Volvo Car Battery Maintenance

A common myth is that Driving a car will fully recharge a battery. FALSE.

There are a number of factors affecting a vehicle charging system’s ability to recharge a battery, such as how much power and charging voltage from the alternator is diverted to the battery, how long the power is available, and the temperature.

Generally, idling the engine or short stop-and-go trips during bad weather or at night will not fully recharge a car battery or will leave your battery undercharged which causes sulfation. When a dead battery needs to be recharged, it is best to use an external battery charger because you could overheat and damage your vehicle’s charging system and your will save a lot of gas and wear and tear on your engine.

One of the most common causes of premature failure of your car battery is corrosion. In this case preventative maintenance is required even for so called sealed or ‘maintenance free’ batteries. Corrosion can be removed by using a brass wire battery brush or with a “Scotch Brite” pad from the terminals mating surfaces on both ends of each battery cables, battery posts, lugs or terminals, and engine grounding strap connections.

For safety, brush the corrosion away from you and wear eye protection (safety glasses). According to http://www.batteryfaq.org/ heavy corrosion can be neutralized with a mixture of one pound of baking soda (bicarbonate of soda) to one gallon of warm water. Some folks have been known to use Diet Coke or Pepsi to dissolve corrosion. You are probably thinking why “diet”? Diet is used because it does not contain sugar which will leave a sticky residue. Bare metal to metal mating surfaces are required for very low electrical resistance and good current conductivity.

Causes of corrosion

  1. Dirty or wet battery tops normally caused from expansion of electrolyte from overfilled cells or weeping from faulty battery terminal seals.
  2. Acid fumes leaking through the vent caps, which could be a sign of overcharging.
  3. Not enough battery box or room ventilation.
  4. Electrolysis due to the mismatch of metal alloys used in the battery posts, lugs, terminal clamps or terminals

Last but most important, give your car battery a thorough health check-up. Visit your Volvo Service Center and ask for express battery service. Ask to have your battery tested if it is more than three years old to make sure it can survive the coldest winter months. Make sure to also get the battery tested before a long trip and after being recharged.

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