Selling Batteries With A State-Of-Health Strategy
Batteries can be an easy sell in some ways because all customers understand the basic importance of the battery. Good battery = car starts; bad battery = car doesn’t start. Unfortunately, many customers aren’t in the market for that new battery until the previous one officially, and inconveniently, dies.
AGM Batteries And Testing
Two of the greatest changes we’ve seen in starting/charging systems during the past few model years have been the expanded use of the Absorbed Glass Mat (AGM) battery as standard equipment and the accelerating pricing structures of both AGM and conventional flooded-cell batteries.
GM Battery Maintenance: Cold Weather Or Long Stand Time
Inside the battery, the electrolyte is generally composed of 35% sulfuric acid and 65% water. When a lead acid battery is inactive (not actively discharged and charged), the acid, being heavier than water, will settle toward the bottom. This leaves a low acid concentration near the top, and higher concentration at the bottom. This condition is referred to as acid stratification.
Using Your Oscilloscope: Current Ramp Test Ignition Coils
The diversity of modern ignition coil designs has made ignition oscilloscope analysis more difficult because many ignition coil waveforms deviate from the conventional norm. Consequently, oscilloscope diagnosis shouldn’t be considered a definitive test of ignition coil condition unless it can be compared with a known-good waveform.
Power Window Regulator Diagnostics
Before you start pulling a door panel on a vehicle to replace a window regulator, you might want to start looking at the repair information first. Most power windows are more than just an electric motor and switch that changes polarity.
Late-Model Vehicles Place High Demands On Batteries
Long, cold winters are hard on car batteries, but long hot summers can be even harsher. Batteries in hot climates like Arizona, New Mexico and Florida typically need to be replaced a year or two sooner than those in states with more moderate climates. The reason is that heat causes the electrolyte inside the battery to evaporate, and once the level drops below the tops of the plates, the plates suffer permanent damage. To make matters worse, sealed top “maintenance-free” batteries have no provisions for adding make-up water. Consequently, many of these batteries are doomed if their water level gets too low.
Parasitic Drain: 2003 Chevrolet Tahoe
This month’s Diagnostic Dilemma concerns a 2003 Chevrolet Tahoe with a parasitic battery drain that leaves it with a dead battery. The first step in diagnosing a parasitic drain is interviewing the customer to determine the average number of days and the driving conditions under which the battery drains.
Serial Data Bus Diagnostics
Serial data buses help eliminate multiple sensors and wiring. One sensor can share information with multiple modules without having to connect directly to the multiple modules. Serial data buses may seem like a daunting concept to some technicians, but understanding them is now a required skill to work on most modern vehicles.
Throttle-By-Wire Codes: P1512 On 2002 GMC Envoy
The PCM continuously monitors the commanded and actual throttle positions. The commanded throttle position is compared to the actual throttle position based on accelerator pedal position and possibly other limiting factors, and both values should be within a calibrated range of the other.
Ignition System: MIL On, Ignition Coil DTCs Set
Some 2006 Zephyr; 2006-2008 Fusion and Milan; 2007-2008 MKZ, Edge and MKX; and 2008 Taurus, Taurus X and Sable vehicles built on or before March 1, 2008 and equipped with a 3.0L or 3.5L engine may exhibit a malfunction indicator lamp (MIL) on.
February 18 Is National Battery Day
On National Battery Day, February 18, do something nice for that trusted power source in your car! Clean it up, have it checked out and make sure it doesn’t die on you just when you’re depending on it. Use hashtag #NationalBatteryDay to tell us what you’re doing for your batteries on National Battery Day!
State-Of-Charge And Charging Systems Diagnostics On Late-Model GM Vehicles
On 2007 and up GM vehicles, using conventional battery and charging systems tests can prove inconclusive. This is because of GM’s Electrical Power Management (EPM) system designed to monitor and control the charging systems and send diagnostic messages to alert the driver of possible problems. The EPM system primarily utilizes existing on-board computer capabilities to maximize the effectiveness of the charging systems, manage the load, improve battery state-of-charge and life, and minimize the system’s impact on fuel economy.
