Comments on: How to Clean Car Battery Terminals

By: George.

George. — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 18:47:16 +0000

Odyssey batteries are better than optima. They are the same battery that the US army uses in the abrams tank. Sealed gel and a ton of cranking amps. More than the 750 cranking you are used too.

By: Ernie

Ernie — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 13:32:52 +0000

How I got to the point of doing this is not important. It worked for me. Easy, no brainer process. Had a reason to clean the engine compartment of my Dodge Ram. Sprayed it with Windex outdoor window and surface hose end sprayer. After I rinsed, a difficult build up on positive terminal was gone and connector was nice and shiny.

By: Jacqueline

Jacqueline — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 17:57:27 +0000

Thank you ALL!!
Today my supremely reliable Nissan had no power whatsoever – no dash lights, no flashing led on alarm, no central locking, in short NOTHING.

I cleaned the terminal posts and noticed that there was white green scum around the wires but couldn’t get to them.

AA man came out to try to get the car going but he was absolutely baffled and could not fix it but did establish that there was nothing wrong with the battery or alternator.

So now, thanks to your posts I’ll give baking soda a whirl. Can’t do any harm – I have a dead car.

Ta!

By: rockriver

rockriver — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 14:38:47 +0000

Some good tips here. I’ve been a mechanic all my life, and never heard the one about running the lights before cranking in cold weather. I’ll give it a try.

Nor have I used a sacrificial anode. Zinc would be useful for this, copper would not as many others have mentioned.

Definitely clean with baking soda, the runoff from your cleaning won’t cause as much damage to other parts and the floor. I guess Coke would be an easier option if you’re stuck at the 7-11. Just wear protective equipment when handling Coke, and don’t take it internally

If you’re stuck on the side of the road, another thing you might try to get going is to move the battery terminal on the post just a little. Depending on how tight they’re screwed down, this may or may not be possible. Twist them with a big pliers or give a little whack with a hammer, being careful not to strike the plastic battery or short the positive terminal against metal on the car. The reason this helps is it rubs the metal surfaces of post against terminal to move corrosion aside and bring more fresh post metal and fresh terminal metal into contact. If that works for you, of course the thing to do when you get where you’re going is pull the terminals off and give them a good cleaning and neutralizing.

A can of spray battery terminal protector is a good idea; the Vaseline and grease never appealed to me since I’m probably the next guy to deal with taking them off and cleaning them.

They make a nice little battery terminal puller, with hook arms that go under the terminal and a screw-in press shaft that goes on the top of the post. Even after you unscrew the clamps, they’re usually hard to remove. Prying with a screwdriver bends things up so you don’t get as full surface-to-surface contact when you put it back together. The puller exerts even force straight up. Here’s an example:

http://www.amazon.com/KD-Tools-202-Battery-Terminal/dp/B0002SRDRS

Jason

By: Jack

Jack — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 02:53:32 +0000

The penny works. It has to be a newer type penny as they are made of zinc. Zinc is used as a “sacrificial anode” in high end corrosion protection systems. It’s in every water heater, and wired to all ships. The penny will work best if the copper cladding is scuffed and the coin is electrically bonded to the terminal.

By: Raj

Raj — Sun, 11 Sep 2011 16:12:38 +0000

Just tried warm water and baking soda, used an old toothbrush for intermediate scrubbing. After two glasses of dousing with warm water baking soda solution (1 heaped teaspoon of baking soda to 3/4 glass of water microwaved for 40 seconds), it’s as perfect as can be.
First, pour a little over the battery terminals one at a time as is.

Second, when bubbling reduces, disconnect positive terminal first then negative.

Take a small plastic cup filled with the warm water solution and dip the positive wired battery contact in the warm solution, leave it soaking whilst you take your old toothbrush and some more warm solution to scrub the now disconnected battery terminal. Dry positive terminal and contact with paper towels, napkins or even toilet paper if it’s all you got.

Repeat procedure for negative side.

Connect cables in reverse order.

Smile, job well done.

By: Dave N

Dave N — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 22:04:02 +0000

Correction to someone who mentioned the ph values above: This is from wikipedia

“In chemistry, pH is a measure of the acidity or basicity of an aqueous solution.[1] Pure water is said to be neutral, with a pH close to 7.0 at 25 °C (77 °F). Solutions with a pH less than 7 are said to be acidic and solutions with a pH greater than 7 are basic or alkaline.”

By: Dave N

Dave N — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 21:59:15 +0000

I used to put off such maintenance items thinking “who cares as long as the car keeps starting, I’ll take care of that next month.”

My wife’s Toyota Camry, only one month out of warranty, had corrosion on the terminals; the folks at the shops kept telling her to get it fixed, she’d tell me and I’ll procrastinate.

Then it happened!!!!! The whole alternator DIED instantly. Cost us a BUNCH due to rental cars, trips back to the town where it happened where the car was in storage, new alternator, motel bill, etc. And that was with me DIY. It seems the car was running everything electrical off the alternator to some degree except starting, obviously, until the alternator DIED. Never knew that would happen that quick.

By: simon

simon — Sat, 16 Jul 2011 02:41:47 +0000

Wow Scotty. Do you shame-bomb your students the same way you came down on these list-members? How sad for your students. My high-school science teacher made science fun and interesting instead of scoffing and hurumphing and generally know-it-alling. Thank you for your service to our country. Now perhaps you should do a service to our youth and retire from teaching.

By: N.

N. — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 13:40:07 +0000

People…forget about all the home remedies and do it like the article says to do it. Pennies, honey, coke…etc.? For those of you that believe those things, more power to you. Just do the job right the first time (e.g. follow the articles instructions) and you’ll not have to worry about your battery or corrosion for a long time.

