According to RACE studies, most of the breakdowns that occur or require roadside assistance in winter are caused by the battery. For this reason, it is so important to check this element before the arrival of the cold. Thus, and to prevent possible related problems before it starts to fail, it is important to do some things like the ones we mentioned.
Good battery maintenance for the cold
With the drop in temperatures, the battery is the component of the vehicle that is most affected. Not surprisingly, those that are not expressly designed to work in extreme conditions can lose power when the temperature drops to the freezing point.
In fact, this is a process that is intensified in sub- zero temperatures, both in second-hand cars and in newer ones. For this reason, it is important to know that good maintenance can prevent the battery from failing at the most inopportune moment.
Incidentally, it is also worth mentioning the improvement in their quality, which has lengthened their average duration to just over 6 years, and that with good treatment they can well reach 7 or 8 years. But, what are the cares that we have to have so that this battery of our car does not bring us problems?
What is there to do
However, the cold affects all lead batteries, normal, low maintenance or without it, and whether they are current or stop & start . For this reason and despite the evident softening of the weather, the sudden arrival of cold can reduce the real amperage of our battery to insufficient levels.
This will be both for the start and even for the main services, such as lighting. For this reason, the most advisable thing to do during the winter is for our car to sleep in a garage . Hence the importance of applying a few general rules to avoid this reduction.
- Protects the battery from the cold. The ideal during the winter is to protect the car in a garage. But it is not always possible and you will have to spend long hours outside at the mercy of inclement weather, although the battery can be protected so that it suffers less. A blanket or cover spread over the hood will help keep the engine warm at night, insulating the battery from the cold outside.
- It is important to check the batteries regularly in a specialized workshop.
- Always keep the terminals clean . Clean the cover and terminals with an anti-static cloth. This prevents accidental discharges due to contact of impurities with the terminals.
- Check that it is correctly fastened , to avoid vibrations
- Make sure there is a good electrical connection by examining the battery connection posts and tightening them if necessary.
- Power that the battery is permanently charged during the winter months is of greater importance. Try to make long journeys for it.
- Watch out for the water . In the rain, it is advisable to clean the accumulator to prevent the connectors from getting dirty and losing contact, since, in this case, the battery does not recharge.
Why can it fail more
In the same way, and beyond the sudden arrival of cold, something curious about car batteries is that they tend to suffer more from what they have been through in summer. Or what is the same; its deterioration occurs in summer , since the battery is an active product that wears out over time, whether it is used or not, and therefore there comes a time when it loses all its benefits and stops working.
And it is that, despite the fact that the battery is stored in optimal conditions, it is continuously subjected to a self-discharge process by which, when temperatures are high, such as in summer, they cause a greater self -discharge of the same.
