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Step 1
Purchase the new battery recommended and rated for your car (the parts dealer and your mechanic will have that information). Be aware that the old battery is usually exchanged for the new one for recycling purposes, so you can either take it with you or drop it off later.
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Step 2
Open the hood of your car and locate the battery.
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Step 3
Disconnect the cable terminals from the old battery's terminals (negative/black first and then positive/red).
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Step 4
Remove the frame or bracket holding the battery in place, and lift the battery out.
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Step 5
Clean the cable terminals with a wire brush and baking soda and water if they're corroded or dirty.
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Step 6
Use a wire brush or a battery terminal cleaner (a very inexpensive tool) to scrape the inside of each cable terminal to expose new, clean metal to the new battery terminal. If the cable terminals are damaged, they need to be replaced.
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Step 7
Lower the new battery into position, with the positive and negative poles in the same relative positions as before, and secure the frame.
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Step 8
Connect the cables to the new battery securely - positive to positive and then negative to negative. The cable ends should not be able to move at all; any looseness can prevent your car from starting.
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Step 9
Test the battery by starting the engine.
Comments
elinauk said
on 6/18/2009 a perfect way to change battery.
http://lnk.ms/02Bpg
anntherr said
on 6/18/2009 You will need a battery to do this. This site may be helpful http://www.tirekingdom.com/Batteries.aspx
ed46 said
on 1/18/2009 I know replacing a battery is a simple task, but what about today's cars which are equipped with on-board computers? Is there anything that needs to be addressed to prevent the loss of data between removing the old battery and replacing the new one?
Anonymous said
on 12/8/2008 Be very careful when tightening the screws, as my wrench hit a rubber pipe which had a small metal ring and when I was tightening the positive terminal my wrench hit the small metal ring and sparks flew!
Anonymous said
on 12/8/2008 You may find that when you try to unscrew the battery cables from side-terminal style batteries, the whole terminal piece will tear right out of the side of the battery. This isn't uncommon, especially if the battery is old. At this point, if you grab the battery chunk with something like a vise grips and try to turn the tightening nut out with a standard wrench or socket, most likely the nut will just round off and you'll have ruined it (and you won't get it out either). The nuts are deliberately made small and somewhat soft so you will round them off and ruin them if you lean on them too much (to discourage you from trying to tighten them too much when you put in a new battery, thus breaking off the battery terminal mount). For better results, use 2 vise grip pliers, one on the chunk that tore out of the battery, and one on the collar at the base of the tightening nut (not on the nut itself, or the you'll mess up the hex head). You should be able to screw the battery chunk off there and not ruin your battery cable in the process.