When should I replace my car's battery?

When should I replace my car's battery? Welcome to Mercie J, where compassion and craftsmanship come together, I'm Rick Smith.

So that question can actually vary quite a bit depending on your climate. The cold country is completely different than here in the desert. It also can depend on the location of your battery. This Toyota Camry has the battery under the hood, some cars have it in the trunk or even underneath the seat. The vehicles that have the battery located in the trunk or underneath the seat tend to last a little bit longer than the ones under the hood that are exposed to the heat and vibrations.

It also depends on the type of battery you have. An AGM battery as opposed to a normal liquid acid, lead acid battery, the AGM batteries tend to last little longer too.

There's a quick test you can do on your own to test your battery health. Start the car about a dozen times. Every time it should start normally. If it it stops cranking and starts clicking and we know it's a weak battery. Here in the desert on a normal flooded battery we typically don't get more than about 3 years out of them due to the heat. So you should always have the battery tested and not just replace it.

One last little tip, when they do the test, if they if it says it's bad, they should not believe it's bad until they disconnected the cables and tested it properly because the cables can give a false reading. I see a lot of batteries replaced it should not be replaced all because the test was inaccurate. So I hope this has been informational to you and until next time, safe travels and blessings to you.