What to Do When Your Car Battery Dies
October 2, 2020
What do you do when your car battery dies?
- Check for Possible Causes
- Replace Your Battery
- Jumpstart Your Car
- Phone a Professional
When a car battery dies, it means you have done something to have all of its power drained. Whatever that something is will leave you with a giant chunk of metal that won’t move no matter what you do unless you find a way to power it up again. What you have to do when your car battery dies varies depending on the situation.
It can die out while you are stuck in traffic, or while it’s parked. No matter the situation, you will have a few options to try and fix it right then and there. Here are our recommendations for what to do when your car battery runs out of power!
Check for Possible Causes
If the battery died while in a parking lot, you should investigate what caused your car battery to expire while you weren’t there. Check the dashboard for anything that was left turned on like the lights, radio, and air-conditioner. Leaving your lights on is one of the most common reasons why most car batteries get drained easily.
It’s also possible that your car battery has just used up all of its juice over the years. Just be sure to have a good long look at what could have caused your battery to die at that moment.
That being said, this can only be done when it dies out when you’re parked somewhere. If the car dies while you’re on the road, be sure to first put your car aside as much as you can. If it’s no longer possible, set up the emergency signs around your car.
Replace Your Battery
The most logical thing to do is to replace your battery—given that you have a spare car battery with you. It’s the easiest solution and it awards those who have prepared for this situation beforehand.
Alternatively, you can just buy a battery if there’s a place that’s selling it near you. most car repair places and some gasoline stations have them in-store.
Jumpstart Your Car
The best option for you to do, particularly if you’re just parked somewhere, is to jumpstart your car. To jumpstart a vehicle means to start your car using another vehicle’s battery as a catalyst. When you successfully do so, your car can hold the charge for a while, but not forever. If you don’t replace your car battery, it will get harder and harder to maintain the spark once you’ve jumpstarted it.
Almost every vehicle should have a set of jumper cables tucked away somewhere in their car for emergencies like these. They are two decently sized cables that have clamps at both ends. They are often color-coded: one is red and one is black.
You clamp them on the negative and positive nodes of your car battery then connect each cable to its counterpart in another car. Using the red cable, connect the positive battery nodes of the dead battery and the working battery. With the black cable, connect the negative battery nodes.
To jumpstart, you must first make sure that the working car is running for a few minutes. While the cables are connected, start the car with the dead battery. Oftentimes, this should work.
If the battery doesn’t start, it would only mean that the dead battery has issues of its own. It may be too old, something else was draining the battery, or there may be another technical problem!
Phone a Professional
If jumpstarting and replacing your dead battery is not enough, then it would be best for you to call a mechanic for it might not just be your dead battery that is the problem.
It’s not common, however, batteries dying abruptly can damage the car’s internal computers. When that happens, the car may malfunction or even cease to work completely.
A mechanic will be able to diagnose what the problem is and the best solution for that problem. They can also recommend a towing service when the going gets too rough to handle while in the thick of traffic.
Bear in mind that roadside assistance is oftentimes included in car insurance. If you have your car insured, this is one great way of taking the full value of that!
Key Takeaway
There’s only so much you can do when your car battery dies. Most people with no know-how of how their cars work will immediately call a mechanic, others are well prepared with a spare battery at the back. Some with a bit of knowledge would be confident enough to try and jump-start the car with the help of a friend or a passerby!
At the end of the day, the best thing that you can do can be summarized into three words: Replace, Jumpstart, and Mechanic! Consider all that we mentioned above so that you will know what to do when your car battery dies!
