Originally Posted by
onehundred80
I top up my batteries using only distilled water, some of them look like it cannot be done, but it can. I think that this is more important to do in the hotter climates. You do not want the plates to get above the electrolyte level. Some batteries have six caps and some just two caps that each cover three cells.
This is great advice from
onehunder80. I can't tell you folks how many times I hear that the electrolyte level can't be checked in a 'maintenance free' battery. As stated above, nearly all batteries have the capability to check the electrolyte level.
And I also only add distilled water to a car battery cell. If drinking water, tap water, etc., is used, the battery cell is subject to contaminants in the water and service life could be adversely impacted.
For the record, I've still have the OEM VARTA battery in my 2007 Coupe. I usually put a charger on the battery every 6-9 months to keep it charged up. I do this because I typically only put 2-3k miles on it every year. But earlier this week, when I started the car, the infamous 'raising of the spoiler' occurred. I put the charger on the battery for about half a day. No re-occurrence of the raised spoiler since. I'll check for fault codes sometime this weekend to see if the low battery supply condition occurred.
Later,