Think Twice Before Trying Out This Popular Car Battery Aspirin Trick

Finding out your car battery is dead is one of the worst ways to start a day, and can be even worse if you're out on the town and don't have any way to get back home. Doing a quick search online to find fast and easy ways to give your battery extra juice provides numerous potential methods. However, some of these methods can be dangerous to your car's battery, and in turn can be dangerous to you.

One of the ways the internet recommends for giving your battery a quick charge is to add aspirin into the battery cells. Aspirin, which is known chemically as acetylsalicylic acid, eventually breaks down into acetic acid and has an interesting chemical reaction with the battery cells.

Putting two tablets of aspirin into each of your car's battery cells will give your battery a charge strong enough to start your car. Granted, this charge may take some time, up to an hour, but your battery will be able to start your car. However, there are severe and significant issues to using aspirin to start your car.

The acetic acid that aspirin becomes will interact with the lead in your battery, eventually breaking it down to the point where the battery becomes completely unusable. The only situation where you should try to recharge your battery with aspirin is if it's your only option and you don't mind buying a new car battery once you're home.

There are a number of ways to charge your battery or jumpstart your car when you're in a pinch, and none of these potential ways will damage your battery. The most common way for drivers to jumpstart dead batteries is by keeping a set of jumper cables in their car at all times. As long as you have cell service to call a friend or family member to drive to your location, you should be able to use the jumper cables to start your car.

An extremely convenient way to save yourself when your car battery dies is to keep a portable charger in your vehicle. Portable jumpers, when they're properly charged, can provide enough power to help jumpstart your car. If you do go this route, be sure to look at what type of battery you have before purchasing a portable jump starter, as the portable jumper you're looking at may not be compatible with your battery.

If you find yourself in a situation where your battery has died and you don't have jumper cables, there aren't many options in front of you. If you drive a manual transmission vehicle and your battery has died, you can actually push-start your vehicle. In order to do this, you'll need to turn the key into the on position and keep your clutch pressed down. Using a hill or a friend to push, begin moving the vehicle downhill. Once you've gathered speed, release the clutch quickly and the transmission should send the motion to the engine, turning the engine and starting the vehicle. You should absolutely never attempt this with an automatic transmission.

Unfortunately, if your car battery dies and you don't have jumper cables, a portable jumper, or a manual transmission vehicle that you can push start, you're out of luck. The best option for you at that point is to call a local tow truck to bring your vehicle to have its battery replaced or to find a nearby auto shop to purchase a new battery. After getting your vehicle towed or buying a new battery, be sure to add a set of jumper cables or a portable jumper to make sure you're prepared if this situation happens again.