I just finished some maintainance on my car before my trip to IL in a couple days, did the swap to Synthetic oil, etc...Anyway, I was checking the fluid level in the battery...There's a line on the outside, but I can't tell if the "water" is to the line. I removed the caps to peek inside, and I think it's low, but it does cover whatever that radiator-like looking stuff is. Is this sufficient, or should I add water to it? And should I use distilled water, or does it matter?

 

With the caps on, if you shake the battery a bit you can probably see the electrolyte level. The important thig is for the plates to be submerged (radiator looking things). For longest batter life use distilled water for topping off.