Tacoma Corroded Battery Wiring?!

Good morning all. So I bought my tacoma three years ago, and have had to replace one terminal head already. I do use preventitive and cleaner, but it just keep coming back. Sometimes my truck won't start well in the winter. I bought an OEM 7 year warranty battery from the dealership. No sound system, or heavy duty lighting. The actual wiring is blue/foamy, never seen the assembly corrode like this.

Is this something a novice can do, or should I swing her down to the stealership to have it fully assessed?

Also, how does the yellow or red ato battery fit in our trucks, and where can I purchase one of these. Ever since NEMO, I need a dependable battery

 

Maybe consider a battery/terminal cover?

 

Already have terminal cover.

 

isnt this a sign that the system is overcharging?

 

Could you put up a picture of how bad the corrosion is? If you still have enough material left, you can use CRC Electrical cleaner and some emory cloth to clean up the terminals and do it yourself. If the terminals are corroded too much, and need to be replaced, that gets a little more involved and a DIY project would depend on your comfort with vehicle wiring. Once you get everything cleaned up, cake it with dielectric grease to protect the terminal from future corrosion.

By red and yellow ATO battery, are you referring to Optima batteries? If so, they fit but require a spacer below the battery since they are much smaller than the stock battery. The red top is a starting batter and would be good for what you're describing your needs to be. The yellow top is a deep cycle battery and is good for heavy loads and is not as good as a starting battery. Unless you run lots of accessories or have a large stereo, the red top would be a better choice in my opinion (there are also lots of other great battery options out there that are much cheaper than Optima).

 

I will post pictures when I get home from work. Where can I purchase the washer from? Right now the corrosion isn't that bad on the terminal head because I replaced it last year and have been spraying some preventative spray I got from VIP . the factory wiring within the electrical tape seems to be corroded, like the actual harness not the whole thing but definitely towards the top.

Could this be causing light "flickering" in the truck? Sometimes my ODO mileage display flickers on the highway mostly. Put some LED dome lights in two years ago now they can flicker at times.

 

Flickering can be caused by faulty connections and I would get that sorted out quickly. No connection is better than a faulty connection. Faulty connections are what start electrical fires and short out electrical equipment. I'm not going to say your problem is definitely caused by the battery corrosion (could be a whole host of issues or even multiple issues) but it's certainly a possibility.

The CRC Electrical cleaner should be available at any auto parts store, I get mine at Autozone. It's in a red can, it's the same company that makes Brakleen. Dielectric grease can be in either a tube or a spray can but once you get this sorted out, it will help prevent it from happening again.

 

Please see Section 3.3 in the Car and Deep Cycle Battery FAQ on www.batteryfaq.org for more information on corrosion and how to prevent it.

 

I think the corrosion that you are dealing with will keep happening,it's in between the wire and shield .Start fresh and replace it from starter to battery with new ends. Start also with battery maintenance. I work in the oilfield dealing with a lot of batteries, what I found that a old battery will leak(age,overcharging,heat,cold) and the acid will creep into the shield once in there it's there. Replace wire and you should be good to go. If your curious cut back some of the shield ,you should find green corrosion going down to starter. The corrosion could be causing some resistance,causing your flicking, also it will also not let alternator charge battery completely ,this in time will lead to a dead cell in battery.

 

Thank you I just had to get this done, it was a little costly and took a lot of my time. I had to start fresh from the starter to the battery, new terminals, and used protective spray. It was bad, there was tone of corrosion between the wire and the shield that I never even saw. I had to cut back on some of the shield and I did find green corrosion going down to the starter. Flickering is still there though, and gets bad when I hit highway. Not very happy with this, as it seems it has to do with the alternator or what?!?!

 

There are two ways to check alternator . 1st if you have a volt meter, start truck check at + side of battery, it should read higher than 12vdc, or bring to a local parts house and have them check your charging system. It's free. The flickering seems to be loose connections. Leds are very finicky ,go over and check where you had made connections when you installed leds, have some one looking at leds and pull on wires,connections don't be shy either ,with the battery cables keep a close eye on it ,if you go to have charging system checked they will load test your battery, also did you check the negative side of battery wiring ? battery current travels least path of resistance ,so corrosion could of traveled there too. It seems to me you have a bad battery or you once did to have that much corrosion . On a side note Leds are a low voltage lights, they require some type of resistor ,they will work for some time .but they do go out, unhook them and see what happens with the odo if it still flickers. keep me posted