No driver wants the headache of a dead battery. Like all other components, your battery will eventually wear out. As your Lincoln dealership, we want to tell you about some signs you may need to visit us for a battery replacement.
3 Signs You Need a Battery Replacement at Your Lincoln Dealership
Extreme Temperatures
Our hot, humid Texas summers can play havoc with your battery, particularly if it’s three years or older. With average temperatures in the 90s from March to October, the battery’s electrolyte solution can heat up and boil. The electrolyte is vital for the battery as it enables the battery to store and supply power.
If the electrolyte boils, the copper plates inside the battery will rapidly deform and it will fail. The battery warning light on your dash will illuminate as a warning something is wrong. You may also smell a chemical odor floating from under the hood. Our technicians will test your battery and install a new one if it’s been damaged. A newer battery is more resistant to overheating.
Battery Warning Light
This warning light looks like a line drawing of the battery. It illuminates if sensors detect any issue involving the battery, alternator, or other charging system components. Sensors monitor all important components in your Lincoln and automatically alert your computer if something goes wrong. Your computer notes the event and assigns it an error code and the warning light comes on.
We’ll connect your computer to our diagnostic system. This system reads the computer’s error codes, and our technicians use this information as the starting point of their investigation. The issue could be worn wiring, an alternator that’s failing and supplying less power than it should, or the battery could be weak. Once we’ve found the problem, our experts will fix it and the light will go out.
Rotten Egg Smell
Sulfur dioxide smells like rotten eggs, making it easy to identify. If you smell this stench wafting from under the hood, your battery is failing. Sulfur dioxide is formed by hydrogen, released from the battery as its sulfuric acid breaks down, and sulfur, released by fuel moving through your engine. This new chemical not only smells bad, it’s corrosive and will slowly destroy the battery terminals.
This chemical is drawn to the battery terminals, forming a white, gray, or green acidic salt around them. As the terminals suffer damage, recharging becomes more difficult and your battery will eventually fail. We can’t repair this form of battery damage, but we can install a new battery and clean the corrosion.
Don’t risk battery failure and the hassles and stress it entails. Contact our service department at West Point Lincoln in Houston, TX.
Connect with us
