Code that shows car battery age could help prevent a breakdown this winter
Winter weather can create all kinds of problems for your car. Driving home for Christmas[1] should not involve a breakdown however, and as long as you follow advice by car insurance experts at Howden Insurance, you should have a smooth journey.
This includes a code that can tell you whether your car battery needs replacing, as well as answers to why you might be experiencing common problems – such as a blown fuse or a car taking a while to start up, reports NottinghamshireLive[2].
The top tips are:
Check your car battery
The RAC reportedly deals with more than 400,000 breakdowns related to batteries each winter, showing just how important it is to take care of this element in your car. A car battery typically lasts between three and five years, so determining its age can indicate whether it is likely to need replacing over winter.
If your car was new when you bought it, the battery will have been brand new and should be a similar age as the car itself. However, you are unlikely to know the battery’s age if your car is second-hand.
If this is the case, the first step is to open your car’s bonnet and locate the battery. Some batteries will have a sticker on them which has a recognisable date format such as 4/21, which indicates the month and year it was manufactured. In this example, the battery was manufactured in April 2021, which would mean it should not need replacing just yet.
If there is no date sticker, check the battery cover or the battery itself for a heat-stamped or engraved code, consisting of a series of numbers and letters. The first two digits of this code indicate when the battery was made. The first digit represents the last number of the year that the battery was made – for instance, 2019 would be represented with ‘9’.
The second digit, which ranges from A to L, corresponds with the month it was manufactured, with ‘A’ being January, ‘B’ representing February and so on. For example, ‘2C’ would be marked on a battery made in March 2022.
If you struggle to start your car up although your battery is relatively new, it could be because you are frequently taking short journeys that put stress on the battery. Taking the car out for longer drives of around half an hour should help to recharge the battery to a more optimal state. Also, it’s a good idea to turn off anything that might put extra strain on the battery – such as lights, wipers, the heater and radio – before turning on the ignition.
Monitor your engine coolant
Engine coolant includes ionised water and antifreeze. It is added to the engine’s cooling system to prevent it from overheating, while the antifreeze prevents the water from freezing in colder temperatures of up to –15 degrees celsius.
Your car’s engine coolant should not regularly need topping up. However, you could have a leak if it drops lower than it should be, and this can put the engine at risk of overheating. This is something you need to get repaired by a mechanic before it causes more serious problems.
To check the level of engine coolant in your car, switch your engine off and allow it to cool for at least 30 minutes if the car has just been used. Open your bonnet and look for a semi-translucent reservoir known as the expansion tank, which contains the yellow, green, blue, pink or red-coloured coolant liquid.
The coolant level should be between the minimum and maximum markings on the side of this tank. To top up the engine coolant, use a product recommended by the vehicle manufacturer as detailed in the car’s user manual, and fill it up to the maximum line.
Check your tyre pressure
Your car’s tyre pressure tends to fall more quickly in colder weather[5], since the air condenses and takes up less space in your tyres. Low tyre pressure not only leads to premature wear on the tyre tread, but can also increase the chance of your tyres blowing out.
Regularly check the pressure on each of your tyres, to ensure that they are filled to the appropriate level. The correct tyre pressure for your vehicle can be found in your vehicle handbook, or on the inside of the fuel tank cap. Check your tyres for cracks, splits, or bulges, as these can also indicate that they need replacing.
Check your tyre tread depth
Ice and snow can mean tyres slide and rotate more often, which can wear down the tread. While the minimum legal tread depth in the UK is 1.6mm across the middle three-quarters of the tyre, it is recommended to keep this above at least 3mm in winter conditions.
You can accurately check whether your tyres meet the legal limit by using a digital tyre tread gauge, or you can use a 20p coin if this is your only option. Place the coin into the tread grooves of your tyre and check whether you can see the outer banding of the coin.
If you can see the outside band of the coin, this indicates that the tyre is below 1.6mm tread depth and needs to be replaced immediately, as it is not road-legal. If you cannot see the outer band of the coin, then your tyre is above the 1.6mm minimum limit.
De-ice your windscreen and wipers
Another common cause of winter breakdown is for cars to blow a fuse when operating the wipers if they are frozen to the screen. Check your wipers are turned off before beginning a journey.
Covering your windscreen with an old sheet for colder mornings can prevent ice from forming. Using the wipers to keep the sheet in place stops your wipers from freezing to your windscreen and reduces the need for defrosting the screen.
Do you want more of the latest Cambridgeshire news as it comes in? Sign up to our dedicated newsletter to make sure you never miss a big story from Cambridge or anywhere else in the county. You can also sign up to our dedicated Peterborough, Traffic and Crime newsletters for the latest updates on the topics you are most interested in.[6]
References
- ^ Christmas (www.cambridge-news.co.uk)
- ^ NottinghamshireLive (www.nottinghampost.com)
- ^ ‘I’ve saved £4,500 since I switched to an electric car’ (www.cambridge-news.co.uk)
- ^ Experts explain six car warning lights you should never ignore in icy weather (www.cambridge-news.co.uk)
- ^ weather (www.cambridge-news.co.uk)
- ^ You can also sign up to our dedicated Peterborough, Traffic and Crime newsletters for the latest updates on the topics you are most interested in. (www.cambridge-news.co.uk)