The past few weeks when I start the car up from cold it take a split second longer to start up, is it the cold or do I need a new battery. The car is nearly 7yr old and I have had it for four and not changed it so do I need one before it dies on me.

Does it have a 'health eye' on it? Little round window on the top of the battery that should be green when battery is in good condition and turns either black or red when not at its best.

Could be worth a look.

A lot of tyre places like National have fancy checkers and will check for free.

Get it checked and if its dodgy then say thanks you will have a think - then go buy form somewhere like Eurocarparts.

A voltmeter/digital multimeter set to volts would help give a good indicator of the battery condition. Assuming it is driven regularly, and you drove today - tomorrow morning I would expect the battery to be 12.5v or higher. Anything less I'd consider getting a new one.

Get a free check up first, however 7 years is a good life for a battery, and this winter may be its last - remember the cold weather puts a lot of strain on the battery!

Don't forget the Forum discount, and I recomend using the collect in store option!

Does it have a 'health eye' on it? Little round window on the top of the battery that should be green when battery is in good condition and turns either black or red when not at its best.

Could be worth a look.

a little bit of advice here.. there not that usefull.. when a battery suddenly dies.. its normaly due to "dropping a cell" and as the little window only shows 1 cell, it could say the battery is ok when its really dead as a dodo

Edited 16 December, 201114 yr by J13ME X

a good slow charge can take uo to 2 days the more modern the tech inside the longer to charge PROPERLY