Your Car Won't Start ?

[Lewis]

Car Battery Problems in Cold Weather

Car batteries need to be strong enough to start frozen engines and run heating systems. The cold can degrade high-quality batteries and render low-quality batteries useless. Keeping your car well-maintained before winter sets in is the easiest way to avoid starting trouble on cold mornings. Every winter driver should own simple tools and learn basic techniques in order to diagnose and repair battery problems.

Instructions
Diagnosing Battery Problems

• 1
  Listen to the sound of the engine if it turns over repeatedly without ignition. The battery will most likely not be damaged but the fluid in batteries can freeze. This freezing causes them to lose function in the cold, but the battery will thaw with the application of heat. Getting a jump start from another vehicle will start your engine and permit the alternator to send current to the battery. This will warm the battery and allow it to start charging again.
  
  
• 2
  Read your car's voltmeter; this is the dial on your dashboard with a small drawing of a battery. While your car is moving it should read between 14 and 14.5 volts; it may drop if you are running many electrical devices at the same time. If the reading drops below 12, the battery is discharging to power your car's electrical system. Thirty minutes of driving are required to warm the battery and allow the alternator to begin charging during periods of extreme cold.

• 3
  Clean the car's spark plugs and make certain the alternator is working. If the plugs and alternator are functional, starting problems or electrical system malfunctions can often be traced to the battery. A handheld ammeter will confirm a battery problem. Touching the red and black contacts of the ammeter to the matching terminals on the battery will indicate if current is flowing.
  

Preventing and Treating Cold Weather Battery Problems

• 4
  Install an electric battery blanket. Detach the battery cover from its mounting brackets with a screwdriver. Lift off the cover, pull the battery out and wrap it in the blanket; leave the battery's contacts exposed. Use a twist tie to keep the blanket tight around the battery. Put the battery back in place, then replace the cover and screw it onto the mounting brackets. The blanket will have a cord with a plug. Run this cord out of the engine compartment to a wall outlet. The blanket will produce enough heat to keep the battery fluid from freezing.
  
  
• 5
  Mount a trickle charger near your car battery using the brackets that come with it. Wrap the red and black wires of the charger around the matching terminals on the battery. Plug the cord into a wall outlet. The charger will deliver enough power to the battery to keep it from freezing.
  
  
• 6
  Mount a block heater next to your engine block. Plug the cord into a wall outlet near the car. The heater will keep the engine block from freezing, making it easier for the car to start when the battery is weakened by cold.
  
  
• 7
  Avoid running the radio, the heater and the defogger at the same time. Running these devices simultaneously will use up all the power coming from your car's alternator and prevent the battery from charging.
  
  
• 8
  Turn off the heat and radio while the car is idling. And engine at idle will not be putting out enough power for the alternator to both charge the battery and power electrical systems.
  http://www.ehow.com/how_7304526_car-battery-problems-cold-weather.html

 

[reba]

Thanks Lewis Cold weather reminders are a good thing.....

 

[jasoncran]

lol. we don't have cold weather in florida.

 

[WIP]

I agree with a lot of this but I find some of what is said to be only partially accurate. If you don't mind, I would like to share some different viewpoints or thoughts from my own experience; both from real world living in northern Minnesota where we experience multiple consecutive days with highs reaching to -10° F. and lows hovering in the -40° to -50° F. degree range and from my 23 years’ experience as an electrical designer.

Car Battery Problems in Cold Weather

Car batteries need to be strong enough to start frozen engines and run heating systems. The cold can degrade high-quality batteries and render low-quality batteries useless. Keeping your car well-maintained before winter sets in is the easiest way to avoid starting trouble on cold mornings. Every winter driver should own simple tools and learn basic techniques in order to diagnose and repair battery problems.
To “freeze” an engine is not quite accurate. It would require freezing the engine oil into a solid and if that happens, the engine would be seized up an unable to turn over. I don't know what the freezing point is but I do know from first-hand experience that 10w-30 motor oil is still viscous at -48° F. albeit very, very thick. The point to remember from this is that the oil has the consistency of roofing tar and does not flow very well at these temperatures so your engine will lack lubrication until the oil warms.

