Battery Terminal Corrosion

The terminals on my battery all pretty corroded. I'll obviously need to clean them up real well, but was wondering, is there a better battery wire terminal clamp that I should look in to? Or am I being ridiculous and just clean these up, grease 'em and get on w/ life.

 

I'd got with the brush 'em, grease 'em' and get on with it plan...

 

yea, I kinda figured that, lol.

 

after you clean them/grease them.....get some terminal spray and liberaly spray them down with it.

 

Use baking soda and water to clean them, and wire brush.. the best you can do.

 

You can buy a set of felt washers for the posts that have a lube soaked into them, they always worked in my past vehicles.

 

Make sure before you use anti-corrosionspray, that you put on the + - terminal leads. Don't want to start a fire.

 

X2

 

interesting. Never seen them before.

You mean, just connect them before spraying them, right?

 

+1 on baking soda and water.
When dry, battery terminal protectant spray.

 

pour some coca cola on it.

 

x2 they cost about $2.00 at most auto parts stores

 

I've used the felt washers and they didn't seem to help, I could have just had crappy ones, I've also used the spray on terminal protector stuff, it works pretty well, as well as anything I have used. Spray liberally on the terminals, the cable clamps, and any exposed cable wire, do that after cleaning and re-installing the cables as said above. One of those wire brush things made specifically for cleaning the terminals and the inside of the cable clamps works well, they are pretty cheap at autozone et. al. Baking soda/water mix plus an old toothbrush to neutralize any leftover acid, (best way is disconnect the battery, take out the battery, and scrub the entire battery, especially the top, avoid allowing the water to make a connection between the terminals, wouldn't hurt to use the baking soda solution to also clean the battery tray and hold down bolts, after scrubbing with the b-soda wipe good with wet paper towel to remove all crud, then dry good with paper towel) and if the cable wires show any corrosion where they attach to the terminal clamps, they should be replaced. Not hard, takes a little time, but by doing all that I've had pretty good luck with avoiding corrosion.

 

Clean them with baking soda & water & an old toothbrush. Make sure you do this on the street or it will stain your driveway.

The cover them with petroleum jelly(vasoline).

Thats all there is to it.

 

Coke is an acid. What would that do? You need a base to combat the acidity of battery 'acid'.. c'mon here, basic science.

 

Try it. It works.The Acid eats the corrosion. Look it up buddy. Works better than baking soda............

 

Why do I need to try it? My batteries dont corrode.

Oh and i looked it up.. results are inconclusive. Id rather not have my battery all sticky.

 

Well, heres what I'm working with. As I began to remove the terminal connector, it just about snapped off! Had to run to the parts store to pick up a new one. Gonna finish tackling this tomorrow.
On a side note, I have no idea how it got like this. When I changed the oil in early April, it was no where near this bad! In fact, I really dont even remember it having any corrosion on there at all at that time.

 

Ya that looks bad. You will probably need to replace the cable and terminal (& possibly the battery).

Looks like the cap is loose on the left side. The gasses from the acid cause the corrosion.

I have had good luck with those little red and green felt circles. They sell them for $1 at all auto parts stores. I guess they are treated with some oil or something. I have tried the sprays and pastes but those felt pads work best for me.

 

If your battery doesn't corrode then you have no need to try it then...
When i do use coke i do wash them. Common sense isn't it? Maybe you should try to search again. I found plenty of websites... Just make sure you don't have any spelling errors.