Battery terminals

[creative]

Just a quick one for everyone really.

As some of you may or may not know, this week I whipped the rocker covers off the car to check my rattling noise.

Part of the procedure is to disconnect the battery. As it had been a while since I did this last I noticed a small amount of crystals on the positive terminal underneath the red terminal cover.

As I soon discovered there was quite alot of deposit under this cover so I cleaned off the terminal and found:




one very knackered connector!

Might be worth checking your cars after all this wet weather we have been having and re grease the terminals to prevent this from happening.

the oxidisation is caused by metal on metal contact, moisture and an electric current. it gradually eats away at the connectors if not cleaned off. The terminals need sealing with Vaseline or grease of some description to prevent moisture from getting to the contacts.

Now replaced with a new terminal block!!

[eaglem]

I generally give mine a liberal spray of CRC before putting a coat of grease or vaseline to dispel moisture.

[XARATE]

Also caused by acid vented from a non sealed battery. A quick wash down with warm water will neutralise the sulfuric battery acid.
Also worth check under the battery, ive seen quite a bit of corrosion on battery trays due to leaking/venting acid

[mik]

boil the kettle and pour it over the terminal and the posts, it will take that crap right off, i usually give the post and terminal an emery if they get to that state as well, and there`s some proper terminal spray that`s better than grease imo, good car places or sparkys have it.

[Jim Goose]

Warm water and baking soda gents... water alone doesnt neautralise the acid.
All pouring water does it make the acid weaker.

[Silver Ghia]

Originally Posted by Jim Goose

Warm water and baking soda gents... water alone doesnt neautralise the acid.
All pouring water does it make the acid weaker.

Yes, and take the battery out of the car first so that the corrosion residue doesnt go down into the car bodywork.

Before reconnecting the terminals, I coat the posts with some Pep battery anti corrosion paste which prevents corrosion. Worked well over the years.

And if the battery is leaking around the posts or anywhere, its best to not muck around with it, buy a new one.

Another thing with batteries, the electrolyte should only be to the bottom of the split filler tubes. Never much higher or the acid will spit out of the cap vents. Wish they tell that to the apprentices at the dealers.

[Geez Louise]

Some great advice here guys and a great reminder for members to check their battery terminals.

Cheers
Col

[BHDOGS]

Or just go and buy some new terminals for 20 bucks from supercheap every couple of years there cheap as and easy to wire up

[XARATE]

Just for ***** and giggles

If your going to the trouble of cleaning terminals make sure you tighten them properly

Recently had a customer come in with this




He didnt tighten his terminals correctly, his car ran a computer controlled charge system which over charged (29v on a 12v car) due to the high terminal resistance.
Ended with a nice bang, luckly no fire.

[mik]

i had a terminal like that on one of my new truck batteries (4 of the mongrels), i forgot to tighten one terminal up as soon as i went to start it........ it melted the terminal off ,
i ground the terminal off flat with grinder (very carefully), made a bit of a mould with some aluminum sheet and melted some fishing sinkers onto it, give it a file down and ......good as new baby .

[CAMS290]

I use this stuff on my trucks and cars, gone are the days of corroded terminals.
This stuff is awesome, just spray it on, it's like a paint.
http://www.crcindustries.com.au/batt...inal-protector

[Franco Cozzo]

We used this really awesome battery terminal spray when I was at Honda, I think it was Wurth branded? It sprays on a thick blue colour, never have any terminals corroded on any cars we used this stuff on.

I've got the yellow CRC stuff here at home.