How Often To Replace a Car Battery

How much is a replacement car battery? How often do you need to replace a car battery? Many experts say batteries last between 4-5 years, although depending on several factors, battery life can vary widely. Check out the specific details regarding car batteries at Mercedes-Benz of Portland, and if you have any questions contact your Wilsonville area service center!

How To Know If Your Car Battery Needs To Be Replaced: Warning Signs

An important step in battery maintenance is learning how to know if your car battery needs to be replaced. Some warning signs to keep an eye out for include:

• Takes longer to start the engine when you turn the key/push the button
• Unusual power fluctuations
• Dimming headlights
• More frequent need for engine revving or jump starts

How Often To Replace Car Battery: Causes of Deterioration

As is common with most automotive parts, time and exterior factors can cause some deterioration, here are the factors that can impact your battery life specifically:

• Heat: Hot weather causes the evaporation of liquids inside a car battery, so if you live in a more consistently hot climate, your battery life will be inevitably shorter.
• Vibrations: If your battery’s hold-down clamps are loose, or you frequently drive over rough roads, vibrations can cause internal battery parts to break down faster.
• Time: A car battery can only go through so many charge cycles, so the death of your car battery is unavoidable but proper care can prevent the battery from dying on you early.
• Needing a Jump: If you’ve done something like left your lights on overnight or let your engine idle for too long and require a jump start, this can shorten battery life significantly.

For the best idea of how long your car battery should last with proper care, consult your owner’s manual or maintenance schedule. 

How To Test a Car Battery: Methods & Steps

It’s a good idea to have regular maintenance, including a battery check, twice a year, but if you want to test it between that time you can test the battery at home with a few easy methods.

The Headlight Test: 

1. Turn on the engine, keep the car in park, and make sure the headlights are on.
2. Rev the engine and see if the headlight brightness changes.
3. If the headlights get brighter, that means the current is not strong enough to keep the lights at normal brightness while the car is idling. 
4. Take your car to a service center at this point for further assessment.

Using a Digital Multimeter:

1. Set the voltmeter to 20 DC volts.
2. Under the hood, touch the negative terminal (black) with the negative meter probe (also black).
3. Touch the positive terminal (red) with the positive meter probe (also red)
4. Have a friend turn on the headlights and check the voltmeter reading.
5. At 80℉, 12.5 volts or higher means your battery is fully charged. 12.3 volts means it’s at about 75% charged.11.8 volts or lower means you have 25% or less charge. 

So, How Much is a Replacement Car Battery? 

How much is a replacement car battery? This price can range between $75 and $120 or all the way up to $200 if you have a premium battery. Hybrid car batteries have a much bigger job, which makes them more expensive than the ones in your conventional model. A hybrid car battery can cost anywhere between $1,000 and $6,000, but this is usually offset by the much lower gas consumption.

Get Your Mercedes-Benz Vehicle Maintenance at Mercedes-Benz of Portland!

Now that you have learned how to know if your car battery needs to be replaced, longevity, and typical replacement costs, come visit the Mercedes-Benz of Portland parts center to get your battery checked! You can also check out our parts and service coupons ahead of time so you don’t miss out on a great deal!