Prepare Car Battery for Winter

Video Transcript

NATHAN MCCULLOUGH: Hi, my name is Nate McCullough on behalf of Expert Village. In these clips, we're going to talk about some of the tips and tricks in order to properly winterize your vehicle. In this clip, we're going to talk about your vehicle's battery and the difference between cranking amps and cold cranking amps. The difference between cranking amps and cold cranking amps is the amount of juice your battery can send to the starter at different temperatures. Your battery is going to be rated for two specific things, above 32 degrees and below 32 degrees. Cold cranking amps is below 32 degrees. If there's ice on the road, your cold cranking amps are going to matter. If you suspect your battery is beginning to get weak and it's not quite wintertime yet, it's a good idea to head to your local parts store who will test your battery for free. They'll hook it up to a machine and actually load test the amount of cranking amps the battery has. The battery I have here on my truck is rated for 750 cold cranking amps. This engine, specifically, needs 500 to start. As far as regular cranking amps, this battery is rated for 935. As you can see, it is the decrease in temperature the cranking amps is going to drop off. So like I said, before winter hits, what you're going to want to do is head to your local parts store, like I said, they'll do it for free, is have the cranking amperage of your battery tested. And if you happen to live in one of the Northern States already and you notice that your vehicle cranks extremely hard or slowly, you may want to go to the parts store and get a heavier duty battery. A heavy duty battery is going to come with more cold cranking amps, which is going to ensure that, at least, the starter is going to get enough juice to revolve the engine to the point that it operates under its own power. If you happen to be moving from a Southern State to a Northern State, it's going to be one of the things you want to do right away. In the Southern States, they don't sell a lot of heavy duty cold cranking amp batteries. It's just not required for people that live in that geographic location. So if you head like from, say Florida to Michigan, one of the things you're going to want to do is head to the parts store when you get in town and have your battery actually tested. The five minutes you spend having your battery tested, for free of course, is going to save you a real hard time of your vehicle not starting.

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