Your car's battery is a very important component in your vehicle. It does provide the first kickstart to do your entire vehicle, and without a perfectly operating battery, your vehicle cannot start. It's important to familiarize yourself with how to remove car battery in case you need to replace it or for any other diagnosis.
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This article serves as a step by step guide for you to remove your car's battery safely and without troubles.
What is the car's battery, and what does it do?
Many people think that the car's battery is responsible for continuously providing your vehicle with the electrical charge needed. However, the car's battery is only needed to provide your car with the initial zap of electricity to get the vehicle started.
Your vehicle must have a perfectly running car battery; Otherwise, you would need to deal with starting issues every morning. If your car's battery is bad, you can temporally use the jump start or any other tool to provide the car with the initial spark to get the electrical system started.
While this method helps you get started for a couple of days, it's not permanent, and you must get your vehicle's battery replaced as soon as possible.
Over times of use, the car's battery can go bad and require replacement. That's why it's recommended that you will learn how to remove a car battery by yourself to reduce labor costs in the car battery replacement overall cost.
What do I need to remove the car battery?
You need to remove your car's battery for two main reasons:
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You need to remove the car battery to replace it
The first and most common reason for removing the car battery from its place is to replace it. Your car's battery is like any other vehicle's component, and it reaches a certain stage where it needs replacement.
Whether it's you or a professional mechanic, the old car battery must be removed safely to install the new car battery.
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You need to remove the card battery to inspect its efficiency
The second common reason for removing your car's battery involves morals inspection. There are certain situations where if your cars better are not performing properly, you might need to take it out and perform a quick inspection to see if the problem is coming from the battery or from anywhere else.
How to remove the car battery?
Many types of car batteries differ depending on the car's make, model, and year. Therefore, it might be a little challenging for many people to remove their car's battery to install a new battery or inspect their old batteries.
The most challenging part about removing a car battery is determining the required toolsets. Since there are five different car chase battery terminals, you need to have a certain toolset for each type.
Most American vehicles are made using three types of terminals: the SAE post, the GM site, or a combined style terminal. On the other hand, most European vehicles use the L type. Lastly, electric cars have their type of battery terminals, which are called stud terminals.
Most battery terminals can be removed using either pair of pliers or pairs of adjustable wrenches. However, if your battery has GM sides, you might need to use a certain socket or socket wrench to remove it.
Here are all that you need to do to remove your car's battery:
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Prepare your vehicle and a working space
Removing your car's battery involves some safety issues, especially since you're dealing with an electrical component that might have a risk of electrical shock.
Therefore, you must prepare your vehicle and your working space and consider safety issues before getting started.
Here are some of the safety issues that you need to include before attempting to replace your car's battery:
- The first tip that we suggest for all our readers is to use zip ties. These ties are made in a way that prevents your battery cables from touching each other and generating a spark or a flammable situation.
- If you don't have zip ties, you can use a different alternative, covering them with clothes. Using a piece of cloth, you can cover each end of the battery cables and prevent them from touching each other or causing safety issues.
- If you are wearing any jewelry, we recommend that you take them out because they are considered metals and can transmit electricity, which could also cause fatal situations.
- Make sure to select a place that has enough ventilation. You don't want to work in a closed garage that doesn't have enough air because you might be exposed to some harmful gases that could risk your health.
- If you came across a situation if he was terminal, you might need to prepare a specific battery cable removal tool. You can purchase this tool from any auto parts store.
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Remove your car battery (all vehicles batteries except GM types)
As we mentioned before, you can use certain tools to remove the car battery for most batteries except those equipped with GM site terminals.
This section focuses on removing car batteries that do not have GM side terminals.
To move your car's battery, you need to follow these steps:
- Locate your car's battery. Suppose you can't find the car's battery. In that case, you can always refer to your vehicle's owner's manual, which provides you with detailed instructions and guidance here; if you don't have a copy of the manual, you can request a soft copy from your professional mechanic or download a copy from the Internet.
- Find the negative terminal. Usually, the negative terminal has a black cover. If your terminals do not have different colors, you can read and locate the terminal with a minus sign on top of it.
- Take out the nut and the cable from the negative terminals bolt head. You can use a set of pliers or a specific wrench to take out the nut. After taking that out, you can pull the negative cable away from the battery.
