I wonder if this would have helped me. I just replaced the Panosonic battery that was in the car a week or so ago. Battery wouldn't do anything but power electronics, not enough to start the car though. It sure looked like an original battery that came with the car.

 

When did you get your 2006?

 

Hi Ken..

I guess CCA is Cold Cranking Amps???

Yeah, we have/had 6, 7 and 9 + plate batteries (12V Car/Small truck), the more the Lead Plates the Better/Longer Lasting and AMP Rating.

I like your Headlights ON Idea, are they 20 amp fuse??, anyway from "Fully Charged", you can work out your own Amp Hour Rating, how long does it take until Battery is Flat with Headlights on.

Or if you start out with say 12-13 Volts and end up with 6 Volts after 30 minutes you can work out your AMP Hour rating.

In this example a 40 AMP Hour Battery ??

 

Right - CCA is cold cranking amps.

The idea with the headlights on isn't to measure the battery's capacity, but to drain off the surface charge and get a true reading of its full voltage. Check the voltage of a battery right after taking it off charge, and you're likely to measure 13 volts. Headlamps are about 4 amps each, so 20 to 30 minutes is only 3 or 4 amp hours...out of about 80 or so for a full sized battery. But that's enough to take off the false reading.

It's really a must if you're a traditionalist and use a hydrometer, looking for both the absolute specific gravity and the consistency from cell to cell.

I think I just showed my age in two ways. Took me until now to remember hydrometers, and I think this is the first time I've ever seen them mentioned on this site. Yet there was a time when every home mechanic had one.

Ken

 

Heheh, I got one for my coolant, Sonny!

But I've been using AGM batteries for about 20 years and my wife's cars have all been leases (deale-serviced) until this year. So it finally dawned on me to check her battery -- was very low but the plates were still covered, fortunately. If you've got a flooded battery, hydrometer is a good thing to have for testing, plus you don't have to borrow your wife's turkey baster to add water like I did.

 

How pure does the distilled water have to be? Should I be looking for one that is completely pure?

 

Any distilled is good enough.

 

In the ol' days we just used tap water, so any distilled water is better than that.

 

^.................yep!

 

Got it, thanks!