Hey scotty I love your videos, im 18 years old and I just recently bought a 2001 mercury cougar from private owner, automatic with almost 106,000 miles on it. Runs great so far but a battery check light came on today but the battery has only been in the car for 6 months. Any other possible reason why the battery light would come on? Also the car pulls to the right a little bit too what Could that be?
The battery check light comes on when the battery is not sufficiently charging. There are two primary reasons for that. 1. The battery is old and spent; 2. The alternator is bad. (And it's possible that both conditions exist at the same time).
Have the battery's State Of Health tested, but before you buy a new battery, have the alternator tested, as well. If the alternator's bad, you won't get far on a new battery.
As for why the car steers right, that requires an experienced eye. It could just be that the car needs alignment. Or, alternatively, there's some sort of front-end damage you don't know about.
One thing, always: Stay always from "parts changers" who don't know how to diagnosis. Diagnosis first, find the cause, and the fix has to be guaranteed. Walk away from those who won't or can't do this, and save yourself a lot of potential heartache.
Have the battery and alternator tested at your local parts store.
As for the pulling, it's probably an alignment at a minimum but definitely have a good front end shop check it out just to make sure the suspension is ok.
