Negative battery terminal corroding

[moorecruizin]

I have to clean the acid from the negative battery terminal about every 2-3 months now. It is the original battery that came with the car (June '00). Is the battery on it's last legs and should I replace it?

[MX-5]

Coat the end and terminal with petroleum jelly (vasoline).

There are battery protectant chemicals, but this is much cheaper.

[moorecruizin]

i do put the battery corrosion protectant on after cleaning and it still builds up acid after about 2-3 mo.

[GregsPT]

MX-5 is right. With Vaseline there should be no corrosion on the terminals. If that doesn't do it you have some kind of charging or battery problem. My Cruiser is 2 years old and I've never had any corrosion at all

[PTCruzr]

I used to do this on some of my old cars...... After you change your oil put a few drops of oil over each battery terminal and rub it around a bit. If you do this after each oil change you will NEVER get any corrosion on the battery. Works great.

[Cal Cruzer]

moorecruizin, run, do not walk to the auto parts store and buy a new battery. If you have a persistent problem with one of the terminals, you probably have a gas leak from the battery where the terminal passes through the top. You are very much in danger of an explosion under the hood and it will be a mess. We found this out the hard way with my son's car. His battery exploded one night and it took hours to neutralize all the acid with baking soda and water solution all over the engine. And what a mess. We were experiencing the same issue that you describe. Putting vaseline, oil or anything else on the terminal will not resolve this. I only have to clean my terminals about once a year and just a spray of white lithium covering the finished job is all I need. This is real cheap insurance. Please don't put this off.

[Rick in PA]

After thinking about this, I'll ditto Cal Cruzer suggestion to replace the battery. Even if the battery does not explode (worst case), it's busy releasing acid into the engine compartment. That stuff will corrode whatever it comes into contact with. The acid will migrate to other nearby components, wiring connectors, etc. Over time, you could end-up with major corrosion problems.

[moorecruizin]

thanks Cal Cruzer and Rick in PA. It's the original battery and is over 3 years old and i was beginning to suspect it, after MX-5 suggested a possible battery problem, because I haven't experienced any problems with the charging system.

I'll drive (real fast) not run down to the parts store. I've got O' Reilly's, Autozone, and walmart to choose from. Who do you guys recommend?

[moorecruizin]

excuse me !! it was GregsPT that suggested a possible battery problem--sorry Greg

[Rick in PA]

Here's a good post on batteries, it mentions all the popular ones and provides a few links to various manufacturer's sites. There's some interesting info there.