Girls Guide to Fixing Corrosive Battery Terminals.
by Liv | Published on June 26th, 2010, 1:33 pm | Sports
So last night I got a call from Shannon that the car wouldn't start. About 3 months ago I installed a push button ignition with cheap Chinese part. The moment she called I had this eerie feeling that- that is what went bad because almost every cheap Ebay Chinese import part falls apart in 3 months or less. Then again this car has had a poltergeist in the electrical system since the day I bought it. My assumption was it was all fixed when I did the massive wiring job, but recently the clock would reset on ignition. Today I found out why.... corrosion on the battery terminals. Yep, turns out I can't blame the Chinese, or my wiring as both were was good. One look at the battery terminal, a new one no less than 3 months old, and I could see why I was having problems. The resistance in the terminal had been growing, first showing up in the clock at high-amperage moments like engine ignition, and eventually it led to full a full no-start condition, despite having power to lights, horns etc. Science is an interesting thing when it all comes together. Battery corrosion tends to worsen during the summer when you're running higher amperage items like the air conditioning and blower motor. Combined with my lack of preventive measures such as anti-corrosion washers due to a rushed re-assembly on the ignition (mother in-law was arriving) basically it was just a matter of time till it happened. Houston we have a problem.
- As you can see, this is the "new" battery terminal less than 3 months old already covered in corrosion enough to prevent the car from starting.
Today I fixed my mistakes and recorded it for your interest. While such a thing is a common fix, I felt I needed to post this after a situation several months back where I witnessed a female co-worker of Shannon's; dump coca cola on her battery terminal to get it to start. There was a couple problems with this. a) The battery was plain dead... and no amount of soda is going to restart a dead battery. b) I get that Coca-Cola is corrosive, and its high acidity levels will clean the corrosion.... but I'm not about to pour sugary sticky cola on my car: It's plain dumb. On the other hand, vinegar, (your flavor of choice) seems to work well as an alternative without the need to give your car the caffeine jitters afterwards. I'll explain:
- 1) Go get the stuff you need. It's cheap and simple and costs about $5. Never mind the superglue in the picture, that's for fixing something else and accidentally got into the picture. You need battery anti-corrosion washers, a terminal brush, and some dielectric battery-goo. (or you can use Vaseline) You're also going to need some vinegar and a little cup to hold it, and some box-wrenches to remove the terminals (usually 12,13, or 14mm depending on the terminal.)
2) Once you loosen the terminal, fill a small cup with vinegar. I prefer apple cider due to its wonderful aroma though it also happens to be what I had on hand. Try to maneuver the terminal into the vinegar and let it soak for about 3 minutes. It should come out fairly clean:
3) After this you'll want to break out your metal brush you've purchased and go to town using the male end of the brush and sticking it in the female orifice. On the terminal end you'll want a up and down motion just like using your vibrator. Repeat steps 2 and 3 till you end up with a sparkling new battery terminal.
4) As you can see now the terminal is 100 times better than where we began. We will now proceed to use the other end of the brush and clean the actually battery post itself. This is done in a twisting manner and should become relatively clean without any other effort.
5) Take a clean rag and clean off the battery at this point and place your washers around the post. It's like condoms for the battery. Tighten down the terminals, and check to make sure they can't sit and spin.
6) Don't freak out when you see the Daddy-Long-Legs on the intake manifold. It may be a good time to go have chocolate.
7) Once the critters have left the car it's time to get dirty. With the terminals tightened, the washers on, it's now time to cover the outside of every metal surface of the post and terminals with some battery goo. Think of it as a facial for the car. Instead of removing blackheads, it keeps the terminals from corroding.
And you're done! Start the car and you're good to go.
