Battery Terminal Care

[Anish S]

Hello Everybody,

Recently i am getting corrosion on the battery terminal (-ive), few times i got it cleaned and sprayed with terminal protect but after 2 weeks the corrosion reappears. I heard different tricks to deal with this issue from putting grease, WD-40, to vaseline. I would like to know what have you tried and what has worked for you.

Thank you in advance.

 

 

[Thomas Varghese]

Just now, Anish S said:

Hello Everybody,

Recently i am getting corrosion on the battery terminal (-ive), few times i got it cleaned and sprayed with terminal protect but after 2 weeks the corrosion reappears. I heard different tricks to deal with this issue from putting grease, WD-40, to vaseline. I would like to know what have you tried and what has worked for you.

Thank you in advance.

 

 

I have a feeling you should check your alternator output as this looks like the alternator is putting out more than what is needed for the battery which means its slowly dying off. Just a hunch. 

[Srikumar]

Try grease, I think it's Lithium based. It helps reduce the salt formation

[Frederic]

5 minutes ago, Anish S said:

Hello Everybody,

Recently i am getting corrosion on the battery terminal (-ive), few times i got it cleaned and sprayed with terminal protect but after 2 weeks the corrosion reappears. I heard different tricks to deal with this issue from putting grease, WD-40, to vaseline. I would like to know what have you tried and what has worked for you.

Thank you in advance.

 

 

We had this for a while on our Big Blue Pajero as well. I removed the terminal, and used a scrubbing pad to completely clean the terminal itself, and the clamp also separately. After putting it back and tightening properly, the problem seem to have dissapeared.

 

Battery Terminal Corrosion: Why it happens & How to fix it (carcody.com)

[Thomas Varghese]

8 minutes ago, Thomas Varghese said:

I have a feeling you should check your alternator output as this looks like the alternator is putting out more than what is needed for the battery which means its slowly dying off. Just a hunch. 

Overcharging your battery can lead to terminal corrosion. Moreover, if you overcharge your battery, it will result in a heat up. Also, it turns your battery into a kinetic energy storehouse. As a result, your battery expands in volume.

Consequently, there is an electrolyte push out. This push-out occurs in both flooded and sealed battery types. It can find its way out through the vents or any cracks in your battery.

[Thomas Varghese]

31 minutes ago, Thomas Varghese said:

I have a feeling you should check your alternator output as this looks like the alternator is putting out more than what is needed for the battery which means its slowly dying off. Just a hunch. 

Please check the volt meter reading when the engine is running. If its more than 14.2 V or less than 13V then definitely the alternator is going through a slow death. Check the battery voltage when the engine is off. If its less than 12V then the battery is dying. Both of these can cause terminal corrosion. As its a sealed Amaron battery there is no reason for you to fill the battery acid and cause this and hence can be ruled out. You said you noticed it recently which means definitely either the battery or the alternator is dying off.  

If your car has done anything above 150000 kms probably the carbon brushes of the alternator has worn out  and a good electrician can replace the brushes. 

Can be your battery is reaching the end of its life too if its too old. 

Edited October 31, 2021 by Thomas Varghese

[Thomas Varghese]

@Anish S if you don't attend to this ASAP we will find you soon kneeling down in the front of the car, hands in praying position and wishing the car would just come back to life and help you get out of the desert. The car would just not even respond to your prayers saying you didn't take care of the symptoms he has shown you. I hope you will have a good F 150 or similar trucks in the convoy to tow you out of the desert to tarmac. It happened to me once. The battery died suddenly and nothing could make the car come back to life. You think jump starting would help but sadly it won't. I found out later that to jump start such a car you need to connect 2 car battery's so as to overcome the shorting inside the cells. Electricity will be happy to flow through the least resistant path which is the short itself and no current will reach your starter motor to crank. Its electricity's law. Only other way to jump start then will be to completely disconnect the terminals and connect the jumper cables to the terminal cables directly and once your car comes back to life you can reconnect the battery and exit. 

Edited October 31, 2021 by Thomas Varghese

[Thomas Varghese]

@Zixuan Huang - Charlie your car was kind to you and loved you that he didn't strand you inside the desert. Atleast it ran to reach your home 

[Cha]

59 minutes ago, Thomas Varghese said:

@Zixuan Huang - Charlie your car was kind to you and loved you that he didn't strand you inside the desert. Atleast it ran to reach your home 

yes we have a bond  , I used to drive an old Volvo S60, that had engine oil leak, coolant leak, and some tramission issue, I never got dumped on road. Guess I m kinda lucky on this.

but truly thanks A lot for waking my car up that time, without your help I would have been going home by siting in recovery truck @Thomas Varghese

 

 @Anish S I agree with Thomas, that you should have a battery check-up, the corrosion I had disappeared after I changed the dead battery, and I believe the summer heat more or less contributed on shortening the usable life of the battery, especially those of us who have been driving in desert during the summer time. and I just read that Fred had battery failure as well...

[topgear]

I must admit that I am pretty bad in checking on such things. I will pop up my bonnet this evening and take a look