To stay out of cold, keep your car's battery warm

Old man winter is on its way. And it means more than just cold weather for your car's battery.

A dead battery in extreme winter weather can strand motorists out in the cold.

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Your best defense: checking your battery and keeping it sufficiently charged during winter, according to the experts.

You can make life a lot easier this winter and prevent roadside breakdowns by making sure your car's battery is fully charged and by keeping the engine in good shape.

When you drive in cold weather, make certain you drive the car long enough to recharge the battery, particularly after frequent stops and starts over a short period of time.

Another factor is how well batteries are maintained during hot weather. Summer heat can cause extensive damage to batteries. When the weather turns cold, a weakened battery can't deliver enough power to start a cold engine.

To illustrate, statistics indicate:

• When the outside temperature is 80 degrees, a fully-charged battery has 100 percent of its power available to start the car.
• When the temperature drops to 32 degrees, a fully-charged battery has two-thirds of its power available.
• At zero degrees, that same fully-charged battery has only 40 percent of its power available to start the vehicle.

This clearly underscores the need for the motorist to keep the battery fully charged. To efficiently recharge a battery while driving, motorists should minimize "parasitic" electrical loads, such as windshield and rear window defrosters, radio, extra lights and electric windows.

If the car is difficult to start, get a load check on the battery, and if the power is marginal, it's probably time to get a new battery. This type of test can be performed quickly by most automotive service centers.

If your car will be exposed to extreme cold temperatures this winter, the best guarantee against failure is a battery with a high level of cold cranking amps, at least 550, depending on the type of engine in your vehicle.

Here are tips for good auto and battery maintenance to prepare for cold weather:

• Keep the car engine in good condition. Tune up and change the oil regularly. In cold weather, use multi-viscosity winter-grade oil.
• Watch for terminal corrosion on the battery and make sure the battery cables are tight.
• Ideally, park the car in a garage at night, providing some insulation against low temperatures, ice and snow.

For more battery maintenance tips, visit the battery experts at www.exide.com.