Hey all,

I'm trying to work on an '88 firebird that's been sitting for a few years, so of course the battery's dead. I'm not sure if there any hope of charging it (Battery was installed in early 2000), but I need to get it cranking so I can check compression, locate the problems, etc. So I wanted to just take a multimeter to a junkyard and find something that read 12.8 volts across the terminals. Are there different amperage batteries or something that prevents me from finding any old battery with the same size and shape as the firebird battery and using it? If so, what am I to look for?

Thanks for the help,
Ambert

 

Check the CCA(Cold Cranking Amp) rating and make sure it's either the same rating or higher than the original battery. Auto parts stores usually have books that tell you what CCA rating your car's original battery had.

You could always try charging it first though, chargers aren't that expensive and they're good to have.

-Matt

 

just grab another battery you can find and throw it in there as long as it has the some terminals on it you should be able to crank it over to do some initail testing

 

Just use a battery charger. It will simulate a good batter. You can test everything you normally would test. Besides what are the odds of finding a good battery in a junkyard.