Cold is not an enemy of batteries. Heat is a battery’s enemy. Cold does not render them useless. The battery is usually not the cause of the problem but the victim. The engine starter motor has limited horsepower. When an engine is cold, it just takes more horsepower to turn it over. The colder it gets, the more horsepower required. Applying a heavy load on an electric motor will result in an increased current demand from the motor. A worse-case scenario for an electric motor is when the load is so heavy the motor is unable to turn, called a "locked rotor". This results as a dead short-circuit and will demand nearly infinite current from its power supply. This would drain your battery very quickly. The battery has a limited capacity and can deliver high current for a limited period of time. As it gets colder and colder the starter is less and less capable of turning the engine and the slower the starter motor turns, the closer we get to that "locked rotor" state. In a nutshell, the battery's capacity is consumed much faster than in warmer conditions.


Instructions
Diagnosing Battery Problems

• 1
  Listen to the sound of the engine if it turns over repeatedly without ignition. The battery will most likely not be damaged but the fluid in batteries can freeze. This freezing causes them to lose function in the cold, but the battery will thaw with the application of heat. Getting a jump start from another vehicle will start your engine and permit the alternator to send current to the battery. This will warm the battery and allow it to start charging again.

This statement is true for the most part but incomplete. There is a greater risk to damaging the starter than damaging the battery. Be very careful not to crank the battery for more than 20 seconds at a time and give time between attempts to allow the starter to cool. The harder a starter motor works, the more current it will demand, and the motor windings can begin to break down from the excessive heat caused by the high current.
A fully charged battery has a freezing point of about -77° F. If you’ve tried to start your car and it doesn’t start, you’ve discharged your battery to some degree. Always, connect a charger to the battery to bring it back up to full charge right away. If you walk away without doing this and leave the partially charged battery in sub-zero temps, it does have the potential to freeze. For example, if you’ve used about half the battery’s capacity, the freezing point has been raised to -10° F.
Allowing a battery to freeze can decrease its life expectancy. In extreme situations, it can crack the battery case rendering the battery completely useless. Bottom line, if you freeze your battery, expect to be getting a new one before too long.

• 2
  Read your car's voltmeter; this is the dial on your dashboard with a small drawing of a battery. While your car is moving it should read between 14 and 14.5 volts; it may drop if you are running many electrical devices at the same time. If the reading drops below 12, the battery is discharging to power your car's electrical system. Thirty minutes of driving are required to warm the battery and allow the alternator to begin charging during periods of extreme cold.

Batteries will take a charge even in sub-zero temperatures as low as -40° F. I’ve been there, done that multiple times. In fact, did it just this past weekend at -15° F. Tried to start my tractor, ran the battery down, connected a charger and in less than five minutes was able to try again. The battery will take the charge quite well.

• 3
  Clean the car's spark plugs and make certain the alternator is working. If the plugs and alternator are functional, starting problems or electrical system malfunctions can often be traced to the battery. A handheld ammeter will confirm a battery problem. Touching the red and black contacts of the ammeter to the matching terminals on the battery will indicate if current is flowing.

Preventing and Treating Cold Weather Battery Problems

• 4
  Install an electric battery blanket. Detach the battery cover from its mounting brackets with a screwdriver. Lift off the cover, pull the battery out and wrap it in the blanket; leave the battery's contacts exposed. Use a twist tie to keep the blanket tight around the battery. Put the battery back in place, then replace the cover and screw it onto the mounting brackets. The blanket will have a cord with a plug. Run this cord out of the engine compartment to a wall outlet. The blanket will produce enough heat to keep the battery fluid from freezing.

As I’ve already mentioned, if the battery is freezing, it is probably because it is not fully charged.

Use caution using a battery heater. Batteries don't hold charges indefinitely. They do internally discharge over time and as temperature increases, this process increases. This is why it is actually better to keep batteries cold for long-term storage (fully charged). For example, a brand new fully charged battery stored on a shelf at 110° F. for 30 days will probably not be able to start your car, winter or summer.

• 5
• Mount a trickle charger near your car battery using the brackets that come with it. Wrap the red and black wires of the charger around the matching terminals on the battery. Plug the cord into a wall outlet. The charger will deliver enough power to the battery to keep it from freezing.

