As above guys. Need to check mine.

 

get a big long piece of metal and bridge it across the 2 terminals

 

^^^ PMSL

 

ideally, pop it into a garage and have it load tested. most will do it free, hoping for the sale of a battery if you need one

 

a faily easy way to test it under load is to turn on the ignition so it is in the "RUN" position ie as it would be when driving. then put a DVM accross the battery you should be detting about 13.2 volts with every thing turned off (there will be a small current draw ie pumps priming, ecu etc, then switch on say the rear heated screen, this draws quite a lot of current ! and see what the DVM now reads if it drops noticably then you have a old tired battery. if it doesn't you are fine!

hope this helps

 

To test a battery properly, remove it from the car and charge it over night. Leave it to stand for a few hours then check the specific gravity of the 6 cells using a hydrometer. each cell should read around 1250 on the float or green depending what type of hydrometer you have. Then if all of them give good readings, you need to load test the battery by shorting it out with a drop tester. using the drop tester it should load the battery up for around 10 seconds with the voltage not dropping below around 10 volts during this time. Like wise, if any of the cells gas and bubble like a shook up bottle of lemonade then the battery is scrap.

Then you can always take it to be tested at a decent auto electricians.

 

Cheers guys

 

That is not true, a car battery is 12V and will be 12.xxV, only with the engine running and charging will you see 13.xxV +!

But tbh this reading can be totally irrelevant, as it's when the battery is put under load will it shows it's signs, best way to do it, is as said take it to a shop they have a special tool they put across it which can simulate a load.

Essentially the voltage measurement just proves there is x amount of power there at the moment of time when tested.

Martin