What Happens When Your Car Battery is Failing

Your engine turns over slowly and your lights seem to flicker a little while your engine is running. You can chock it up to cold weather, short drives, or an aging alternator, but there could be something else going on. What’s happening could be nothing at all. Or, it could be symptoms that your car battery is failing.

To understand what’s going wrong with your Toyota battery, it may help to know what happens inside your car battery itself.

How a Car Battery Works

It begins as six cells, each containing 2 lead plates of which one is coated in lead dioxide.  The battery is filled with an electrolyte, typically sulfuric acid and distilled water. The electrolyte allows the two plates to interact, producing an electrical charge that is stored in in the battery’s cells.

Over time, the lead plates can be coated with a layer of sulfate and the reaction that happens is lower. It’s this coating that reduces a battery’s life and effectiveness. It’s the most common reason your battery won’t recharge fully and becomes unreliable.

Symptoms Your Car Battery is Failing

Wondering if your battery is on the fritz? Most car batteries today, even for Toyota vehicles, last anywhere from three to five years on average. Here are some symptoms you might detect if your Toyota’s battery is on the way out:

• The headlights are dimmer than usual or flicker when your engine is running.
• Your radio stations unexpectedly reset when you start the engine.
• Your engine turns over slowly. Sometimes it may flood from cranking too slow to start.
• You hear a single click when you turn the ignition key to start the engine.
• If there’s a slight charge but not enough to crank it over, a rapid clicking noise might be heard.
• Your Check Engine light or other indicators may light up.

If you’ve noticed these or any other unusual electrical symptoms, or if your Toyota hasn’t been starting dependably, you might just need a new battery. Good news, though. It’s a relatively inexpensive repair, and one that Jay Wolfe Toyota in Kansas City can do for you quickly.

Give Jay Wolfe Toyota a call today. We can check your charging and starting system for you to pinpoint the exact problem. Then, we’ll install a Genuine Toyota battery to get you back on the road sooner than you expected.