Replacing your car battery should be a quick and easy fix. There is no need to call a professional service from an auto repair shop in order to have a successful battery installation. Let this page help you on how to manually replace a new car battery within a few minutes.

There are only few things you need to remember when installing a new battery. Needless to say, you have to be extra careful when installing a car battery. Be sure that your eye is protected before attempting to start the installation process. Then you may start installing your new battery by these simple steps.

First and foremost, you need to make sure that the engine is turned off. Then proceed in removing first the protective cover, if your battery has one, and on to the battery itself. In disconnecting cables, make sure to disconnect the black negative cable first before disconnecting the red positive cable. Remember to always remove the negative cable first to avoid sparks. Only then can you proceed to removing the mounting bolts and bracket by using a tool called a socket wrench. You may use a lift strap to lift out the battery from the mounting tray for easier and safer task.

Next, you place the new battery into a tray that holds it. You then need to make sure that you are connecting the red positive cable first before connecting the black negative one. Then make sure that the battery is snug and tight on the mounting by attaching the brackets and bolts. Now you have to be certain that none of the cables, whether negative or positive, are touching each other for safety.

Lastly, close the hood. After that, you need to test if the battery works by starting the car. And as the engine starts, you will definitely know you have done a good job and your car is ready to go on the road. And for the old battery, it's better to bring it to a recycling center for proper disposal.

What you need to keep in mind before installing a new battery is to buy a good and reliable battery. You have to remember that the battery is where the car draws it's electrical power from. Other parts of the vehicle's electrical system will not work well when the battery is not good. So you must make sure that the battery you will be installing can withstand the rigors of everything you want it to, or else your efforts would be in vain.

Make sure you take care of your car with only experts at our San Diego auto repair. Have your car smogged at our San Diego smog check.

Posted under Cars

The best way to establish realistic oil change intervals is via oil analysis. This can be cost prohibitive, though, since a professional oil analysis can often cost as much as a 5 quart petroleum oil change.

Of course, the end result is that most folks will chose not to pay for a professional oil analysis - but they might be inclined to perform their own "oil analysis", if only they knew how to go about doing it. It won't give you results as accurate and precise as results from a lab, but it can give you a pretty decent understanding of how well your oil is holding up.

Below you will find one of six very straight-forward yet incredibly useful methods for checking oil quality without ever having to leave your garage.

It would likely also be in your best interests to learn a bit more regarding oils and filters in general. You might find the following sites useful in this quest.

- The Motor Oil Bible - tons of motor oil information

- The Motor Oil Evaluator - motor oil comparison specifications

- A Motor Oil Forum for discussion of motor oils

The Blotter Spot Test

This test reveals oxidation products, sludge formation, dispersancy failure, glycol contamination, water contamination, fuel dilution, and high levels of particles.

You should place a drop of used oil on the surface of chromatography paper (good heavy white card stock works pretty well too) - make sure the engine/oil is WARM (not HOT). Place your white paper/card suspended horizontally above a table or countertop and so that the oil drop area will be touching nothing - on either side of the card. For instance, if you're using stiff card stock or a stiff business card (which you really should be) you could lay two pencils down on a table (parallel to each other) and set the card with each end sitting on one of the pencils.

You'll want to be patient and wait for the paper or card to absorb the oil drop completely which might take awhile. Once all of the oil has dried you can begin evaluating the condition of your oil.

- A colorless circle or slight yellowish outer ring = "good" oil.

- A dense, dark deposit zone = Dispersancy failure

- A black, pasty zone = Glycol (Anti-freeze) in your engine oil

- Center of circle dark with distinct outside ring = Severe oxidation

- Center of circle dark with outer rings = Fuel in oil,Fuel dilution

Details of the blotter spot test in: Fitch, J.C., "The Lubrication Field Test and Inspection Guide", Noria Corporation 2000

Posted under Cars

There has been all kinds of hype about hydrogen fuel cells lately. There are a few things that you need to know before you start to build a hydrogen fuel cell and put it in your car.

Learning to build a hydrogen fuel cell is not all that complicated. What you need to do is find the best possible guide that's available. I have found a number of great manuals online and they are not expensive.

One of the best advantages of building your own hydrogen fuel cell is the low cost. I have to tell you here, cheap is good. If it doesn't work out, you haven't lost a fortune. This is one of the best ways to get an efficient, low-cost energy source.

Where do I get the parts for my hydrogen fuel cell you may ask? That's pretty easy, from your local hardware store. The parts are easily accessible and cost very little. And trust me here, it's not all that hard to put together either.

It should take you no more than a few hours to get it put on with the proper instruction. It being fun, is one of the other advantages of building a Hydrogen Fuel Cell. You need a quart container, baking soda and electrical wire for hooking up to the battery.

If you don't want to go to the hassle of buying all of the parts one by one from the hardware store, you can purchase an HHO car guide online. An HHO guide has all the instructions you'll need plus on how-to build it.

If you have all your parts gathered up, you should be able to put everything together in a few hours. All it takes is some common sense mechanical skills and you have a hydrogen fuel cell. Pretty cool huh?

Step-by-step instructions, included with the guides, makes this an easy project to do. It's not complicated at all to do.

You've done your research online and have all your materials and your ready to go. Let's get to building that hydrogen fuel cell, what's holding you back?

If you decided to buy your materials, one by one, you'll need to look online to find some instructions in order to get started. You can also go to YouTube and look at a number of very helpful videos that should get you up and running in short order.

After installing the hydrogen fuel cell, you can expect more miles per gallon, and knowing that you are helping the environment. The bonus here is that you will be saving a ton of money on fuel.

As you can see, it's pretty easy to build your own hydrogen fuel cell. I don't see any reason why you can't get started this weekend. Get online and get either the full blown kit (more expensive) or an online guide.

Good luck and have some fun.

Posted under Cars