Hi. I have a 99 Honda Civic LX. What is the proper way of testing the battery to check whether it needs to be replaced for the winter?

 

Easiest way is to take it to Autozone, OReillys, Advance, etc and have them check the cold cranking amp capacity, and overall health.

How old is it?

 

Do you know what the CCA are on OEM Honda battery for a 99 Honda Civic LX (D16y7)?

The battery is about 6 years old.

 

I can't find the Honda OEM CCA specs for that year, but new batteries are in the 500-600 range for CCA. If yours tests to within that you should be OK.

 

...

 

I checked the battery label today and it says 500CCA. I took the car to local shop today to test the battery and it gave me 449CCA. Should I replace the battery for the winter?

 

The diagram in my post states that 405-410 CCA is needed, so I think 449 CCA is good for now. Given that the battery is 6 years old, have it checked again in 6 months.

Was the test load capacity #1 done?

 

The way the shop tested the battery was using a battery tester which they hooked up to the battery while the engine was off. They inputed into the battery tester 500CCA, it ran the test and it gave me a print out which says: Voltage 13.08V, Measured 449CCA, Rated 500CCA, Tempearture 31 degrees Fahrenheit. It took them about 30 seconds to do the battery test. Is this the proper way of testing the battery?

 

I would assume that the battery passed a test identical or comparable to load test capacity #1. But if you're unsure, then call the shop and ask them.

 

What exactly is a load test capacity? What does it measure?

 

It's described in the diagram I posted.

The test measures the battery's voltage after subjecting it to 2 consecutive 15-second load tests of 300 amps and 200 amps. If after these load tests the voltage drops below 9.6V, then the battery is bad or low on charge.

 

6 years is getting about to the end of the lifetime of a car battery, esp. if it needs to survive winters; this has been my experience.