A word of caution with trickle chargers. Applying a constant current to a battery will cause it to warm up and increase the process of evaporation of the electrolyte in the battery. Leaving a trickle charger connected 24/7 is okay as long as you check the electrolyte level more often to maintain its level. If it is allowed to get low enough to expose the lead plates inside the battery, corrosion can contaminate the plates decreasing the life of the battery. Use only distilled water to refill a battery’s electrolyte level.

• 6
  Mount a block heater next to your engine block. Plug the cord into a wall outlet near the car. The heater will keep the engine block from freezing, making it easier for the car to start when the battery is weakened by cold.

Correctly stated, the engine heater will warm the engine making it easier to turn over and therefore reduce the load on the starter motor consequently reducing the current demand on the battery. It's not the battery that is the problem, it is the extra load on the starter motor.

• 7
  Avoid running the radio, the heater and the defogger at the same time. Running these devices simultaneously will use up all the power coming from your car's alternator and prevent the battery from charging.

This might be true at an idle (which I doubt in today’s systems) but at normal driving this is not true. Today’s alternators output upwards of 100A or more. Trust me; this is more than enough power to drive the fan and radio along with the rest of the electronics in your vehicle. I looked up the specifications for the alternator in my 2009 Ford F150. The output current rating of the alternator is 150A.

• 8
  Turn off the heat and radio while the car is idling. And engine at idle will not be putting out enough power for the alternator to both charge the battery and power electrical systems.

I wouldn’t worry about this so much unless you’re leaving it idle for hours at a time. Actually, in most cases, it is not recommended to allow a vehicle to idle more than 10 minutes at a time. It’s really not very good for them.

http://www.ehow.com/how_7304526_car-battery-problems-cold-weather.html

 

[WIP]

I had to put this in its own post.

The bottom line is your battery...well, your whole car...can be vulnerable to the effects of winter harsh weather if it is not treated well. Maintenance is the key.

1. Recharge your battery as soon as possible if it is used no matter what the weather. Your car does this automatically after starting but if it doesn’t start, connect a charger to it ASAP and get it back to full charge.

2. Do not allow any battery to sit for extended periods of time at below full charge. This is true in any weather condition. Storing a battery at less than full charge will shorten its life. In winter it may freeze but in summer time it will just degrade.

3. Maintain the battery’s electrolyte level. It should be above the plates up to the bottom of the neck inside the filler holes. Use distilled water only for refilling a battery. Do not use tap water because contaminants will degrade the battery’s life.

4. Don’t crank your starter more than 20 seconds at a time and allow it to cool between attempts. This is to protect your starter motor from damage caused by high electric current.

5. Install an engine heater (block heater, lower radiator hose heater, pulse tank heater) and plug the vehicle in with temps at 0° F. or lower. With the lighter oils used today, most vehicles will start just fine down to about -15° F. or lower but it is very hard on the engine to start it at these temps because the engine oil is too viscous to flow and lubricate properly.

6. Allow your engine and drive train to warm up completely before working it too hard. It takes time for the engine, transmission, rear-end, wheel bearings, etc. to get up to normal running temperatures. While these things are warming up, metals are heating up and expanding and lubricants are not efficient. Working a cold system decreases the life of the system faster than working a warm system. Take it easy on your car until it has had time to warm up completely, not just the engine but the entire drive train.

7. Check your battery terminal connections and clean them prior to winter use to guarantee a good solid connection so when your starter motor asks for current, the battery can deliver.

 

[reba]

lol. we don't have cold weather in florida.

 

[Claudya]

lol. we don't have cold weather in florida.

Then what are you doing in this thread? Go away, warm-weather-wuss.

 

[jasoncran]

Then what are you doing in this thread? Go away, warm-weather-wuss.

well I am ase certified so I will post what are the facts about what heat does a battery verses cold.

1) shortens life
2) batteries overheat and when they do they don't charge
3) thus alternators life are shortened.
thus which do you want? a battery that lasts longer despite the cold or the heat( 2 years) I have pushed more out of mine but not by much. general rule in hot weather states if its weak battery and it has over two years, don't charge it replace it.

 

[Northman]

How far down do you have to go before block heaters arent standard issue?

 

[jasoncran]

How far down do you have to go before block heaters arent standard issue?

I haven't seen those in florida in stores

 

[jasoncran]

I bet nobody keeps those battery insulators when they remove the oem battery. those do work and extend battery life.