Re: Car Battery: Dos and Don'ts! The dos & don'ts that I follow for better life of the overall vehicle, not only the battery, are: 1. Start & stop the engine at no load (mechanical, electrical, physical etc.).
By mechanical load, I mean load on the engine mechanically - I engage the clutch pedal and then only start/stop a vehicle. Some new gen vehicles have this enabled by default, due to safety reason. Remember the fact that wheel power is always lower than engine power, since there is transmission loss in the drivetrain, which is mainly due to the load of the drivetrain and so engaging the clutch can take off this load from the engine. For reference, in light-duty four wheelers (cars & light UVs) falling in between 1-2lit. engine disp., when measured, these transmission losses are usually found to be around 5-10% of the engine power.
Then there is the A/C, which I keep turned off while starting and stopping, that else would start/stop the compressor immediately or during stopping will keep some refrigerant in the A/C circuit, which is said not to be recommended. Ideal is to turn off only the A/C, and keep the blower switched on, once you halt/park the vehicle (or maybe even a couple of minutes before parking) and then idle it for a minute or so to keep the circuit dry and free of the refrigerant, specially if not going to use for a couple of days, to avoid any possible corrosion trigger (another simultaneous benefit of the 'Idling Rule').
By electrical load, which has also been described earlier/initially in this thread - no electrical items should be working, which include all lights interior & exterior, music system, any charging devices on USB port, A/C, etc.
Disconnect the negative terminal of the battery, if not going to use for more than ten days/two weeks. However good the electrical system is, there will still be minute electrical charge leakage/consumption by the clock/ECU etc. and these leakages, if not charged again by running in a couple of days, could get the battery voltage to drop from 12V to less than 10V. Further down, and once the battery voltage goes lower than 8V, the car won't be able to self start and will then require a push/jump start. For reference, as soon as the engine is started, the alternator would start charging the battery and the voltage should rise to anything between 13-14V for a healthy battery (could be checked with a multimeter).
By physical load, I mean the point no.2 below. 2. Keep windows, doors, bonnet and boot shut while starting & stopping engine.
This might not be of much importance in new cars, but as the car gets old, the body parts like door hinges and window liners would have become weak, and the jerks/shocks (specially with Diesel engines) during starting & stopping could be trigger points for them to crack/fail sooner. Though the new gen cars have rubberized engine mounts which dampen the engine vibes to some extent, I still follow it, since my car is now at 145K odo.
I, as a habit, keep all windows closed while driving/at all times, to reduce dust entry into the cabin as far as possible, since, once dust enters the cabin and goes into those small holes and crevices, it becomes near impossible to clear it completely, and then on, you will have it recirculated in your cabin when you put on AC in re-circulation mode. Driving with the windows rolled down will definitely age your car interiors sooner as it will fade earlier and look dusty/dirty very frequently. And yes, I always drive with the windows rolled up & also in A/C re-circulation mode and I can very well see its effect on my car interiors/dash/panel/cluster etc. 3. Idle the engine for around a minute after starting & before stopping.
On turbo equipped cars, this is of much more importance, as have been mentioned earlier in our forum also many times and even has a thread named 'Idling Rule'. 4. Go above 2000rpm, only after the coolant temperature gauge needle has risen and settled at around mid-point of the gauge.
For vehicles without coolant temperature gauge, considering a duration of 5 minutes should be fine. Till then, the vehicle could be driven normally, by not going above 2000rpm/up-shifting before 2000rpm. If paid attention, it could be noticed that the engine is smoother and quieter, after it reaches the optimum working temperature. For reference, on most cars, at 2000rpm, 1st gear will be ~15kmph, 2nd gear will be ~25kmph, 3rd gear will be ~40kmph, 4th gear will be ~60kmph and 5th gear will be ~80kmph. So it is very well possible to drive normally without going above 2000rpm at any point of time, which will give the best fuel economy also.
These above are what I have learnt with my experience and are no hard & fast rules. Please comment/correct where you think I am wrong, so that I can also understand and correct myself.
I will also take a minute here and thank my car's first owner, who himself has maintained the car so well, and the car looks like he has followed each point above properly, only due to which, is why, the small efforts that I am putting in up-keeping are reflecting so well on the car and giving me a great ride.
I am sorry, if I have gone slightly off-topic. |