Most people who own or drive a car, truck or sports utility vehicle know full well that their vehicle has a battery. After all if they leave their headlights on, their battery will often run “dead”. They will be unable to start their vehicle as the starter motor will not crank over. They will be stuck without transportation beside the road or in their parking lot. Hopefully their cell phone battery will be charged and they will be able to call their auto manufacturer toll free road side assistance help line (if they have a new vehicle and coverage), a tow truck or perhaps even a passing motorist for help boosting their engine and auto battery to start and charge up their vehicle to get them on their way.

Yet ask many motorists and auto owners’ – where is your battery and how do you check it and maintain it? It used to be that cars and batteries were simple and relatively all the same. Batteries used to be prominent and easy to find under the hood. Not so today. Some new Buicks even have their main auto battery hidden away located under the rear seat in the vehicle itself.

Hence first thing first you should take the time to locate the battery in your vehicle – be it car, truck, van or SUV. Generally it can be had in the automotive parts and supply industry that there are two kinds of auto service batteries. One is “sealed” and you never have to do anything to it (for the most part). However as a general overall rule of auto maintenance and care, most lead acid batteries have to have water added from time to time, the water mixes with an acid in the battery. Hence what you might assume what is simply water inside your automobile’s battery is really an acid- sulfuric acid at that.

In order to inspect or add water to the sulphuric acid mixture in the battery case you sill need to take off those caps to check the acid and battery acid liquid levels inside. As a general rule the acid level should cover those little grills you can see when you peer inside the battery case after taking off the battery cover caps. Leave rooms to put the caps covers back. Don’t overfill. According to professional auto maintenance staff and certified mechanics distilled as opposed to tap water must be used only. Distilled water is pure. You can get it any service station or big box auto supply outlet. Be more than careful and take great care that none of the acid in the battery gets on your hands or clothes. If it does immediately wash it off with plenty of water.

Let’s look at the battery connections. Shake them. They should be tight. You can see that one connection has the positive sign “+” stamped clearly on it. The other has a “-“negative symbol marking it. A “+” means positive and is usually colored as a red cable fitting or markings, whereas “-” means negative “ground” usually marked with black colored cabling.

Lastly one major note of auto battery and connection maintenance especially when it comes to the positive terminal. You may get into your auto one day. You turn the key yet the auto motor starter just cannot get enough juice to turn over enough to start your motor. Yet the battery is not dead. Your headlamps light up. Think corrosion and grunge on the connection between your red positive charge battery cable connection and your positive battery terminal. Its basic and standard auto maintenance practice. Often the positive connection gets green fuzz all over it. That fuzz eats up and limits the connection and flow of vital electrical current. It can also eat up the metal straps that hold the battery. How do you get rid of it? Put a teaspoonful of baking soda into a cup of warm water. Use a small firm wire brush and wash the green fuzz away. Be careful. That green fuzz will also eat up your clothes.

With any luck now, your basic battery auto care and maintenance should have your car, truck, van or SUV started and you are on your way down the road to finish your journey.

Author Bio: Frances T. Russel Port Coqutilam