corrosion on battery

Last night my truck wouldnt start..I checked the battery and there was a bunch of corrosion on my positive terminal giving me a weak connection. I cleaned it off with a wire brush and it started up fine. This has happened about 3 or 4 times in the last year.

is there a way to keep corrosion out?

 

Are you doing anything each time besides just cleaning them?

 

Yep you had likely a nice brown coating of Lead Oxide on the positive terminal. I can't remember how many no starts I cured merely pulling the cables off and cleaning the terminals at the gas pumps 40 years ago.
Most any automotive store will have some stuff you can spray on a clean terminal. I used just plain old chassis or wheel bearing grease, a light coat on the clean terminal or you could get some silicone grease too. I wonder why its corroding, the battery a sealed type? Corrosion used to be caused by charging and the fumes condensating upon the terminals and some battery acid being released during the charging process. You might clean the entire battery, baking soda and water works well to neutrailize the external acid on the battery BUT don't get it inside of the battery. grab a voltmeter and place across the battery when the engine is running. Generally that voltage should read between 13.8 to 14.2 volts DC.

 

^^^X2 Use the grease

 

its the stock yota battery. its kinda dirty but not bad. No i havent done anything other than just scrape off the corrosion, I guess I need to fully clean the terminal and the wire and spray some cleaner on it.

Ill grab some grease today

 

The felt pads work great also.

 

clean with baking soda and water....dry off and spray battery terminal protectant on it.

 

x2. This was recommended to me, and for only 2 bux or whatever, it was worth a shot!

 

I just spray it with white lithium grease, works great.

 

x2

 

Clean it with baking soda and water, and spread a thin coating of dielectric grease on it.

 

I got a can of some spray shit from wal mart. it changes color on battery acid to let you know where its at...that was a big selling point for me since I dont know what corrosion actually looks like


Im gonna get some of those felt pad things. I though about maybe soaking the battery in gasoline and then cleaning it off with some fire..less scrubbing involved that way


thanks for your help guys

 

chicken dinner!

note: coca-cola will also clean off the corosion if you are low on baking soda, or just want to puzzle your neighbors for a bit.

 

mine did the same not stating thing a while back and after cleaning it it would stay good but if i put the rubber cover over the terminal it would absorb the grease and it would go back to not starting again. might come in handy to kno that haha

 

after you get it cleaned... pick up a pair of chemical battery washers for each terminal and use some spray battery terminal protectant as stated above. clear terminals for months/years

 

mine is corroded up, but not at the terminal.

i had to do a baking soda bath a few times and a steel brush.

i already have the felt pads.
the corrosion is on the connector to the terminal.
so bad that it corroded completely through my amp cable and started creeping about 8" down the cable and now i cannot get the nut off to replace the connectors.

as i twist on the nut, it is so stuck (after lots of penetrating fluid) it wants to turn the terminal post.

now i am afraid it is creeping down the main power cable and the one to the fusebox.


had anyone replaced the main positive cables.

 

Ive never replaced battery cables before. I dont think it would be to hard tough?

 

yeah, not sure how they are connected at the other end (opposite battery)

 

I thought it ran to the alternator but now that I think about it I have no idea