If a car doesn’t start in the morning it is probably due to the battery failing to charge automatically or the battery’s electrolyte or plates are being exhausted due to long use. First find out if the problem is with battery. If yours is a maintenance-free battery then this article won’t help you. However, if yours is a conventional one, then this article will help you service car battery on your own.
Safety measures
1. Use hand gloves and safety goggles.
2. Do not let fall down of electrolytic solution from Hydrometer tail to car body or elsewhere; it will damage the color or burn as it contains acid.
Necessary tools and equipments
Open end wrench set, combination pliers, flat screw driver, flat file, Hydrometer, terminal cleaning brush, 2 inch Paint brush, petroleum jelly and cotton.
Steps to service car battery
1. Switch off the car engine.
2. Open the bonnet and secure it with the support.
3. Have a look on the battery. There are two terminals. One is brown or red marked (+), it is positive terminal. Other one is ash or black marked (-), it is negative terminal.
4. Open the negative terminal clamp and then positive terminal clamp using open end wrench.
5. Clean the inside of terminal clamps by terminal cleaning brush.
6. Having a glance at the top of the battery, you will see there are six red color caps on six cells; these are filler caps/vent plugs. Each of them has a hole at the top. Each cell is of two volts; it means six cells make twelve volts of a car battery.
7. Unscrew these filler caps/vent plugs; clean the holes if it is blocked. Remember these holes allow the hot electrolytic vapor outside when the battery is being charged by Dynamo while car engine is running.
8. Clean the top of the battery with soft paint brush and wipe off the dust with cotton cloth.
9. Insert Hydrometer pipe/tail in each of the cell. Press the rubber ball and let it suck some of the electrolyte in it like ink dropper. Be sure that the float inside must be free and floats without any obstacle. Having float on Green color means it is fully charged. If the float is on Yellow color, it means half charged. Having the float on Red color means it is discharged.
10. When the float is on Yellow or Red color; you have to take the battery to nearby battery charging shop for fill up the cells with new electrolyte solutions and charge it by battery charging unit until it shows full charged on hydrometer.
11. When the float is on Green color; there is no need to take it to battery charging shop. Just fix those filler caps/Vent plugs and apply petroleum jelly on both the terminals of the battery.
12. Now, connect the (+) positive terminal first then the (-) negative terminal. Secure them tightly. If loose, do some file work for nice gripping of terminal clamps.
13. Clean the battery with cotton and check for your missing tools before closing the bonnet of the engine.