You might need to repeat the above steps if your car doesn’t start in the first attempt.
If your car is still not starting after doing many push attempts or even with the jump starts process, I am afraid you need to get a new battery for your car. You might also need to replace your car alternator if it is unable to recharge your dead car battery.
I have tried to make it simple and I hope it may help you to deal with dead car battery. Do let me know if you have any other option to try. Cardekhi always welcomes the valuable suggestions of the readers.
