Now that we are in the middle of summer and the temperatures have been steadily high, it’s a good time to point out that your Subaru’s battery really takes a beating during the summer months; the effects of this are not always immediately apparent and in fact may not show up until the following winter.

One of the situations that can happen is that some of the fluid in the battery can evaporate out, while this is nothing new, it is more common during the hotter months of summer, and every year it seems is warmer than the next.

The fluid evaporating out is one of the primary reasons you will see corrosion form on a battery terminal, the corrosion that forms on the battery terminal is  like stopped up plumbing is to your sink drain as it will prevent proper flow of electrons throughout the primary electrical circuit.  This over time can take its toll on virtually all of your Subaru’s systems.

Corroded Subaru Battery

It is a good idea following the summer months to make sure your battery is serviced, inspected and tested, to avoid being stranded, and more expensive repairs down the road.

Assuming your battery is ok because it still starts the car, could very well a huge mistake.  Your Starter will typically draw less than half of the capacity of the battery, but in extreme hot or cold weather the demand on the battery may exceed the average draw, and this is when the weak battery will finally show up.  A good shop will test the battery at its actual capacity to determine if it’s ok, rather than seeing if it still starts the car.  October is usually the best month to have this done in my opinion.  We test batteries at virtually every service at our shop and I would like to point out that if during testing the battery is found to fail the test, don’t be surprised if its demise is soon to follow, even if it seemed fine the week before.

Things you can do to prolong the life of the battery during the summer are to park in the shade when possible, keep the battery terminals clean and have the battery serviced.

Thanks For Reading

Justin