How To Change A Car Battery

Changing a car battery is something that many people chose to leave up to a mechanic, but if you want to save some money and learn a valuable life skill continue reading! To get started with this tutorial you are going to want to make sure that you have some essential items including: a battery for your specific vehicle, the owner’s manual that comes with your vehicle, a wrench or pliers, and gloves. Prior to starting, you should check the owner’s manual for the location of your car battery and follow direction for how to access it.

• After you have access to the battery, differentiate between the positive and negative posts. For reference, the positive post will have an obvious plus symbol with a red covering and cable. The other post is the negative post. Take the wrench and loosen the negative terminal from the negative battery post making sure that no metal objects touch both battery posts simultaneously.
• Use the wrench to remove the cable and terminal from the negative battery post.
• Use the wrench to remove the cable and terminal from the positive battery post.
• After removing steps 3 and 4, the battery should be released and ready to be removed. Remove and set aside the parts keeping the battery in place and lift out the battery by grabbing It with both hands and pulling upwards.
• Now that half of the process is finished, we are going to want to start installing the new battery. The first step in doing this is positioning the new battery so the positive post and positive terminal are aligned and the negative post the negative terminal are aligned.
• After correctly positioning the battery, grab the parts that hold the battery in place that you set aside earlier and reattach them to keep the battery in position.
• Remove anything on the battery post that keeps you from putting the washers on. For example, some batteries may come with coverings. Use a lubricant like a light layer of grease to lubricate the battery posts before connecting the positive terminal to the positive post.
• Secure the connector using a wrench and then apply grease and connect the negative terminal to the negative post
• You are basically finished! Just ensure that the battery is securely attached and in place so that it would not move around when you are be driving.

With those nine steps you completed the battery change yourself. Not only is this a great skill to have, it saves you a trip to a mechanic and definitely does not take more than a couple hours once you have all of your materials. Be sure to revisit this guide if you every need a refresher on how to change your battery.

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