How do you improve a weak car battery?What do you add?

Answer 1

Here is the ultimate lead-acid battery site. Everything you ever wanted to know:

http://www.uuhome.de/william.darden/index.htm

Answer 2

trying to bring that old battery back eh? well if its relatively young (say around 2 or 3 years) you can completely discharge the battery and then put it on a trickle charger over night, it would be better to do this out of the car. trickle charging gives it a more complete and efficient charge. however if your battery is over 3 years old chances are your battery is done, it served its purpose, and should just be replaced.

some caution needs to be taken with lead acid batteries though.
1. ALWAYS wear safety goggles, or glasses when filling a battery. my old boss lost 90% of his vision in his right eye because he was filling a bad cell... the battery exploded.

2. his downfall was running the vehicle while filling it, so
2 Whenever filling a battery, make sure there is no load, and no charge going to the battery until your finished filling it

3 DO NOT use anything either than Distilled Water to fill the battery, there is no known additive that can be put into a battery to improve its performance, Tylenol, Dish soap, Advil, and even commercialy available additives DO NOT WORK

4 when charging, the battery begins to "boil" which in turn creates hydrogen gas. those warnings on batteries aren't BS if you've got your battery charging near a heat source it will often times go BOOM

5 MAKE SURE when charging that the charging connectors are put on the CORRECT terminal of the battery. wanna see another way to make a battery explode?
positive to positive, negative to negative.

All in all batteries are NOT toys. they have the potential to blind, burn, cut, electrocute (rare but has happened), and KILL
do not phuck with them in a way you know can cause adverse effects

Answer 3

They make a lot of stuff you can add to improve a weak car battery, but it isn't worth it (provided it isn't low on water), just get a new one. Dollar wise you will be much better off.

Answer 4

there is a additive called zx7 for sale in a jc whitny catalog but i havent used that

a battery is perishable, if it starts to fail
it causes your alt to charge full time and cooks that
and then the starter also gets a lower voltage and this causes a higher current flow for a given resistance
smoke a starter also

better to buy a cheep battery and replace it when you can than try to resurect a weak battery

my battery supplyers have told me if you run a lead acid battery dead completely four times
your done
you need another battery
i have seen this in big trucks i service many times

in finito
get a battery

Answer 5

You can go to the part store and buy some electrolyte for 20 bucks but I would not recommend it. It's best to just go to wally world and buy a 30 dollar battery. Good luck.

Answer 6

try driving the car around for a couple of hours with everything off in the car or take it down to pep boy or a place like that and have them charge your battery for you i know wheere i live they dont charge for that service so you will have to call around and find out

Answer 7

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Answer 8

charge it up... if your alternator's working and the battery's not holding a charge then you need a new one. if it's not strong enough cuz you're running hydraulics and a sound system then you need a bigger battery, or a second battery to handle the load.

Answer 9

If you can check and see if it needs water. If so you add distilled water and charge it if you can. If it does not need water and does not hold a charge its time for a new battery.

Answer 10

i mechanic for a living,and you can try putting a real good charge in it,,but if it has a weak ,or bad cell in it,,it will just go back down again on you, its worth a try though,you don't have nothing to loose but it might be time for a new one if it keeps acting up ,,good luck hope this help,s.happy new years.

Answer 11

You can try charging it, but if the battery does not hold a full charge, it is time for replacement!