- Repeat the previous step for the positive cable. Once you finish removing the negative cable, you can repeat the same step and take out the positive of capable of the battery
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Remove your car battery (GM type batteries)
By now, you know how to remove your car's battery if you don't have the GM type one. Now, what about if your cars better are having GM type terminals?
Well, you need to have specific materials that you didn't use before, including:
- Some working gloves
- Ratchet if needed
- Adjustable wrench or pliers
- A pair of safety goggles
- A socket set
Once you prepare the required materials, you can go ahead and remove the battery following these steps:
- Locate your cars terminal and identify the negative from the positive ones
- Find the correct socket size that matches your car's battery terminals. Most GM type terminals require about 3/8-inch sockets. However, some might not have the same size or might be slightly smaller or bigger.
That's why you need to determine what's the right size have your socket is needed.
- Use the appropriate socket and attach it to the ratchet. In some situations, the car's battery terminals might be located in tight situations, and you can't reach it using the socket itself. In this case, you need to use an extended ratchet to help you get to the battery's terminals.
- Take out the nut heads. Once you connected the ratchet to the socket, use the socket to remove the nut head by rotating counterclockwise.
- Repeat the same step and remove the positive terminal. Using the same procedure mentioned in the previous step, remove the nut from the positive terminal.
- Take the battery out. In some cases, to remove the battery that has a GM terminal, you might need to take out some bracket that is holding the battery tray before you can lift the battery out.
How much does it cost to replace a car battery?
Replacing the car battery might cost you between $45.00 and $250. The price differs significantly depending on your car's make, model, and year. That also is affected by the location where you would choose to get your car's battery replaced.
You can cut your car's battery on replacement costs by learning how to remove and install a new car battery yourself. This way, you eliminate any labor costs. Labor costs can be very high if you choose to go to some expensive places like a dealership.
Can I drive with a bad car battery?
While your car's battery might not prevent you from driving if you choose to use a jump start, it should not be a long-term solution.
If your car's battery is not in good condition, you're causing some overload and stress on your car's alternator. As a result, the problem transfers and gets complicated more by causing significant alternator failure.
Replacing your car's battery can be costly, but it cannot be as costly as replacing the alternator.
It's important never to ignore a bad car battery and replace it as soon as possible to prevent dealing with complicated problems that require high repair costs.
How often should I replace my car's battery?
In most cases, your car's battery should be good for up to four to five years. However, depending on the battery that you chose and your driving habits in the environment, you might need to replace your cars better a little sooner.
Therefore, your best guidance on when to replace your car's battery should be by monitoring a bad car battery's symptoms.
Your car's battery should tell you that it's going to get bad soon before it even does.
There are very common symptoms of a bad car battery, including:
- The first most common symptom of a bad car battery would be issued with the starting. In that case, you might need frequent jumpstarts.
- You might notice that the headlights are getting a little dimmer than they used to be before.
- Your car's power will be affected significantly, and you will start seeing some power fluctuation as you were driving.
- In some scenarios, a bad car battery could because issues, especially when starting the engine. The problems might not show immediately, and they might develop mostly in the long run.
If you notice any of the mentioned symptoms, you must get your vehicle diagnosed and inspected by a professional mechanic. The professional mechanic will tell you if the problem is happening because of a bad car's battery.
If your car's battery was identified as the culprit, you must get it replaced as soon as possible to prevent dealing with complicated problems that could lead to complete heart failure.
Even if the car is better, it does not cause some failures, and you will not be happy with your driving because the vehicle will not behave as usual. You might also deal with situations of low fuel economy that will cost you a lot in gas. You will most notice that by visiting the gas station frequently.
Conclusion
Your car's battery is one of the very important components that helps your vehicle start and get moving. If you don't have a perfectly working battery, you will be dealing with starting issues every morning, especially on cold days.
While you can get your vehicle started with a jump start, you must maintain a good battery for smooth car driving.
There are many situations when you need to learn how to remove car battery, including removing it or installing a new one or for inspecting purposes.
Whatever reason is, our article intends to help you learn how to remove car batteries by providing you with step-by-step guidance. The article also highlights the main tools you need to prepare and how to get the vehicle and the working space ready to prevent safety issues.