Dielectric grease found at your auto parts store for less than 50 cents + baking soda and water + some brushes is all you need.

By: Luis

Luis — Sun, 01 May 2011 21:45:45 +0000

People, forget about pennies, The Coke trick work great, just make sure to keep everything clean. And if you want to keep your battery safe from corrosion, just put some honey on the terminals after the cleaning. It’s a simple, easy, cheap and safe trick if you want to avoid trouble.

By: Trace

Trace — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 23:40:07 +0000

My car wouldn’t start today! I was upset thinking maybe my mechanic (who had my car just a few days ago to give me a tune-up) might have done something to make me come back and shell out more money! However, after looking at my battery cables, my boyfriend suggested it my be all the crude on the posts of my battery. I tried the baking soda and water suggestion, and later put petroleum jelly on the posts to slow future corrosion and VOILA!!!! My car started right up! Thanks guys, that saved me on going to a dishonest mechanic who probably would have agreed on me getting a new alternator… Clearly, I’m no genius mechanic, nor do I have knowledge about cars, but I must say this is the trick!

By: Brandy

Brandy — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 11:01:47 +0000

Yesterday, I came out t start my car and then it wouldn’t start. Then triple A came out to give my car a jump and it wouldn’t start for the first 20 times. Finally, it started and I drove it to the nearest place where I could get a battery replaced. There was a ton of corrosion on the battery terminals. My husband came and cleaned off the terminals and replaced the battery. He then found out the connectors were corroded as well, so we had to purchase new connectors. The other thing he also discovered was that the battery wire was also corroding. I was wondering if anyone else discovered that when they changed their battery?

By: Kirmie

Kirmie — Thu, 10 Mar 2011 19:37:34 +0000

Don’t listen to all of Don’s advice. You should NOT add silicone grease to “all surfaces of the terminal and clamp”. Apparently nobody has informed Don that silicone grease does not conduct electricity and while it will protect from corrosion it also has the same effect as the corrosion you are preventing.

By: Bert

Bert — Sat, 08 Jan 2011 15:59:09 +0000

My Expedition was completely dead this morning (I’m in Pennsylvania). It wouldn’t even take a jump, not even the “clicking” sound. My neighbor came out, poured a can of Coke on the terminals, they of course fizzed. She did it a few more times, then we put the cables back on and it took the jump immediately after we put the cables back on!

By: DCM5150

DCM5150 — Mon, 13 Dec 2010 00:17:15 +0000

Pennies made prior to 1982 were 97.6% copper. After that pennies were (and still are) made of almost all zinc with a copper plating. And it is completely legal to destroy a coin and it is illegal to destroy paper money.

By: Bubba

Bubba — Mon, 29 Nov 2010 05:55:33 +0000

I’m a chemistry professor and found Scotty the chemistry teacher’s message annoying too. No need to be so didactic. In fact, it’s this kind of attitude turns many students away from science and engineering. Much of his message was unnecessary and some of it wrong, e.g. electrons moving at the speed of light.

At any rate, I had to change my car battery today and was looking to verify that the white material on the positive electrode was lead sulfate and blue material on the negative electrode was copper sulfate. I confirmed the answer elsewhere but wanted to see how people clean away the material … I had to change it at a store and got a lot of bits on the engine so want to get rid of it. I’m troubled that a lot of lead is going down the drain and into our water supply. Anyways, thank you to the others for giving helpful, respectful info!

By: Luxwing

Luxwing — Mon, 08 Nov 2010 22:48:37 +0000

Who would have thought it would have been that simple? My battery light had been coming on two or three times a week for a few seconds each time, and then came on for almost five minutes on my way home today. I was afraid it was the alternator, so I took it to my local mechanics before getting home. He opened the hood and -lo and behold- my battery was covered in a white and blue conglomerate known as corrosion. o_o

With a smirk, he tells me to get a Coke at the 7 Eleven and pour it on there when I get home.

So I did.

AND IT’S CLEAN! I couldn’t remove the cables since they were coated in the white stuff, but I was just sure to hose it all down after the coke sat for five or six minutes.

I will always be sure to keep a bottle of coke in the garage! (-b^_^)-b

By: Jim

Jim — Wed, 27 Oct 2010 19:10:32 +0000

I have used Soda pop for years to clean battery terminals. The service man just told me today that baking Soda is a better choice because it is a base that neutralizes the acid. I have used grease over the year as well with some success. Not sure why the corrosion starts though. Any thoughts or suggestions on that. Must be the two different metals thing so the sacrificial “penny” makes sense. Once I found corrosion back into the cable for 6″. Now I just replace the cable if there is any sign of corrosion in the wire itself.

By: Mike

Mike — Wed, 27 Oct 2010 07:04:57 +0000

All that white to greenish corrosion is acidic, apply a base to it. So, in everyday terms put some baking soda like “Arm and Hammer” in a glass of warm water and pour it over the corroded terminals. It will fizz a bit, simply keep doing it until there is very little or no fizzing and your terminals are clean.

Dry them off with anything disposable, like paper towels. Whatever you use, throw it out when done.

Once the terminals are clean and dry put a coat of Vaseline over them. You should be good.

Grease conducts electricity and if the top of your battery is dirty and greasy you can actually measure a low voltage discharge constantly happening across the top of your battery – so keep it clean.

As for the best connection between the battery terminal and the connector, most auto parts stores sell a cheap tool to clean both the terminal and the connector. It’s basically a round wire brush for the connector and a doughnut shaped wire brush for the terminal. For the terminals you can also use the same tool many plumbers use to clean copper pipe before soldering it. You can find it in most Hardware stores.

Avoid “old fashioned” remedies like maple syrup to coat your terminals. It doss coat the terminal and controls the corrosion, but you have a heck of a time with the ants I hear.

Good luck.